ASTi wins contract for Pilot Phraseology Trainer

ASTi announced that a major airline training program haspurchased 24 instances of its Pilot Phraseology Trainer (PPT). The PPT usesadvanced speech recognition and text-to-speech technologies from SERA, ASTi'sSimulated Air Traffic Control Environment product. The PPT helps students buildbasic air traffic control (ATC) phraseology and radio skills before they reachthe flight line's busy environment.

"A common problem for new pilots is 'radio freeze,'where the student is overwhelmed and unable to handle even basic radio callsonce inside the cockpit. This wastes time and costs money. The PPT is a simplebut powerful tool designed to give a pilot trainee confidence prior to keyingtheir mic," commented Neil Waterman, ASTi commercial aviation director.

The PPT presents a progressive series of simulated flightsrequiring students to listen, respond to and initiate radio calls with ATC,just like a real flight. This software uses SERA's speech recognitiontechnology to process, score and display student transmissions for review.Trainees may attempt a transmission again or proceed to the next interaction.

ASTi hosts the PPT "in the cloud," making itavailable anytime, anywhere. Users merely need a device with a web browser thatsupports a microphone and speaker(s). The default configuration offers astandard set of ten flights that increase in complexity. ASTi can also generatecustom flights for specific customers or training programs.

The PPT can also help airlines support pilot transitiontraining, allowing new-to-this-airline pilots to experience radio calls fromunfamiliar airports.