Simulator based Spatial Disorientation training in the Indian Air Force

Material and Methods

Air Fox Disorientation Simulator was installed at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) at Bangalore in May 2004. The SD simulator consists of a six degree of freedom system with an additional continuously rotating yaw mechanism to generate linear and rotational motions. It utilizes advanced electronic controls, computer-model driven responses and realistic graphic displays. The system intends to provide safe and realistic real time disorientation simulation [14].

The five day training schedule embarked upon by the IAF involved lectures on SD mechanism and about two hours of simulated exposure to SD illusions. A questionnaire based feedback was obtained from aircrew at the end of each course. The responses were later converted to descriptive statistics.

The simulator training consisted of demonstration of thirteen common illusions of fighter flying. Five of these illusions involved passive operation of the simulator and served to demonstrate the limitations of the orientational senses. The eight active illusions involved flying a pre-programmed profile with closed-loop control of the simulator by the pilot. These profiles were: coriolis (active and passive), somatogyral, oculogyral, nystagmus, autokinesis, spin recovery, leans, dark night take-off, black hole approach, false horizon (clouds), illusions of runway width and slope.

Results

The response of 178 IAF aircrew of fighter stream flying different aircraft to the five (05) day simulator based SD training was analyzed for the purpose of this study. Mean flying hours of the pilots were 455 hrs with a range from 140 hrs to 2800 hrs.

The feedback to questions were divided into the following five areas:-

1. SD awareness

2. SD simulator realism

3. Simulator training effectiveness

4. Training value of illusion profiles

5. Other aspects of SD training

The first question addressed the level of awareness of SD. Fig 1 shows that prior to training 95% of pilots had satisfactory to good SD awareness and only 5% had very good to excellent awareness. Post training 12% pilots had good SD awareness while a majority (88%) reported it to be very good to excellent.

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Fig 1:

SD Awarenes Pre and Post Simulator Training

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Fig 2:

Simulator realism

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Fig 3:

Simulator training effectiveness

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Fig 4:

Simulator training benefits

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Fig 5:

Training value of illusions

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Fig 6:

Aircrew opined duration of SD training

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Fig 7:

Aircrew opined onset of SD training

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Fig 8:

Aircrew opined refresher SD training

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The next two questions were related to the perceived realism of the SD simulator. As seen in Fig 2, realism of illusions in the simulator was found to be satisfactory by 15% of pilots and good to excellent by 85%. 49% of pilots reported poor to satisfactory realism of controls and displays in the simulator while 51% found it to be good to very good. Fig 3 indicates that 95% of pilots found the simulator to be good to excellent in imparting training on recognition of SD conducive conditions. 90-97% of pilots rated the simulator based training as good to excellent in reinforcing trust in instruments and the ability to initiate corrective actions

In terms of benefit and quality of SD training, 96-98% of pilots reported the perceived cost benefit and quality of simulator based SD training to be good to excellent (Fig 4).

Figure 5 shows the response of 78 of the fighter aircrew towards the training value of each of the 13 pre-programmed simulated illusions. They were rated beyond 5 in a scale of 0 - 9 (0: none, 9: perfect).

165 of the 178 aircrew submitted their opinion on the duration, timing in career and need for refresher course of the simulator based SD training (Figs 6, 7, 8).

Discussion

Curricula of the simulator based SD course at IAM aims to augment ground based spatial disorientation (SD) training imparted to the aviators of IAF. The objectives are: awareness of the limitations of the physiological orientational mechanisms; awareness of conditions predisposing to SD; demonstration and experiencing of common in-flight illusions and to enhance the trust in instruments and ability to initiate corrective action.

Subjective feed-back from the aircrew on the effectiveness of the SD simulator and training have been encouraging. Majority (88%) of them have reported an improvement in their awareness of SD to be very good to excellent after the course. The subjective validation of the simulator indicates that 85% aircrew have found the realism of the illusions to be good to excellent. Kallus [11], also found the Air Fox DISO simulator to be able to demonstrate disorientation phenomena realistically. Flowever, the realism of the controls and displays in the simulator cockpit have received average ratings with 49% aircrew finding them to be poor to satisfactory and the other 51% good to very good. The SD simulator has a generic cockpit with controls and displays which do not conform to any of the fighter aircraft currently in operation in IAF. To familiarize with the controls and displays of the simulator, each aircrew is given sufficient duration of free-flight prior to the onset of the passive and active training.

A vast majority (95%) of aircrew have indicated the simulator to be good to excellent in imparting effective training for recognition of SD conducive conditions. Estrada [1], has reported that 69% of aircrew found simulator training better preparing them to recognize factors which make SD more likely. 90 - 97% of pilots have rated the simulator based training as good to excellent in reinforcing trust in instruments and ability to initiate corrective actions. In the study by Estrada [1], 67-72% aircrew rated the simulator training to improve their situational awareness, mission decision making ability and crew coordination skills.

Towards subjective validation of the SD training, 96% of aircrew have rated the simulator good to excellent as a cost effective SD training tool and 98% have rated the quality of SD training to be good to excellent. Estrada 11 ], also found that 90% of the aircrew had opined that ail aircrew would benefit from simulator based SD scenario training. The response to training value of the 13 pre-programmed illusions on the Air Fox DISO simulator has clustered to the right of the midpoint in a scale of 0-9 indicating a high acceptance by the aircrew.

The aircrew have indicated an ideal duration of training to be of three days and nearly 70% of them felt that the initial simulator based SD training should be started at the abinitio level of flying experience. Also, 90% of the aircrew have shown a desire for refresher SD training during their further flying career. The ASCC recommends refresher training at 3-5 yrs [12, 13].

During the course of imparting the SD training, aircrew have reported the following to the authors that, “You make Believers from Nonbelievers”, “We can now give meaning to our feelings” and “ We are now sure that experience does not make us immune to SD”.

Conclusion

The IAF has kept pace with its contemporaries in initiating a dedicated and structured SD training for its aircrew. The simulator based training has facilitated realistic SD illusions to be produced in a safe, ground-based environment and enabled the aircrew to relate the demonstration to in-flight situations. The current study analyses the SD awareness levels of the pilots and post SD training benefits accrued. The positive subjective validation of SD simulator and training to reinforce their theoretical knowledge is very encouraging and is expected to improve the SD coping skills of the pilots. The present endeavor is to expose all the aircrew of fighter stream of the IAF to the simulator based SD awareness course.