#VirtualReality
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Virtual Reality Training for Australian Ambulance

RACQ LifeFlight Rescue from Queensland, Ausralia has a new virtual reality simulator for the AW139 and Bell 412 helicopters crews at the LifeFlight Training Academy





Virtual Reality Training for Australian Ambulance
RACQ LifeFlight Rescue, September 09, 2020 - A new virtual reality crew simulator is the latest addition and completes the full suite of simulators at the LifeFlight Training Academy, enhancing the facility as a one stop shop for aeromedical training.

The equipment transforms the way aircrew officers train for lifesaving winch missions, by combining high fidelity virtual reality technology and physical elements, built into a replica of a helicopter cabin.

“You wear a harness, you can put your gloves on, you hear everything through a headset as you would for real, the winch cable runs through your fingers, sitting with the winch pendant in your other hand,” RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Aircrew Officer Greig Allan said.

The equipment joins the Thales Level D Full Flight Simulator for pilots and the Medical Simulator for training flight doctors, nurses and paramedics; meaning the LifeFlight Training Academy, which is located in Brisbane, Australia, can now offer simulated training across all key roles of aeromedical care.

“This is the final string in our bow for aircrew training, it creates an opportunity for crews – both LifeFlight crews and external clients – to come to the Academy and tick off any type of training they need to do, such as Helicopter Underwater Escape Training or crew resource management training,” LifeFlight Training Academy Executive Manager Tim McGuire said.

“New aircrew officers can come here and train in a much calmer environment than with a live helicopter – they can do a ground lesson, then do static training in the simulator and get a feel for an aircraft before going anywhere near a real helicopter.”

Chief Aircrew Officer and simulator instructor Simon Gray said the system also allows trainers to develop crew members to a higher level.

With the trainer in full control of the simulated scenarios, they can introduce challenging elements that could never be implemented in live helicopter training – such as creating wild weather conditions. “In the real world we’re pretty much limited to low heights for our training, we can’t introduce things that would potentially be dangerous in the real world, whereas we can do all that here,” Mr Gray said.

Mr Gray said the system can also be completely pre-programmed to run a scenario on its own, meaning the instructor can simply hit ‘play’, then focus on what the aircrew officer is doing and what they’re seeing during their virtual experience.

“That’s the great thing about this system, is that I can see exactly where they’re looking, through screens which display what the trainee can see through the VR headset,” he said. “We then have the ability at the end of the scenario to play it back completely in a multitude of views and perspectives – from what the trainee was looking at, to what the aircraft was doing and to what the survivor on the ground could see.”

The equipment allows aircrew officers more hours of ‘training in the air’, while saving the costs of flying hours and leaving rescue crews and choppers online for tasking.

“We don’t get a lot of time in the back of the aircraft in the cabin, because of the costs involved, so this really is going to allow us to develop our crewmen to the next level,” Mr Gray said. The simulator can be adjusted to model either an AW139 or Bell 412 helicopter and can be used to train other cabin crew, such as nurses and paramedics.

LifeFlight has a forty year history of providing aeromedical and pre-hospital care in Queensland, Australia with a fleet of ten RACQ LifeFlight Rescue helicopters, four medically-configured RACQ LifeFlight Rescues Air Ambulance jets and 150 RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Critical Care Doctors, along with Flight Nurses and Flight Paramedics.

The LifeFlight Training Academy provides training and currency for the aeromedical crews in the fleet, as well as for commercial clients.

Virtual Reality Simulator Transforms Training For Racq Lifeflight Rescue Aircrew Officers


A new virtual reality crew simulator is transforming the way RACQ LifeFlight Rescue aircrew officers train for lifesaving winch missions, allowing them to build their skills in scenarios which can’t be replicated in live helicopter training.

Crew members carry out winch missions played through a virtual reality helmet, combined with the physical elements built into the simulator – such as harnesses, the winch wire and winch controller pendant.

Chief Aircrew Officer and simulator instructor Simon Gray said the technology allows trainers to introduce elements and challenges, that could never be implemented when training in a real helicopter. “I can change the sea state from a nice calm mirrored surface to a Beaufort scale 5 gale, I can put lightning into the equation, I can bring the wind, I can get people to move.”

Aircrew officers are immersed in high fidelity rescue scenarios, through a visual reality headset. Aircrew officers, whose roles include operating the winch system from the aircraft cabin, say the experience is so realistic and the graphics are such high definition, that it’s easy to believe they’re in genuine, high-pressure situations.

“You wear a harness, you can put your gloves on, you have a headset on, you hear everything through the headset as you would for real, the winch cable runs through your fingers, sitting with the winch pendant in your hand also,” RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Aircrew Officer Greig Allan said.

“Without that harness you do get a sense that you might fall out the door if you’re not careful,” he said. The equipment allows aircrew officers to train safely on the ground, saving the costs of flying hours and leaving rescue crews and choppers online for tasking. “We don’t get a lot of time in the back of the aircraft in the cabin, because of the costs involved, so this really is going to allow us to develop our crewmen to the next level,” Mr Gray said.

Instructors can control the scenarios and see everything the aircrew officer sees through the VR headset.
The simulator can be adjusted to model either an AW139 or Bell 412 helicopter, meaning aircrew officers from the LifeFlight Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Bundaberg and Roma bases can train in it.

Brisbane-based RACQ LifeFlight Rescue Flight Nurses and Roma-based LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Services (SGAS) Paramedics will also use the simulator, to train for negative clearance tests.

“Part of their role is, when the helicopter’s about to land, they’re basically looking around and helping make sure that it’s not going to land on anything or it’s not too close to anything,” Mr Gray said.

The simulator was funded by the generosity of more than 2000 donors, who gave to the LifeFlight Foundation’s Autumn Appeal.

The equipment completes a suite of simulators at the LifeFlight Training Academy and enhances the facility as a one-stop-shop for aeromedical training.

“We’ve currently got the Thales Level D Full Flight Simulator for our pilots, we’ve got our Medical Simulator for our doctors and this is the final string in our bow for aircrew officer training,” LifeFlight Training Academy Executive Manager Tim McGuire said.


Virtual Reality Training for Australian Ambulance


Virtual Reality Training for Australian Ambulance


Virtual Reality Training for Australian Ambulance
The virtual reality simulator can be adjusted to model either the AW139 or Bell 412 helicopter





  See also


AU LifeFlight Australia Air Ambulances
Air Medical Ambulance Services
helicopter Helicopters Software
helicopter Helicopters Flight School - Training Civilian




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