Simulator Evaluation of Instructional and Design Features for Training Helicopter Shipboard Landing

The effects of four instructional issues and one simulator design feature for training helicopter shipboard landing on small ships were tested in the Vertical Take-off and Landing Simulator (VTOL) at the Visual Technology Research Simulator (VTRS), Naval Training Systems Center. They were: (1) field of view (VTRS versus a test field of view), (2) task chaining (segmented backward chaining versus whole task training), (3) augmented cueing (augmented cueing versus no augmented cueing), (4) length of training (18, 27, and 36 trials), and (5) the timing of seastate introduction (early versus late). The experiment utilized an in-simulator transfer-of-training paradigm in which pilots who were not proficient in the helicopter shipboard landing task were trained under one of several experimental conditions, then tested on the transfer condition (that represented maximum realism) in the simulator. Thirty-two pilots each completed a total of 54 trials (36 training, 18 transfer). Pilots were tested in the transfer condition (six trials) after their 18th, 27th, and 36th training trial. Of the experimental instructional issues, task chaining had the largest effect, with better performance in all segments of the task for pilots who were trained with the backward-chaining sequence, than for pilots who received whole task training. Augmented cueing did not yield the transfer performance anticipated. Seastate introduction had no effect on performance. Field of view had some marginal effects on vertical performance in the hover, with better performance for pilots who were trained with the combination VTRS field-of-view and backward-chaining. Results suggest a diminished rate of learning after 33 simulator trials (includes 27 training trials and six transfer trials of the first probe).