USAF Slashes Helo Training Time With Virtual Reality | Aviation International News

USAF Slashes Helo Training Time With Virtual Reality

The first USAF helicopter pilot class using virtual reality graduated six weeks early.

(From left to right) U.S. Air Force students 2nd Lt. Trent Badger, 2nd Lt. J. Karl Bossard, 1st Lt. Matthew Gulotta, 2nd Lt. John Thrash, Capt. Josh Park, and 2nd Lt. Richard Songster with a TH-1H helicopter at Fort Rucker, Ala., Oct. 10, 2019. All six officers graduated from Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training-Helicopter Class 20-02, which incorporated virtual reality in an experimental curriculum that resulted in the class graduating six weeks earlier than normal training classes while reducing actual flying time in the TH-1H by about 35 percent. (Photo: U.S. Air Force/Brian Braden)

By Mark Huber • Contributor

October 16, 2019

By using virtual reality (VR) devices, the U.S. Air Force’s 23rd Flying Training Squadron (FTS) at Fort Rucker, Alabama, has slashed flying time by 35 percent, given students 15 hours of additional practice time with aircraft controls, and cut the time needed to complete undergraduate pilot training by six weeks for the first six students using the experimental program.

The 23d FTS is responsible for all Air Force undergraduate rotary-wing pilot training and is a geographically separated unit under the 58th Special Operations Wing (SOW) at Kirtland (New Mexico) AFB. It is the sole entry point for Air Force careers in the Bell UH-1N, Sikorsky HH-60G, and Bell-Boeing CV-22 tiltrotor.

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