Simulator Cockpit Motion and the Transfer of Initial Flight Training

Transfer of flight training from a Singer-Link GAT-2 training simulator, modified to approximate a counterpart Piper Cherokee Arrow airplane, was measured for independent groups of nine flight-naive subjects, each trained in one of three simulator cockpit motion conditions normal washout motion in bank with sustained pitch angles, washout banking motion in which the direction of motion relative to that of the simulated airplane was randomly reversed 50 of the time as the cab passed through a wings-level attitude, and a fixed-base condition. Subjects received predetermined fixed amounts of practice in the simulator on each of 11 flight maneuvers drawn from the Private Pilot flight curriculum. Transfer performance measures, including flight time and trials to FAA performance criteria and total errors made in the process, showed reliable transfer for all groups with differential transfer effects and cost effectiveness implications depending upon the type of simulator motion. An aptitude estimator measure and the analysis of covariance technique provided increased discrimination among groups in the presence of considerable individual variation in performance within treatment conditions.