Sharing a short video clip about the Evans VP-1 that i came across while reading the EAA newsletter. Another inspiring story of aviation passion. Just as the concept of lift – the ‘wind beneath the wing’ – never ceases to amaze us, I am forever inspired by inventors who start from the drawing board and sketch out home-built airplanes. The Volksplane is exactly that…
Innovating new concepts and creating new products has been a common and consistent theme in the industry. It is interesting to note that when such innovation occurs in an new industry, many of the corresponding methods, mechanisms, equipment do not exist. For example, when Boeing struck an agreement with the chief of PanAm back in the 60s to build a bigger jet than was available at the time, apart from the design of a new aircraft, they had to evolve, build and validate all other components that led to the delivery of the 747. They pretty much put the company on the line in doing so bringing them close to bankruptcy at one point.
There are several such examples in the history of aviation. Indeed, such innovation has been cyclical and the industry has gone through many such cycles of peaks of intense innovation and then periods when they have basically struggled to stay afloat. This discussion is important because the evolution of the simulator is one such innovation. The simulator was an outcome of need – the need to train people on what was built. With time, it turned into a tool – a tool to help address the need to test what was built. In both cases, minimize risk, then minimize cost and then provide a platform to scale operations.
Among the various examples we have seen/read about, I find FAA’s NextGen use of simulators to be a comprehensive example. I find it comprehensive because of various, multi-faceted elements that NextGen reaches into. there are changes to aircraft, airports, traffic control, navigation, communications, crew roles, training processes and a whole lot more. There have been many who have questioned if such a wide impact program is even safe to implement as one program. FAA’s thinking has been that there comes an inflection point when multi-path changes are required to be performed in tandem rather than piecemeal.
Come to think of it, simulators have changed character over the past century. They have gone from helping test/train the machine they model TO helping with modeling (designing) the machine itself.
In the case of NextGen, the future machine is a redesigned USNAS.
Designing simulators that help design the future airspace system is a complex endeavor – fraught with risk. Often, its harder to design the simulator than it is to implement the model in the real world. More importantly, validating such simulators to ensure that they are accurate enough to model the real thing is a complicated exercise. Simulator-related research over the past 5 decades is a mix of successes on one side; and criticisms and warnings on the other side. There are many studies providing us data that simulator design is an evolving science – and that an over-reliance on simulators can lead to problems. In the light of persisting concerns, the use of simulators to design an overhaul of the USNAS can actually be questioned.
Are these simulators able to adequately model and predict behavior in the real world. Are we leaving something out of the model that is in fact a part of the real world environment? Is the simulator violating one of the core principle of learning design, i.e. modeling of identical elements?…
While being a passionate advocate of simulators, I find some of these persisting concerns problematic and in need of expeditious study.
CP
Thanks to a fellow aviator at my home airport for sharing this picture. He has done an immaculate job of taking care and restoring a 70 year old airplane and has flown it all over the US.
https://flic.kr/p/21AeYbY
Over the past 6 months i have done so much work on my simulator that it made me think about writing this post on the compelling possibilities that arise from a networked simulator and a network of simulators.
Just over the past two weeks, in helping out our friends at PilotEdge, I was part of a team that generated traffic for testing avionics equipment and the TCAS system for a design team. Before that, i was part of a team that was itself testing a newly designed simulator. back in February of 2018, as part of study worm at Embry Riddle University, there were many discussions around the use of distributed remote ops concepts that could help build safety scenarios in the use of drones. While all or most of these are concepts, it is very apparent that the combinatorial power of a simulation appliance and the network is phenomenal.
The internet of things is here. Pretty much any device can be provisioned with an IP address. As such, it can participate in a network. The simulator was an extraordinarily useful safety and proficiency device. Combining it into a network has brought out a series of new possibilities. Real-time weather generation, traffic scenario generation, communications testing are just a few of those advantages.
The ability for a piece of simulation hardware to talk to learning management systems and learning content management systems is a valuable opportunity. Taking it a step further. if the learning management system was adaptive, this would add a new dimension to pacing learning based on learner assimilation and learner type. Now with the use of ML, the generation of scenarios based on measures of central tendency have become easier. Content packaging using SCORM and/or IMS makes for standard scenario packages. A learning record store provides for persistence in student progress tracking. Progress dashboards and giving the learner a unified experience becomes very possible. There are many other such benefits.
Aggregation has been the sought after path for several years. Simulators have arrived at that point now.
CJ
The #MD11 is still serving as a #freighter for many air carriers. Here is one from the #Lufthansa fleet.
Golfcharlie232 publishes some of the most vibrant aviation videos. Popular as all of them are, this one got a million hits in 3 weeks. Am reposting it here to share with you all.
Time to rest the machine!
