We all remember our first experience in the flight deck. The Cessna 152 with the friendly six-pack. The Piper Archer with the flap lever. Our first time, the flight deck seemed overwhelming, no matter how simple the configuration. So, we sat in it. We sat in it parked. No propeller spinning, no Hobbs time running, no charges accruing. We sat in it because we wanted to know the flight deck. We wanted it to become familiar.
We also know that opportunity doesn’t exist for airline pilots in training. Good luck finding an open Embraer flight deck. Good luck finding a Boeing 737 to sit in. So, how did pilots respond? We mocked-up our cockpit poster/paper tiger. We taped it to the hotel wall. Or, for the most industrious, we built a three-dimensional structure with foam board and PVC piping. And we hauled it in the back of our trucks to various training outposts. But that’s so 1970.
Welcome to 2023. Airline students can sit in the flight deck anytime, anywhere, for any length of time. With our fully portable, non-tethered, FlightDeckToGoTM, airline flight students can spend hours in flight deck familiarization with a device that’s smaller than a flight bag. Flip switches, turn knobs, set headings with our dynamic Virtual Tiger®.
What does this mean for airline training departments? More knowledgeable students. More familiar students. Students that don’t spend the first 10 minutes of the FTD session and 20 extremely valuable minutes in a full-motion simulator staring at the overhead panel. Because when students are staring at the panel, they aren’t learning to manage the airplane. They aren’t learning high-level procedures.
VTR products are designed around student-based learning processes. They allow students to make the unfamiliar familiar by recapturing that experience anywhere, anytime.
