CAN IN-FLIGHT TRAINING BE SAFELY REDUCED?
There are those who fantasize about simulation-based training superseding the need for student pilots to fly an actual helicopter before graduation. However, this is not the purpose of XR and AI- enabled training systems. Instead, their goal is to enhance student safety while reducing instruction costs by minimizing how much time has to be spent in the air.
“From e-learning and computer-based training that allows you to study from anywhere on any device, to FTDs that fit into a small room, to full flight simulators that replicate every detail of an aircraft, pilots are well prepared for when they take an aircraft into flight for the first time,” said Matt Presnal, chief theoretical knowledge instructor at Coptersafety. “This is a much better option than putting a newbie into an actual helicopter sooner than necessary.”
By shifting basic training tasks to simulators equipped with modern
motion-cueing systems, educators are seeing their students perform better, sooner, when they do go aloft. “In many cases we’ve heard students getting into the aircraft for the first time and hovering unassisted in about 30 minutes,” Gawenda said. He noted that this can reduce approximately four to six hours of in-aircraft training for this fundamental task alone.
In fact, this front-loading of skills in XR/ AI-enabled simulators transforms the training
curriculum as a whole. “The
aircraft time then becomes focused time,” said Riesen. “Instead of learning basic coordination, you focus on judgment, environment, real-world variables, and operational decision-making.”
Likewise, XR-enabled simulators are a safe way to let students experience and master in-flight emergencies while still on the ground. “This level of realism has resulted in a reduction in required aircraft hours for certain qualifications,” said Messaris, thanks to students’ ability
to practice complex flight dynamics and degraded visual environments entirely in simulation.
So, how much can in-flight training hours be safely reduced through the use of these advanced training systems? “Simulators today reproduce flight behavior with such fidelity that the few hours flown in the real helicopter during a type-rating probably do not make a significant difference,” Napoli said. This doesn’t mean that we’re at the point of not training helicopter pilots in-flight at all—that will likely never happen for safety reasons—but we may be getting close.
“I think we are still a long way from a Matrix-style neural download to learn how to fly a helicopter,” Gawenda observed. Emphasizing the psychological difference between a simulator and a real aircraft, he added, “I think the basic human tenet of imminent death may still outdrive non- aircraft training, regardless of how good the simulation may be.”
Reiser H145 D3 XR Simulator. Photo: Reiser
86 Mar/Apr 2026
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