In July 2020, we published a blog post about How Learn To Fly – a flight school in Melbourne, Australia, decided to implement virtual training aids for their students.

Back then, the CEO of Learn to Fly, Kai Li, made this decision as a part of their vision to provide cost-effective flight training that allowed their students to reach flying goals more rapidly and acquire new skills more effectively.

Using V360E, the flight school developed virtual cockpit trainers that allow students to access virtual aircraft and train anytime and anywhere.

To find out how the students and instructors responded and how the virtual trainer influenced the training program, we decided to approach the school with some questions. 👇

What made you consider upgrading your pilot training methods?

“We are always looking at ways to innovate and provide a more sophisticated training model to our students. The COVID-19 pandemic made the ability to provide quality online training even more important for both our domestic and international students. We have developed an online training portal where students can access the V360E 360-degree virtual cockpits and theory courses and mock exams. Students are now able to use this to study online and also to practice and keep their skills current even when they may not be able to fly physically.”

– Rob Embury, Digital Marketing Manager

Why did you choose V360E for the implementation of virtual pilot training?

“We came across V360E when we were looking at what training resources we could provide to our students in the online portal we were developing. For what we were hoping to be able to achieve for our students with our portal, it was hard to ignore the impressive range of features and applications offered by the V360E portal.”

– Rob Embury, Digital Marketing Manager

What is your experience with the process of creating virtual cockpit trainers in V360E?

“Creating the virtual cockpit trainers within V360E was straightforward and seamless. The programme allowed you to put as much or as little detail into the checklists. This created a perfect opportunity to develop the students’ knowledge of aircraft, checklists and procedures to a satisfactory standard. It was very easy to upload aircraft diagrams and schematics to the desired section for added detail.’’

-Hamish Smillie, Grade Two Flying Instructor

What is the biggest challenge when creating virtual cockpit trainers?

“The biggest challenge when creating the virtual cockpit trainers was knowing when to add lots of detailed information for a specific section, procedure or checklist or just keeping it detailed enough to learn the flow, but not taking away from the whole idea of the V360E virtual cockpit training platform or overloading the student with too much information.’’

-Hamish Smillie, Grade Two Flying Instructor

And what about the students?

We asked 10 students studying at Learn To Fly what they think about virtual trainers.

9 out of 10 students we asked agreed that a virtual trainer is a fun and engaging way of getting familiar with the aircraft.

70% of the future pilots at Learn To Fly agreed that a virtual trainer simplified their preparation for an upcoming flight training session.

Would you recommend V360E to other flight schools? If so, why?

“Absolutely! The V360E virtual cockpit trainer has allowed the school to develop a training platform that students can access from anywhere in the world and be prepared for their first flight right from the very start. The students can study their own aircraft’s specific procedures, checklists and information systems well in advance. This allows them to save time and money learning the procedures without the engine on, and also allows them a space to practice specific emergency procedures in a safe and interactive environment.’’

-Hamish Smillie, Grade Two Flying Instructor

Not only for flight schools

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