Changing skill-sets

Deadline for Tenders Was May 15 and the Successful Bidder is Due to Be Revealed in Sep-tember. Rollout is Expected in April 2013.

A Cutting-edge, Modern Approach Will Be Applied to the Teaching of Aircraft-related Technical Skills to Students From the Air Force, Army and Navy. To Be Based at Wagga, the Att Will Comprise About 44 Courses Taught to Over 1,000 Students a Year.

To Meet the Rft Contract Criteria, Three Strategic Partnerships Have Been Formed: Bae Systems, Rmit and Pennant Training Systems; Boeing Defence Australia and the Tafe Nsw Riverina Institute; and Cae Australia and Aviation Australia.

At Stake is an Initial Five-year Contract With Annual Award Extensions Based on Performance to a Maximum of 20 Years.

Cae and Aviation Australia Recently Briefed Australian Aviation on Their Pro-posed Training Solution for Future Adf Aircraft Maintainers.

The Two Have Pooled Resources to Meet Adf Demand for a Highly Innovative Training System. And the Cae/aviation Australia Team Believe Its Computer-based Training Approach is Just That.

Aviation Australia’s Terry Ward Told Australian Aviation: “where We Intend to Go is to Remove the Paper. And We Intend to Integrate Everything Into a Student Resource Where the Student Has Access to Everything. This Means the $50,000 of Print We Go Through Every Year is Gone and Every Student is Issued With a Secure, Locked-down Tablet That Has All Student Text on It.

“interactive Flash Files Are Embedded and Training Movies Developed in-house at Avia-tion Australia, So They’ve Got That on Their Tablet and They Can Take That Home With Them. It’s Set Up Like a Textbook but It’s More of an Interactive Tool, With Graded Knowl-edge Levels That Will Be Used Either at Home or in the Classroom. ” Cae and Aviation Australia’s Proposed Solution to the Att Rft Rests on the Three Pillars of Courseware, Training Media and Facilities.

This Approach Brings to Bear Aviation Australia’s Expertise in Aviation Training and Syllabus Development and Marries These With Cae’s Market-leading Aircraft Simulation Technology, the Result of Which is Simulation-based Courseware. The Result of This Union is Simulation Based Courseware (Sbc), and It is the Solution That Cae/ Aa Hope Will Soon Transform the Training Experience for Trainee Adf Maintainers.

Simulation is the Cornerstone of Cae/ Aa’s Teaching Philosophy. They Claim Stu-dents Retain Demonstrably Greater Knowl-edge of a Given Maintenance Procedure by Performing It Themselves, if Only Virtually.

Instructors

According to Terry Ward, the Instructors Employed by Cae/aa Would Be Largely Civilian and, Like the Majority of Those Pro-viding Technical Training in Wagga, Ex-adf Personnel. Instructors for the New System Would Be Overseeing the Tuition of Stu-dents Using a Syllabus Drawn From Aviation Australia’s Bank of 25,000 Pages of Aviation Training Courseware, Delivered as Computer-based Training and Complemented by Cae’s Advanced Simulation.

Facilities

an Upgrade of Classroom and Training Facilities at Wagga Has Been Mooted by Cae With the Company Pointing Out That Its Solution to the Adf’s Att Requirement Includes Delivering the Appropriate Facili-ties in Which Training Can Take Place in a Progressive Fashion.

Training Media

the Exponential Growth of Computing Power Has Made Possible Training Systems Using High-definition, Computer-based Sim-ulation, Rendered on Screens With Pin-sharp Resolution. Trainees in the World Imagined by Cae/aa Will Use Tablet Computers and in the Classroom Will Be Taught With the Aid of 21-inch Monitors, Where They Do Mainte-nance Tasks on Interactive, Virtual Platforms.

Using a Cots Pc and Two to Three Wide-screen Monitors, Students Get Virtual Mainte-nance Training (Vmt) and From the Comfort of a Classroom Chair Can Do Walkarounds of Faithfully Rendered Virtual Aircraft Before Changing Lrus or Testing Electrical Systems.

Cae’s Systems Engineering Lead, Jawahar Bhalla Outlines the Key Aims of Vmt: “with Maintainer Training, the Traditional Approach Has Been the Apprentice Approach. Wagga Essentially is Using That Approach but the Hands-on Equipment is Fairly Dated – It’s an Older Generation of Aircraft and Systems Architecture.

“teaching Avionics is Completely Differ-ent From What’s Available at Wagga,” He Says. “most of It Was Done With Hardware or in a Static Courseware Based Material. There Was No Continuous Linkage Between Parts.

“what Vmt Does is to Try to Bridge That Gap. It Provides a Synthetic Replication of the Aircraft Environment, Allows the Trainee to Get Familiar With Where Things Are Located, How They Interconnect and to Be Able to Conduct Diagnostics on Pieces of Equipment and Be Able to Change That Piece Quickly and Effectively, on a Computer. ” as Part of Its Training Solution, Cae Has Developed Black Hawk and Seahawk Vmt on Which Students Can Hone Troubleshooting Procedures, Do Repairs and Replacements and Acquire Core Maintenance Skills. The System Features a Replicated Black Hawk Cockpit, Test Sets and Ffms Software.

On Screen, the Aircraft is Depicted Sitting on the Flightline. The Student Approaches, and Can Begin Opening Any Access Panel and Can Inspect Any Given Black Box in an Equip-ment Bay. For Example, Instructors Can Pre-fault the Black Hawk’s Gyro, Which Trainees Then Have to Test, Inspect and Reinstall.

Tilting of the Gyro Can Be Done Virtu-ally to See if It is Functioning Adequately, or Indeed Needs Repair. Once Reinstalled, the Quality of the Student’s Repair Work Can Be Tested by an Instructor, Who Can Engage the Gyro in a Simulated Ground Run.

The Aircraft Simulator Used in Cae/aa’s Proposal, a Combined Seahawk/black Hawk Sim, Also Has an Interface to a Replicated Cockpit With Virtually Functioning Switches, Dials and Gauges. The Simulator Comes Deployed as a Full-flight and Mission Simula-tor, Allowing Flights to Be Made by Recently ‘repaired’ Aircraft. Enhanced Functionality Means Diagnostics Can Be Done on the Air-frame, With Students Using Replica Test Sets.

As Bill Horrocks Explains: “we Have Hardware Simulator Replicas of the Test Sets Because Some Are Quite Complicated to Operate. There’s a Lot of Benefit of Being Able to Touch the Dials and Switches, So Some Replicas Are Interfaced With Our Simulators, Meaning Students Can Test in the Virtual Environment.

“essentially, You’re Trying to Fool Three of Our Senses: What You See, Feel and Hear. In the Virtual Environment, the Tactile Part is a Largely Missing Part, So Test Sets Fool the Senses and Increase the Realism of the Simulation. ” the Cae/aa Solution Also Provides for Maintainer Trainer Apps That Allow Interac-tion Between Trainees and Instructors in a Free-play Environment, Where Students Are Tested by Instructors on a Range of Random Maintenance Scenarios to See How They Respond.

Mr Bhalla Explains the Benefits of This Virtual Approach: “the Key Difference is Between the Real World and 2d Environ-ment is the Touch and Feel Aspect. But You’re Going Through the Workfloors, Following the Procedures, Getting It Into Your Mind What the Steps Are.

“so It Provides for the Sequencing and Mindset Shift So Students Start to Work Methodically and Follow Steps Properly. And That’s the Biggest Benefit of Maintenance Training, and You Can Do That in a Simulated Environment and if You Can Get It Wrong, You’re Not Doing Damage. ” Both Bid Partners Have Had to Tailor Their Joint Bid to the Evolving Nature of Mainte-nance Within the Adf, Says Mr Bhalla: “the Approach is Moving Towards a Diagnostic and Replacement Approach, So We Need to Change the Skill-sets of Trainees. And to Do That We’re Using Virtual Maintenance Train-ing, Which Bridges the Gap by Introducing a Range of Synergies.

“essentially It Provides a Synthetic Replica-tion of the Aircraft Environment, Allows the Individual to Get Familiar With Where Systems Are Located, How They Interconnect, to Be Able to Conduct Diagnostics on Pieces of Equipment – and to Do That Quickly and Effectively, Because You Don’t Need Hardware or a Piece of Kit.

“this Approach Also Enhances the Role of the Instructors, Making Them More Facilita-tors or Mentors Rather Than People Who Tell Trainees What to Do. ”

Defence Training Model

Inherent to Cae/aa’s Bid is the Recogni-tion That Technologies, Methodologies and Capabilities All Move and Evolve, Requiring Proactive Responses From Training Providers.

While This Process Ordinarily Would Be a Given of Any Large Training Package, It’s Nonetheless Mandated by the Defence Training Method, a “documented System Used by the Adf to Provide a Consistent Method to Ensure Training Produces Mem-bers With Suitable Skills and Knowledge for the Use in the Adf”.

If Trainees Are Not Being Schooled to a Level Expected by the Adf, a Five-step Process is Initiated That Seeks to Remediate Any Shortcomings in Training Outcomes. The Dtm Does This by Analysing, Designing, Developing, Conducting and Evaluating.

In Short, It Means Utilising Student and Instructor Feedback, Internal Validation and Targeted Remediation to Ensure Students Leave Wagga With Competencies to the Required Standard.

The Future

With the Wholesale Embrace of Cbt, the Adf is Set to Leave Behind a Reliance on Acres of Printed Technical Manuals and Textbooks as the Next Generation of Aircraft Maintainers Learn Their Trade Not on Super-annuated Macchis but Windows-compatible Tablets Utilising State of the Art Animations and Flash Files.

Understandably, Both Parties Say They’re Confident of Meeting the Due Start Date of April 1 2013 Should They Be Successful, With the System Delivery Strategy Allowing 18 Months for Phase-in.

But No Matter Who Wins This Coveted Contract, the Ever-evolving, High-definition, Interactive Simulators and the Ab Initio ‘bluesuits’ of 2013 Mean the Classroom Will Be Unrecognisable to Graduates of Only a Decade Ago.