Date of Award

January 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Foundations & Research

First Advisor

Virginia Clinton-Lisell

Abstract

Three studies in this dissertation examined a topic centered around delayed flight progress in aviation pilot training. Study one explored the impact of nonconcurrent flight laboratory training on the academic outcomes of collegiate aviation students, while studies two and three explored virtual reality and artificial intelligence as potential solutions to help alleviate the strain of delayed flight progress on the flight training organization. In the first study (n = 144), it was found that concurrent enrollment in an aviation classroom ground course and flight training laboratory positively impacts the mean academic block exam scores of students. In study two (n = 120), virtual reality was shown to be an effective training technology in the quantitative measure of pilot performance, as well as the qualitative measures of acceptance and adoption of the technology. Finally, the third study (n = 37) showed that an artificial intelligence-based flight instructor performs comparably to a human flight instructor, when transferring a student pilot’s skills from the simulator to the aircraft. Findings from each of these studies are valuable for flight training organizations looking to find ways of better preparing their student pilots and supplementing the strain of reduced flight instructor staffing within the organization.

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