Pilotenausbildung der Zukunft: Potenzial und Einsatz von Virtual Reality im Flight Training

Commercial aviation is an important part of modern life with flight training being one of its backbones. To foster an airline's financial viability, investments in sustainable and cost-efficient technologies need to be made. Prior literature suggests that Virtual Reality applications can be used for training purposes effectively while yielding substantial economic benefits. Thus far however, research focused on training of inexperienced, novice flight students. It is the aim of this paper to analyze the didactical, economic, and environmental potential of Virtual Reality for flight trainings of experienced pilots and identify potential use cases within airlines' training operations. Five expert interviews are conducted and evaluated by means of qualitative content analysis. The results indicate that Virtual Reality applications are favorable in several training-related use cases. Apart from didactical advantages, environmental benefits such as a CO2-reductionmay also be obtained. Due to regulatory as well as technical challenges however, prospects of implementing Virtual Reality in airlines are still limited at present. That is why at this early stage, Virtual Reality is recommended for theoretical training only, with simulator training of experienced pilots still being a developmental area. Economic risks consist of dependence of vendors as well as high initial investment costs.