AHS International AHS Montr é al / Ottawa Chapter

1. AHS International AHS Montréal / Ottawa Chapter International Helicopter Safety Symposium 2005

2. Safety Strategies In making helicopter flight safer, we can approach the problem from many angles: • Create safer machines • Keep them in pristine condition • Make the environment as safe as possible • Prepare and maintain crew skills OR Make training part of the overall safety strategy, for everyone: Management, Mechanics, Pilots and Crews

3. In General … There’s one sure-fire way to fix all safety concerns … Just Stop Flying!

4. What you don’t know … won’t hurt you, right?

5. What you don’t train for, won’t happen, right?

7. Training For Mission Success • Why do we train? • To get the job done • To reduce risk of mission failure • To improve efficiency and reduce cost

8. Training For Safety Why do we train? • For safety of passengers and payload • For safety of the crew • For safety of the equipment

9. Individual and Crew Skills Building skills starts with a look at current training methods • Undergraduate flight training produces “licensed drivers”, with little or no real-world “application” skills. • Postgraduate flight training is mostly “OJT” (on-the-job training) • May take years of OJT to build an experienced pilot in some fields, like • Long line operations • Fire fighting • Powerline maintenance • Logging • But are the skills developed in an structured OJT process, or is it just hit-and-miss? • How can it be done better?

10. OJT Training Methods • Mostly done in the air, pilot-to-pilot • Skills transfer achieved by observing and practicing with an experienced pilot; transfer will depend on how good the “old hand” is • Very few “dedicated” training missions are conducted – OJT is done on revenue producing missions! • Very little synthetic training used, except for type conversions, procedures and emergencies.

11. Typical OJT Training Missions

12. Training for demanding tasks and missions should be mandatory – not OJT!

13. OJT Training Issues • Impossible to introduce every scenario needed for comprehensive training into OJT – it’s a crapshoot • There are a lack of industry standards – how do we know when is a pilot “trained and ready” for his/her missions? But…. • Because OJT may never effectively shrink the pilot’s safety bubble, inefficiencies, risk and confidence issues will remain.

14. Ideal Training Logic If … • We could create an immersion environment that provided all the necessary sensory cues experienced in OTJ training … • And we could control the weather, visibility conditions, terrain, wind turbulence … • And we could capture the experience of seasoned pilots and use it to train new pilots objectively … • And we could measure the training’s effectiveness through standards and testing … Then… • We’d have a much shorter path for creating journeyman or experienced pilots • And we would have “logic – skill based” safety, because our pilots would be better equipped And… • we will actually improve mission effectiveness and efficiency through better rehearsal and contingency training.

15. Flying vs Simulation If done correctly: • Simulation is a trade-off for flying • And flying is a trade-off for simulation • The “art of training” is to create a skillful blend of BOTH • When done correctly, you will receive the best and most cost effective training for helicopters

16. The Case For Synthetic Immersion • Synthesis of OJT would be useful as an immersive training environment in reducing OJT hours, if … • Cues: subtle and dynamic sensory cues and pilot aids were reproduced • Environmental: the characteristics, forces and physics outside the helicopter were accurately modeled • Scenarios: highly realistic training scenarios, with many customizable features, must be available in the synthetic alternative • Economics: synthetic approach must represent a significant cost saving over OJT • Will never eliminate OJT – but synthetic immersion provides a significant offload of OJT time, and is inherently safer approach • Because synthetic immersion cannot replace “procedural training”, a balance of other media (including aircraft) will always be needed in the training equation.

17. Technology Solutions Synthetic immersion training can provide some of the answers, however … • Current synthetic training is focused on “procedural” training: classic undergraduate, type-conversion, instrument and emergency training roles • Current synthetic trainers do address subtle sensory cues needed for vertical flight and immersive training, but: • Cross-cockpit viewing, through-cockpit viewing - current visual systems have limitations and inherent parallax errors • Stereoscopic effects, for depth and vertical distance perception are limited

18. More on Technology • Current visual systems in synthetic trainers require “sweet-spot” visual optimizations – viewing anywhere else in the envelope is sub-optimal for training. • Current synthetic training methods are expensive, and therefore scarce, as well as being seriously deficient • Current synthetic trainers are OK for procedural flight training and some missions, but not OK for helicopter skills transfer – “post graduate” training – because they do not do a good job of producing an ‘immersive’ environment.

19. The Answer to the Immersive Synthetic Training Question • Driven by the Maritime Helicopter community needs, Defense Research and Development Canada in late 90’s developed the Helicopter Deck Landing System (HDLS) prototype for DND • Based on S-61/Sea King landing on CF frigate deck in North Atlantic, modeled sea-states, aircraft and ship accurately • Used early VR technology coupled to available sensory stimulus to “immerse” pilot • All lighting and weather conditions, wind over deck, weather, and controllable sea states provided for launch and landing scenario

20. The HDLS Prototype • Accurate visual scenery appropriate to the deck landing mission • Head mounted display, with stereo imagery capable of painting the full 360° field of regard environment • Head tracking device • Small, but full-capability motion platform carrying a high-fidelity pilot seat, harness, etc. • Vibration and auditory stimuli provided by multiple audio systems • Controls and pedals to complete the illusion • S-61 Sea King helicopter model, frigate model • Wind, wave, sea and environmental effects derived from comprehensive physics modeling

21. HDLS Today: “HVT” • In 2003, DRDC partnership with industry established to develop HDLS into commercially viable and production-grade solution • Atlantis selected after competitive proposal • Helicopter Vocational Trainer (HVT) design concepts defined for multiple immersive training scenarios • HVT first production system developed by Atlantis for I/ITSEC 2005 • Multiple representative helicopter models envisaged for production version • Likely to be adopted by DND for post graduate training adjunct to undergraduate course, for mountain flying, deck landing, urban operations training, NVG and other applications.

22. Helicopter Vocational Trainers

23. The HVT Concept • Marriage of VR visuals in a head-mounted display, electric motion base, with accurate, highly detailed scenarios and physics based modeling • Compact, reconfigurable are design features • Key to creating the immersion experience – account for all the pilot’s sensory inputs: • Pilot’s hands hold helicopter controls • Pilot can look anywhere, and see appropriate high-resolution imagery, with correct stereoscopic detail, without parallax error, giving depth-of-field perception • Pilot’s ears hear appropriate audio cues, aircraft sounds • Pilot sits in flight-grade seat with harness, with feet on control-loaded pedals

24. HVT Subsystems: Hardware • Base: • Seat, Pedals, Controls, • Head Tracker and Helmet • Motion System: • Electric, Six Degrees of Freedom • Host Computer: • PC Based • Image Generator: • PC Based • Instructor Operator Station: • PC Based … leverages advances in PC technology and miniaturization

25. HVT Subsystems: Baseline • Controls: • Cyclic and collective, with required functionality • Motion system cues: • Modeled from aircraft derived data • Aural Cues: • Dynamically responding to aircraft model and motion • Virtual aircraft: • Emulates specific or generic cockpit configuration and structures • Instruments will be dynamic and be reactive to HVT controls • Instructor Operator Station: • PC-based and controls all aspects of training to include, pause, playback, record, snapshots, gods-eye-views • Will support LAN and WAN implementations • For team-training applications

26. HVT Footprint … small footprint, 25% of typical FFS realestate, low headroom

27. HVT Scenarios Many applications, but each will target a specific set of skills to be transferred by training: • Mountain operations • Deck landing and haul-downs, for naval and oilrig operations, in all-weather conditions • Long-line operations, sling loads, static and dynamic loads • Logging • Urban operations, military and civilian emergency pilot and crew training • Brown-out & White-out identification and landing techniques • Night Vision Systems – initial, refresher and advanced training

28. The HVT Tomorrow • Simulation High Level Architecture already embedded in HVT concept for growth applications • Allows future networking of HVT applications and devices, enabling team training, such as • Multiple helicopter task coordination missions and maneuvers • Configuration for STOVL – JSF and V-22 • Aircrew - ground and deck crew coordination • Aircrew and weapon operator, hoist operator, sensor operator training • Your tasks go here: •  • 

29. Summary • Our conference objective: to map out an approach to reduce helicopter accidents by 80% over the next 10 years • It can be traced to many accidents that a major contributor is a lack of adequate training • OJT training does not cover all the eventualities (scenarios), and is inherently risky and costly • Traditional synthetic simulators are not immersive “enough” to allow the pilot to receive the fidelity of training required • The marriage of virtual-reality techniques with the latest visual and motion technology, and high-fidelity environmental modeling, provides a useful “synthetic immersion” into a training environment • Use of synthetic immersion approaches – like HVT – will reduce OJT, improve training and experience, and improve safety

30. Thank You For further information covering HVT and synthetic immersion training concepts, please contact: Atlantis Systems International, Inc. One Kenview Boulevard Brampton, Ontario L6T 5E6 Canada telephones Canada: +1(905) 792-1981 U.S.A. and International: +1(407) 380-9191 email immersion@AtlantisSI.com