Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

Editor-in-Chief

Matt Thurber

Simulator manufacturer Redbird has released its Redbird Pro app, which allows pilots flying Redbird simulators to measure proficiency and create a plan to support ongoing currency training. The app can also help non-Redbird users with articles, videos, quizzes, and briefings for scenarios that can be flown on other simulators, but without the scoring feature.

 


Redbird Pro starts by asking the user questions to create a self-assessment.&nbsp;Then the pilot does a baseline flight in a Redbird simulator. Using machine learning, Redbird Pro generates the Pro Score that forms the basis of a personalized training plan.

 


To help improve flying skills, the Pro app and Score measures the user’s progress and recommends ways to improve proficiency. According to Redbird, “It includes a broad overview of all your training activity and allows you to drill into specific skills and tasks, how much training time you should allot to them, and how you score for them relative to your baseline proficiency and objective.”

 


The recommended training includes a catalog of training collections focused on specific topics, with articles, quizzes, skill refreshers, and scenarios, some created by Redbird and others from content partners. When using a Redbird simulator with the Pro app, flying the scenarios provides additional data to inform the Pro Score, Redbird said, “which enhances your training plan and allows you to drill even further into the minute details of your flying.”

 


Later, Redbird plans to add the ability for pilots to connect to their ForeFlight, CloudAhoy, and Pilot Partner accounts for postflight debriefing purposes.

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