TRAIN

Action

The European Commission published the amended Horizon Europe Work Programme 2023-24 on 31 March 2023. The overall driver of Cluster 5 – “Climate, Energy and Mobility” is to accelerate the green and digital transition, and the associated transformation of the economy, industry and society to achieve climate neutrality in Europe by 2050. 

This cluster contains seven research actions, which have been delegated to EASA as contracting authority. This project addresses the following action: Training media allocation – simulator vs. actual flying.

Expected outcome 

The expected outcome of the project is to provide evidence to support a potential update of the initial pilot training requirements towards a safer, more efficient, and more sustainable regulatory framework, considering the ICAO and EASA regulatory framework.

The research is expected to provide an evaluation of the existing initial flight training requirements (as per Commission Regulation (EU) No 1178/2011), from ab-initio to the commercial pilot licence to identify whether certain training objectives, which today are addressed on the aircraft, can be met via the use of FSTD with an equivalent or better training output. 

The research project will also feed future streams of RMT.0196 (Update of flight simulation training devices requirements) on the update of the regulatory provisions for FSTD qualification and their use.

The research project shall encompass both aeroplane and helicopters training, focussing on the training path for which currently there is little availability or use of Flight Simulation Training Devices (FSTD). Additionally, the project will explore the potential impact of new flight simulation technologies (e.g., VR/XR/MR) on pilot training and instructor competency.

Required output

The following outputs are expected:

1. a proposal of which training objectives in initial pilot training, which today are addressed in the aircraft, can be met via the use of FSTD with an equivalent or better training output. The proposal shall be supported by an impact assessment supported by the implementation of the practical training on FSTD, and its results on the training outcome. This output should cover aeroplane and helicopter training.
2. an assessment of the relevance of training objectives (e.g. confidence, resilience, etc.) beyond, or complementing, the nine pilot competencies identifying which specific training media to be used in each competency.
3. a proposal of the specifications and minimum on-aircraft and flight simulation training devices needed to achieve those training objectives.
4. an assessment on whether the current regulatory framework on instructor competencies is sufficient to train those objectives using different training media.