The World Outside The Aircraft - Simulating The Operational Environment

Much progress has been made and discussed in previous RAeS Flight Simulation Group Conferences on the simulation of an aircraft and its operational systems for use in flight crew training. International standards have even been drafted in the civil arena defining required levels of simulation fidelity as a function of training tasks.

But what are the challenges that still need addressing in the fidelity of the simulation of the real world environment outside the aircraft? What is missing or lacking in this area that could improve the training value and realism of flight simulation based aircrew training in both civilian and military operations? What are the challenges to be resolved and how should we address them?

The Royal Aeronautical Society Flight Simulation Group believes that there has been substantial focus recently in the media suggesting that aircrew need to be given more training and increased situational awareness skills to cope with operating today’s advanced civil and military aircraft in an increasingly complex, busy and diverse airspace environment. Our objective is to identify what is lacking, missing or needs to be improved and to propose some specific solutions.

In civil aviation, recent safety analyses have highlighted loss of situational awareness and losing control of a perfectly serviceable airplane due to a variety of reasons related to external influences or procedures, as a major issue of concern. New procedures such as RNP, voiceless communications and visual aids such as HUD/EVS require precise integration with the simulated environment for training to be efficient.

From the military perspective the increasing amount of sensory information that is required to be shared and trained in the use of sole or collectively training, means that there are significant challenges in integrating these systems with a real world operating environment. For example the increased reliance on manned ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) missions (in combination with UAV ISR aircraft) can be a real challenge that needs higher fidelity training environments.

Full details on how to submit an abstract for the

Spring 2011 Flight Simulation Conference

can be found here.