Vanguard Magazine

We've started this development about five years ago and its now deployed on over a hundred simulators across our civil train- ing network. It has captured well over 300,000 training events across a whole fleet of different platforms, which is where its power comes from. We can now cross that power over into the defense market and use that to improve the training de- livery. Q What kind of hurdles are you expe- riencing as you move forward with this training transformation? The most important factor is definitely adoption rate. As I said, training's been delivered the same way for 60 years. So, there's inherently a bit of conservatism that comes in, saying, 'Oh, wait a second, how is this going to affect my crews? How are they going to embrace this? Where has this been done before?' And I want to tip my hat to what the US Air Force has done under Pilot Train- ing Next and Pilot Training Transforma- tion. Because those two programs were sort of watershed programs that demon- strated just how different training can be and just how incredibly more effective and efficient it can be. And many will say (and have said), 'if it's good enough for the US Air Force, it's probably good enough for me.' And that is a great example of some of the hurdles we face. So, let's embrace this. Let's look at how we can move it even be- yond what Pilot Training Transformation is doing and bring those tool sets to solve the problems that our customers face. Q What's more important in the deliv- ery of training transformation, experi- ence, or innovation? Or are both equally important? I think it's both. Experience is important to understand current challenges, and in- novation is important as a solution to help solve those problems. Younger generations want to be en- gaged, they want to be excited, they want to use these new technologies. And I think there's potential there to increase the re- tention of those younger students that are coming through the program. And that, in itself, will help address some of the pilot challenges that we face. Q Where do you see the training transformation experience in 12 to 24 months? If we're successful in getting the word out, I think training is going to look very differ- ent. We're doing some trial work right now with the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force, and the feedback has been phenomenal. The students were excited and, with the data analytics, they were able to improve a full grade within one hour. And this hap- pened whether the students had low expe- rience, high experience, high performance, low performance. It was systematic, across the board: every student improved just fly- ing this device for an hour. So, I think in 12 to 24 months, what I would hope to accomplish is to onboard more customers, do more of these trials and prototyping, and ultimately get CA Rise to a point where it is an integral ele- ment of training large classrooms of stu- dents, getting them their wings and mak- ing them ready for tomorrow. Would you like to listen to this interview in audio form? Be sure to check out our complete podcast catalogue at https:// vanguardcanada.com/category/podcast/ or search for us on Spotify. CAE instructors will continue to deliver classroom and simulator training as well as support live flying training for the NFTC program through 2027. 14 AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2023 www.vanguardcanada.com P E R S P E C T I V E Sponsored Content Q Can you provide examples of specific measures that defense organizations are looking at right now to update training? Using data analytics, I can monitor far more parameters in the simulator than any given instructor could ever monitor by themselves. And I can use that data to pro- vide metrics-based insights as to how that student is performing. We've done this a lot on the civil side and now we're bring- ing it to the defense market with a product called CA Rise. But we're going one step further and we're saying, 'Hey, are there other parameters that we can use?' One is emotional state by looking at bio- metrics like heart rate, skin response and body temperature. If a simple maneuver pushes a student's heart rate to 150, maybe that's an indication that the student hasn't mastered the technique, regardless of the result. Another thing we track is gaze. Those who haven't mastered the triangular scan pattern will display poor eye movement, an indication that they haven't assimilated all the knowledge or proficiency they need to be successful. So, I think there's tremen- dous potential track students from early learning exercises in undergraduate pilot training, all the way up to where they get their wings and then off into their opera- tional units. Q Tell us more about CAE Rise. Absolutely. So, CAE Rise is the analytics tool that captures all these new data points.

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