FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine
Civil Aerospace Medical Institute

Report No: DOT/FAA/AM-07/27

Title and Subtitle: Preliminary Results of an Experiment to Evaluate Transfer of Low-Cost Simulator-Based Airplane Upset Recovery Training

Report Date: October 2007

Authors: Rogers RO, Boquet A, Howell C, DeJohn C

Abstract: Many air transport training programs provide simulator-based upset-recovery instruction for company pilots. However, no research exists to demonstrate that such training transfers to an airplane in flight. We report on an in-progress FAA-funded research experiment to evaluate upset-recovery training transfer. Participant pilots are trained using low-cost desktop flight simulation, then subjected to serious in-flight upsets in an aerobatic airplane.

Preliminary results comparing the performance of trained and control group pilots suggest that simulator-based training may improve a pilot�s ability to recover an airplane from an upset. We summarize prior research, describe the experiment, and present results of Phase-One testing.

We also detail planned refinements in Phase-Two flight training and testing that we hope will strengthen the results of our research. Although we are conducting flight testing in a general aviation airplane, our research has important implications for heavy aircraft upset recovery trainers.

Key Words: Airplane Upset-Recovery Training; Low-Cost Flight Simulation; Training Transfer

No. of Pages: 21