Virtual Reality as a Training Tool

Introduction:

As skydivers and instructors, we constantly seek ways to enhance safety, refine skills, and foster a sense of confidence. According to a recent report by USPA, landing problems accounted for 48% (156) of all non-fatal incidents in 2022, highlighting the need to address this safety concern in our sport.

In recent years, simulators have emerged as powerful tools that can revolutionize the training experience. In this article, we will explore the benefits of simulator training, drawing inspiration from successful applications in other industries, and delve into the benefits of virtual reality (VR) to skydiving students and instructors.

This article shares what I have discovered from 5200+ V.R. jumps with real students over the last seven-plus years and reflects my presentation at the recent P.I.A. Symposium in Reno entitled "Virtual Reality as a Training Tool ."  You can watch this presentation here: https://youtu.be/x0ouLedwScM

It is straightforward to arrange the production of a drop zone used in V.R., so students have relevant landmarks they use in their decision-making during the descent, be at their home Drop Zone (D.Z.) or one they plan to visit.

Besides the immersive 3D goggles experience, V.R. is valuable in a 2D mode where either the Instructor, Student, or both are online and do not use V.R. goggles. The Instructor configures the jump and monitors the Student who uses their mouse to look around and keyboard to steer their virtual parachute.

With VR technology, we can better instruct and evaluate a student's canopy flight, navigation, and landing skills before asking them to do it for real. We can train them to handle unusual jumps like a landing off the DZ or in a crosswind.  We now have a 3D tool to teach a 3D subject.

Summary:

·   "Bottom Line Up Front," my conclusions

·   "Why" the problem we want to solve

·   "How" the solution to implement to solve this problem

·   "What," what we can implement to deliver the solution and bring about meaningful results.

·   "Next steps."

Bottom Line Up Front:

Virtual reality simulation improves learning by providing supervised repetition of best practices. The Student and Instructor are in the same room or can be online. The online option has a significant advantage by enabling learning outside jump operation hours.  We can now train our students to prepare for unusual jumps like landing off the landing area in a crosswind.  They know what information to collect during canopy flight to help make wise canopy-related decisions.

Our culture of teaching canopy navigation skills will evolve to take advantage of the technology, which brings new benefits and new ways to complement existing training tools, techniques, and D.Z. management.  Canopy coaches especially will be able to get additional value using VR to lessons with their customers if they can’t jump due to weather conditions.

V.R.'s strength is for students to practice navigating themselves on their final approach to land in the center of the landing area. But V.R. is not the silver bullet for all landing problems: it complements existing training tools and techniques. Work still needs to be done in person with the Student to enable them to comprehend and understand how to land their canopy and, if required, do a P.L.F.

Why?

The problem to solve is reducing canopy-related incidents and accidents. Thankfully, landing fatalities in the last 20 years have a downward trend, but I think it would be fair to say there's still more work for us. 

For non-fatal incidents, 45% (104 incidents) in 2021 were landing problems, which V.R. can help reduce. In 2022, this rose to 48% (156, or over three incidents per week).

How?

Simulators have long been utilized across industries to provide a safe, cost-effective, and immersive environment for skill development. 

One notable example is the aviation industry, where flight simulators have for decades proven to be invaluable in training pilots and are now mandatory. These simulators replicate real-life flight scenarios, allowing pilots to hone their decision-making skills, practice emergency procedures, generate options, and gain valuable experience without jeopardizing their safety or incurring high costs.

Talking to a couple of the instructors who work in these aircraft pilot simulators, a few phrases caught my attention:

·   "Users gain experience ."Until now, we have gained canopy flight experience by doing so. We can use VR technology to help our students gain experience before leaving the ground. We can confirm that they use best practices and understand how to collect relevant information to make better canopy flight decisions confidently.

·   "Practice generating options." For instance, continually teaching them to assess their landing point during canopy descent means they have a higher safety margin if they land off the D.Z.

·   "Mindset of accepting responsibility ." The industry has learned that this concept does help pilots improve because they accept more that they are responsible for their own and others' safety.

V.R. brings supervised repetition of best practices to our sport in two valuable ways.

·   V.R. rig on your D.Z. (P.C. and goggles connected to the internet). Ideally, it’s in a corner, so it's out of the way. All you need is a chair and some bungees attached to the ceiling holding the V.R. hand controllers and toggles held by the Student. The V.R. rig can easily disassemble so the floor space can be used for other purposes. It helps to have a large screen T.V. to allow other students to watch and learn from each other while being guided by an Instructor.  With students being the first to be grounded due to weather, conducting impromptu, prepared lessons is now possible. Please think about the students who come across our doorstep wanting to learn to skydive. What learning disabilities or challenges do they have that are not apparent? One of the significant benefits I've found of a V.R. rig on the drop zone is that after I've conducted the first jump course, I put the goggles on each of them so they can consolidate the canopy navigation aspects. I can quickly identify students that need additional training, which is a significant advantage.

·   Online without V.R. goggles, an Instructor and Student, each using a P.C. mouse, keyboard, and screen, can share a 2D portal into the 3D environment. Another significant advantage is that we can conduct parachute flight lessons outside regular jump operation hours. An Instructor earns from sharing their experience and time, and most importantly, a Student gains experience with supervised repetition of best practices.

What?

Use the AFF lesson plan format of "Brief, Jump, De-brief" and adapt it to teach canopy flight fundamentals, navigation, final approach, and landing using V.R. for the jump.

Targeted Learning Objectives (T.L.O.s) for each jump become progressively more challenging. V.R. technology makes it easy to introduce the T.L.O.s and evaluate the Student's performance on each V.R. jump. Current T.L.O.s are:

·   Altitude awareness

·   Becoming familiar with landmarks, holding areas, and traffic patterns

·   Recognizing and avoiding turbulence from other canopies or ground obstacles

·   Assessing their landing point

·   Assessing wind speed and direction during canopy flight

·   Regularly looking for, tracking, and avoiding other canopies

·   Final approach picture, avoiding obstacles and landing at less than 10 feet per second vertical

This evaluation becomes an entry in the Student's logbook. The V.R. simulator produces an electronic record of each lesson, which would help us gauge the impact of this technology on accident and incident statistics. Instructors can provide the students V.R. jump in test mode (Instructor is silent) or coach mode (Instructor provides advice).

Instructors configure the jump in V.R. to complement their lesson with their Students. I have found five classes as an initial package works best if the Student’s D.Z. is already in V.R.:

·   Most common landing direction in nil winds and a good spot with no other canopies

·   Second most common landing direction, ideal winds with five other canopies somewhere in the sky

·   Joining the traffic pattern from a lousy spot in high winds with five other canopies somewhere in the sky

·   Landing off the D.Z., this lesson usually involves more than one jump as the Student comprehends and practices accuracy approaches.

·   Landing in a crosswind

If the Student's D.Z. needs to be in V.R., it can be produced relatively quickly. In the meantime, several prominent D.Z.s are already in V.R. and available as a substitute.

V.R. can simulate malfunctions, but as an Instructor, when training my students on emergency procedures, I want to ensure my students' eyes see their hands grip their handles, which is not currently possible when a student is wearing V.R. goggles. As V.R. goggles (hardware and software) evolve, I envisage as an Instructor we will be able to see where they are looking even when they are wearing the V.R. goggles.

The equipment needed is readily available as the V.R. hardware industry has quickly evolved. You will need the following:

·   All V.R. headset manufacturers require Internet access.

·   A V.R.-ready desktop or laptop P.C. Current VR industry standards are served well with a good gaming P.C. or a P.C. used to edit videos. The key is a good GPU (Graphics Processor Unit), as V.R. has specific and high demands on data used for visual purposes.

·   Oculus/Meta, Vive, and HP are the three major players in the V.R. goggles market.

Brief

V.R. complements the existing canopy training tools and techniques. 2D maps, a whiteboard, and possibly some photos or videos of approaching the D.Z. from usual directions so your Student comprehends the canopy descent they are about to do.

As part of my briefing, the theoretical runway is a method I have found helpful for new canopy pilots in learning to assess the landing point or glide path of their canopy because it enables them to answer two critical questions during every canopy flight:

1.   After the Student has confirmed they have a good canopy and found the landing area, they ask themselves, "Can I get back to the landing area"?

2.   On their final approach, they ask themselves, "Are there any obstacles I need to avoid"?

The Theoretical Runway works like this, "As a canopy pilot, once I have confirmed I have a good canopy and found my landing area, I turn and face the landing area:

·   I assume winds are in a consistent direction during the descent.

·   I will not do any turns; therefore, I have before me on the ground a "theoretical runway" from directly below me toward the horizon.

·   I can fly over the front half of the theoretical runway because I have altitude and parachute performance.

·   The rear half of the theoretical runway drops short because I need the altitude or performance to get there.

·   In the middle is a patch of ground I neither fly over nor drop short of; this will most likely be where I will land."

You do not need VR to teach the Theoretical Runway concept.

During the V.R. flight, you, as an Instructor, can evaluate their performance, help them adopt a disciplined thought process, and use best practices. The Student asks the following questions from the start of their V.R. canopy flight, and they answer them themselves using the info collected during their descent:

·   Check if they had a good canopy.

·   Regularly check for other canopies.

·   Regularly look before turning?

·   Regularly check altitude?

·   Find the landing area.

·   Clarify wind speed and direction using the ground point.

·   Can they get back to the landing area? What alternative landing areas are available if needed? We want our students to answer all the above questions within 30 seconds of confirming they have a good canopy.

·   Prioritize getting back to the holding area.

·   Use the traffic pattern as briefed.

·   On the final approach and landing, avoid obstacles.

·   Was their landing below 10 feet per second vertical speed?

Jump

Instructors can use V.R. in either 3D (in person on the D.Z. with the Student using V.R. goggles) or 2D (online with the Student who uses their mouse to look around and keyboard to steer their virtual parachute).

Instructors also have the option of "test mode," where the Instructor is silent when the Student is in flight mode, or "coach mode," where the Instructor can provide advice and use various instructor tools available in V.R. to help accelerate the Student's learning.

During the jump using V.R., real value for the Student of the technology becomes apparent: they gain experience under an Instructor's supervision at collecting relevant information to make better canopy flight decisions. For instance:

·   Planning the dive (holding area, altitude points, and traffic pattern) and diving the plan

·   Identifying possible alternative landing areas if needed

·   Comprehending the value of understanding airspeed compared to ground speed: "holding," "crabbing," and "running."

·   Becoming familiar with their canopy's glide path and practicing the ability to assess their landing point

·   Practice identifying and tracking other canopies.

·   Practice using the Theoretical runway where winds might not be from a consistent direction during descent (this is a jump config option available to the Instructor)

De-brief

Now, an Instructor could consolidate what the Student learned on the V.R. jump by asking the Student to use their mouse to move markers on a 2D map to show their recollection of key altitude points; this helps build their awareness and recall.

Then, the Instructor shows the Students their canopy flightpath and compares it to the flightpath defined in the Brief (planned compared to actual).

How well did the Student adhere to asking and answering the best practice questions and planned flightpath?

A Record of Learning is needed to track, refine, and improve our best practice questions to see this technology's impact on our statistics. It can be either an Electronic record or a regular Logbook entry. As a sport, we must differentiate between real training skydives and virtual reality training jumps.

Next Steps

We have the opportunity to use V.R. technology to prevent landing injuries by allowing direct supervision of best practices. To evolve our culture of canopy navigation so we don't have new canopy pilots asking, "I don't know what to do. What do I do now"?

We already have a community of Instructors who are early adopters. We are looking for more Instructors to supervise their students' repetition of best practices using VR technology.

This community of Instructors is refining and aligning on best practices for canopy flight, navigation, and final approach/landing. Our goal is to reduce canopy-related incidents and accidents. Won't you join us?

About the author:

Originally from New Zealand, he first jumped in 1981. He moved to New York in 1997 and counts his home D.Z. as The Ranch in Gardener. He got his AFF rating in 2000 and has been an A.F.F. evaluator since 2012. He is also a World Record 100-way C.R.W. team member. He has a background in information technology project management and founded the team that built skydiVR, a virtual reality skydiving flight simulator.