Unmanned Aircraft System Aircrew Simulator Use to Meet Training Requirements

摘要

This research surveyed 43 RQ-7 Shadow Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) operators to determine their flight simulator use to meet the Aircrew Training Manual (ATM) training requirements. Research on manned aircraft simulations and Army Aviation policies indicate that flight simulators should be used as much as practical for flight training. This study found that a significant majority of the Shadow UAS operators are not using their simulators to meet ATM flight or training requirements. The results indicated that Shadow UAS operators are meeting their training requirements with the aircraft versus using their flight simulators. The researcher found the reasons for this were combat deployments, low simulator fidelity, simulator availability, and training issues that limited simulator use. Follow on interviews with UAS operators supported these findings and found that there are biases in the UAS community on what is considered acceptable fidelity for flight simulations.