The Aeronautical Journal December 2025 Vol 129 No 1342

If Virtual Reality (VR) can be such a game-changer in terms of the human experience of learning, then why don’t we see more of it on a daily basis? This was the question that launched our study of its effectiveness in delivering training, and also one that continued to puzzle us throughout its initial phases. VR systems that had been fielded were either assumed to be working well with little substantiation, or were gathering dust because they lacked meaningful data to support their intended use. Aviation applications require data for certification and fielding, which led us to further ask: why can’t we find studies that examine the effectiveness of VR systems in an aviation application? Several years of searching yielded neither an established methodology for evaluating an aviation application, nor did it uncover any publicly available studies with a meaningful sample size. We set out to address both of these issues.

Our article examines the effectiveness of using virtual reality training environments for procedural training in fourth-generation airliners. It is based on a study that assessed whether the training outcomes from a current recurrent training course for FAA-certificated airframe and powerplant technicians, which used a full flight simulator (FFS) to deliver and assess training, differed from the same training delivered using a virtual reality (VR) device. The licensing requirements of this group and controls for eligibility to undertake recurrent training provided us with a uniform and controlled entry standard for our experimental subjects. The study used an experimental design with three groups, and two within-group measures of training effectiveness. The control group followed the current training programme and was assessed in the FFS, while the second group was trained using a VR device and was subsequently assessed in the FFS. The third group was a sub-group of the VR trained group who had previous experience using a VR device. Training effectiveness was assessed using a modified Global Evaluative Assessment of Robotic Skills (GEARS) tool that measured both cognitive and psychomotor aspects of learning, and the time to successful completion of the assessed task was also measured. The GEARS tool was adapted for aviation use using Bloom’s Taxonomy, and the adapted scale became the Aerospace Virtual reality Assessment of Training Effectiveness tool (AViATE). The population sampled for the study were all Federal Aviation Administration certificated airframe and powerplant technicians who were engine-run qualified; a total sample of 100 was used to achieve a 95% confidence interval. The hypothesis under test was that there would be no difference in test performance between the three groups. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was performed using the AViATE scores and time to completion as variables, and the null hypothesis was retained. The VR system, as tested, was found to provide equivalent task performance to the traditional training method.

Not only did we show that the VR system was providing an equivalent learning experience to the traditional method in this case, we also established a methodology that could be used in certification or validation studies on other aviation-related VR systems. This was done using a robust experimental method with an adequate sample size. In addition, our use of a competency-based training system allows for the generalizability of the results to other systems and populations training for similar competencies.

The paper The effectiveness of using virtual reality training environments for procedural training in fourth-generation airliners by M.E. McCullins, S. Hampton, S.G. Fussell, K. Kiernan and J. Thropp appears in Volume 129 Issue 1342 of The Aeronautical Journal and is available open access.

The Aeronautical Journal has, for over a century, been the UK’s leading scientific and technical aeronautics Journal and is the world’s oldest Aerospace Journal that remains in production. Published monthly, The Aeronautical Journal draws upon the expertise and resources of The Royal Aeronautical Society providing a world-wide forum for authors from the UK and overseas. Research papers are solicited on all aspects of research, design and development, construction and operation of aircraft and space vehicles. Papers are also welcomed which review, comprehensively, the results of recent research developments in any of the above topics.

The Royal Aeronautical Society is the world’s only professional body dedicated to the entire aerospace community. Established in 1866 to further the art, science and engineering of aeronautics, the Society has been at the forefront of developments ever since.

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