NBAA-BACE: CAE unveils groundbreaking immersive pilot training app

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CAE, the aviation training company, has unveiled an innovative way of training pilots using Apple Vision Pro headsets.

The CAE app uses spatial computing to create a virtual flight deck. Pilots with Apple Vision Pro headsets can then train anywhere in the world. CAE has started with Bombardier Global 7500 aircraft and plans to roll out the programme in early 2025.

“We believe that system this can have a significant impact for pilot training,” Erick Fortin, director of incubation, CAE tells Corporate Jet Investor. “We are still developing and now are getting feedback from pilots.”

Fortin says that CAE has been looking seriously at virtual reality training for more than a decade but has been held back by technology. The Apple Vision Pro has allowed the training company to build a functioning cockpit. Pilots can also use an “exploration” mode to touch and use specific controls – CAE then explains more detail. In “guided mode” they can work through agreed procedures. Pilots can also use the virtual flight deck normally. The system does not need a joystick, they turn or switch virtual buttons.

Until now, pilots could only practice this way in a simulator at a training centre. Now they just need a $3,500 Apple Vision Pro headset.

“It will allow pilots to engage with realistic flight deck environments to further ensure they are ready for their full-flight simulator sessions and become even better prepared for any situation,” said Emmanuel Levitte, CAE’s chief technology and product officer, in a statement.

CJI view:

We got the chance to power up a Global 7500 while sitting in a meeting room at NBAA BACE 2024. The experience is amazing. It is impossible to explain how brilliant the CAE’s Apple Vision Pro App is. Without needing to use a joystick, pilots can touch and use every control in the cockpit. If you need to pull out a switch out to activate it in real life, you can do this on the CAE App. It can then explain what everything does.

While it will not replace training centres and simulators for years, this is the future of pilot training.

Aviation faces a big pilot shortage and CAE’s Apple Vision Pro App can allow them to speed up training while making flying even safer. As well as cutting costs, this system also increase lets pilots train more regularly. CAE has started with business aviation but sees big opportunities with using the system for training advanced air mobility pilots.

The term groundbreaking is often overused. But CAE has created a genuinely ground product with its Apple Vision Pro App.

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