Maximizing Virtual Reality Cabin Crew Training: A Case Study

David JonesPresident, Quantified Design Solutions

@DJonesCreates

Roger LoweInstructor/Evaluator, American AirlinesRoger.Lowe@aa.com954.668.7504

VR Timeline (Short History Lesson)

3

A High Level History

1950s-1960sMorton Heilig’s Sensorama –

Full Immersion Experience-Audio, 3D Visual, Scent,

Vibration, Fans

1987- Virtual Reality Term Used

Visual Programming Lab (Jaron Lanier) was the first company to sell VR Goggles and gloves

4

Mid-90’s- Gaming Companies Want a Piece of VR

Nintendo and SEGA both fail-Too expensive and clunky

90’s through 2010-LOTS of research

Military, NASA, Education, Aviation, and Medical research in VR.

2010- Present- Commercial Gaming is Back and Better

Hardware platforms are getting better and applying

lessons learned from research

2017- Virtual Cabin Crew Training

Virtual training is ready for Cabin Crew and maintenance applications

USE CASECabin Crew Virtual Readiness Trainer

Why American Wanted to Expand Training➢ Needed to produce a better way of training the aircraft

➢ Allow Flight Attendants to learn at the pace they naturally learned

➢ Needed to quickly produce trainers that accurately represented the current fleet

➢ Needed to change how we taught the information

➢ Needed to improve throughput

7

Turn-key 12-room VR training lab

VR Training

Quantified Design developed a VR training application to introduce air crew to new aircraft and complete pretraining prior to FAA approved check-outs on physical trainers

Designed to practice door operations and knowledge of emergency equipment locations and preflight check requirements.

Visual Representations

Day to Day Operations➢ Entire new hire classes introduced to the VR training system on Sunday

of each week • 20 minute session

• Introduction to VR system, B737 door operations and emergency equipment operations

Day to Day Operations- Student Interactions

Day to Day Operations➢ Lab is open during the week for students to complete additional training• Completions of A321, 777, 787 aircraft

• Refresher training prior to work trips

• Refresher training prior to evaluations

➢ Student performance is recorded under their accounts to progress them as they returned

Early Impact on Training ➢ Data collected from the system was used to determine common errors

and fed back to training development to improve focus on problem areas prior to VR training.

• Monitor and Challenge example

➢ Students are using the system to practice more advanced procedures.

Advanced Procedures

Training Effectiveness EvaluationCabin Crew Virtual Readiness Trainer

Transfer of Training Evaluation Methods➢ Evaluation of Effectiveness

• Performance on qualification trials/events on each door/aircraft:• 5: Error Free (satisfactory)

• 4: Error Captured (satisfactory)

• 3: Debrief (satisfactory)

• 2: Repeat (unsatisfactory)

➢ Hypothesis: • Integration of VR training will improve self-efficacy

• Integration of VR training will improve student performance on physical evaluations

• Increased time in VR (rating 4: 30+ minutes) will lead to better performance rating levels than lower amounts of time in VR (rating 1: 10 minutes or less)

16Results/Training Self-Efficacy

Improved Self-Efficacy

From February ClassHigh Self-efficacy scores increased from 20% of students to 68%

Scope/ Process50 Students completed self-efficacyMeasures given before and after training

Limitations of Research

Small Scale (50 Learners)

Overall Impact of TrainingImproved PerformanceThe addition of VR led to the following:- The students required to repeat qualifying

events on a physical simulator dropped from 25% to 2% from January to March

- Error free performance on qualifying events increased from 34% to 82% from January to March

ImpactReduced need to use physical trainers since students have to repeat evaluations less.

New hire students performed fewer unsatisfactory qualifying events than CQ students after training with the VR

VR Training Impact on Skills- Readiness for Departure/ Arming Doors

Improved PerformanceStudents who used the VR for more than 10 minutes significantly improved performance on live qualification events

- Students required to repeat training or required debriefs dropped from 12% to as low as 1%

- Error free performance increased from 47% to 85%

Practical ImplicationsReduced need for physical trainers and instructors performing evaluations. Supports required throughput.

VR Training Impact on Skills- Readiness for Monitor and Challenge

Improved PerformanceStudents who used the VR for more than 10 minutes significantly improved performance on live qualification events

- Students required to repeat training or required debriefs dropped from 15% to as low as 1%

- Error free performance increased from 49% to 85%

Practical ImplicationsReduced need for physical trainers and instructors performing evaluations. Supports required throughput.

Fills a major learning gap detected during new-hire training- Monitor and Challenge

Cost Savings For New Hire ProgramProcess for Calculating Cost SavingsAverage cost for running a door trainer including instructor time, maintenance, and operation cost: $51/hour

Time required to repeat and exercise (rating of 2)- 6 minutesTime required to debrief (rating of 3)- 2 minutesTime required to capture an error (rating of 4)- 1 minute

During the evaluation period there were 28,561 new hire evaluation scenarios conducted

Impact (Calculations based on Jan-Mar 2018 Data)Repeat ScenariosPrior to VR training, 25% of those scenarios had to be repeated (rating of 2) - 6589 repeat scenarios saved

6589 scenarios x 6 minutes each x $51/hour = $201,012Debriefs RequiredPrior to VR training, 2% of those scenarios required a debrief (rating of 3) - 285 debriefs saved

285 scenarios x 2 minutes each x $51/hour = $971Error CapturePrior to VR training, 39% of those scenarios required a error capture (rating of 4) - 6854 error capture events

6854 scenarios x 1 minute each x $51/hour = $5826

Total cost savings associated with using physical trainng devices over 3 months of new hire training = $207,809 ($69,269/month)When this cost savings is scaled to 9 months of new hire training = $623,429/year of training cost saved for new hires

These savings don’t take into account secondary effects of training, including reduced inadvertent slide deployment or flightattendant retention after being hired.

Takeaways➢ VR training has the potential to significantly improve door operation performance,

reducing arming/disarming errors and teach equipment location for new hires (to a level comparable to CQ level students)

➢ VR is best for training procedural tasks that are dangerous or you have limited physical trainers to train with

➢ VR training can have a significant impact for door operation training in only 20 minutes

➢ VR training must be particularly designed with training needs in mind as opposed to being a “practice system”

Maximizing Virtual Reality Cabin Crew Training: A Case Study

David JonesPresident, Quantified Design Solutions

Roger LoweInstructor/Evaluator, American AirlinesRoger.Lowe@aa.com954.668.7504

David.jones@quantifieddesign.com

321-430-8374www.quantifieddesign.com