US Navy Sims Get Live ATC for More Immersive Flight Training

Student Naval aviators (SNA) with Training Air Wing (TW) 4, located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Corpus Christi, Texas, now have the capability to speak directly with live air traffic control (ATC) personnel during simulator training, a significant advancement to the U.S. Navy’s undergraduate primary flight training.

The inclusion of live ATC communication into flight training is a feature of Project Avenger, Chief of Naval Air Training’s (CNATRA) new prototype primary flight training syllabus designed to develop more capable aviators at a faster rate. Project Avenger incorporates modern technology into the curriculum to optimize skill development while reducing training time.

To allow students live ATC interaction, the curriculum uses PilotEdge, a software service that provides students with live communications with certified air traffic controllers. These controllers give instruction through radio communications to the students during their simulators. Before Project Avenger, ATC communication was provided verbally by the simulator instructor. This new advancement gives flight students a quicker understanding of real-world flight.

“Our students are able to learn flight communications earlier, and more frequently, allowing them to become more adept more quickly than students who came before them,” Cmdr. Joshua Calhoun, TW-4 Project Avenger Detachment Officer in Charge.

Calhoun, who led the transformation from the older primary flight syllabus into the new modern curriculum, has learned that students who went on to advanced flight training for jets after completing the new syllabus have performed above average in relation to those students who completed the previous syllabus.

“Our students are able to process information faster in the aircraft and we specifically train them to do that,” Calhoun said. “They can adapt more quickly to real-world changes.”

TW-4, comprised of four units, trains student aviators in primary, intermediate, and advanced flight training. These units have a combined total of approximately 800 officers and enlisted personnel, as well as more than 180 aircraft and simulators.