How VR Technology Can Add 15% To Your Flight School’s Bottom Line
If you run a Flight School, chances are you’re actively looking for ways to increase your student throughput. But you’re also under pressure to manage costs and stand apart from local competitors.
All without putting any more pressure on the utilisation of aircraft or your instructors.
That’s why the world’s top Flight Schools are turning to VR training technology to supplement their flight training programs.
PlaneVR is our Virtual Reality training product, available for flight schools worldwide. It allows you to deliver highly immersive, engaging training - fully customised to your aircraft and procedures.
With PlaneVR, students save 2+ hours on a typical 40 flying hour course. That’s a 5% increase in your available flight hours. They will also be able to save 2-4 hours of ground instruction time, which is 10% of their ground-based training time.
In this article, we will explore how Flight Schools worldwide are implementing VR, and all the advantages they are experiencing as a result.
If you’d like to learn more about how PlaneVR works first, see the PlaneVR page here.
Firstly, Who Is Capital XR?
The flying force behind Capital XR is to give Flight Schools the tools to deliver transformational learning experiences to their students through cost-effective, cutting-edge Virtual Reality solutions.
We reduce the expenses of traditional Flight Schools… While increasing throughput of students and training results.
Capital XR is a business arm of XKG. Our team already works with top-tier clients like the Australian Defence Force, who we've partnered with for over nine years, exceeding their rigorous standards for training. And we also work closely with Flight Schools and other Aviation companies across the world.
The Challenges Today’s Flight Schools Face
We get it. Running a flight school is not always smooth sailing (or, flying!)
With plenty of competition in the sector, students are often driven by price and time spent training. Here’s what we are seeing from flight schools in the industry at the moment:
They want to train more students, without increasing their costs. Who doesn’t want this for their business? But hiring or increasing the load on your instructors is not a viable option at the moment.
They have no way of differentiating themselves from other local Flight Schools. Flight school operators are looking to get the edge on their competitors. Of course, that means maintaining the highest possible level of training. But they need a way of keeping costs more competitive for students as well.
They want to free up their aircraft for other operations, rather than training students. Having the balance to attract revenue from multiple streams is also a crucial factor for running a successful aviation business.
Can you relate?
How PlaneVR Is Changing the Way Flight Schools Operate
PlaneVR was developed specifically to address these issues for Flight Schools. The VR training platform allows student pilots to learn and practice the procedural aspects of flying a plane - without requiring a physical plane to be available.
And the platform is fully customised to your aircraft and procedures.
The experience is highly immersive and engaging for students, resulting in better quality training experiences.
And for flight schools, PlaneVR is much more cost-effective and dynamic, saving your students’ time and money.
PlaneVR students experience:
Accurate models
Panels (check, stage)
Teleport locations
External checklist
Custom animations
Internal checklist(s)
Flight model
Interior controls (G3X, gauges, levers etc)
Hand models and state changes
Terrain modelling
… and so much more.
The Capital XR 6-Phase PlaneVR Development Process
Implementing PlaneVR into your Flight School is much more straightforward and cost-effective than you think.
We’ve already done most of the development legwork to create streamlined VR systems - that is all incorporated into your PlaneVR system right from the start.
Capital XR has a 6-phase development process that has you up and running within months:
Phase 1 - Aircraft Capture: First, we capture your aircraft’s visual experience using photos and video footage from the actual plane .
Phase 2 - Procedure Design: Our team of artists and developers will design your virtual training. But it’s not just about a great VR system. As experienced learning development consultants, we leverage the latest student training methodologies to ensure the VR experience enhances student retention and learning time.
Phase 3 - VR Development: Our development process is impressively fast and agile, because we’re able to leverage the build work from similar PlaneVR systems we’ve already built. Much of the code and the design is already available in our catalog.
Phase 4 - Tutorial Recording: We capture your subject matter experts delivering embedded tutorials - complete with facial expression and eye movement tracking! Your PlaneVR environment becomes highly tailored to your unique Flight School and your instructors.
Phase 5 - User Acceptance Testing: Testing and iteration are performed to ensure your PlaneVR environment works for your Flight School’s unique training procedures.
Phase 6 - Go Live!: It’s go time. We hand the reins over and PlaneVR is live in your business. You can simply hand the PlaneVR pack to your students, and they can complete the learning from the comfort of their home.
Let the accelerated learning commence …
The Real-World Benefits PlaneVR Brings To Your Flight School
With PlaneVR, students save up to 2 hours on a typical 40 flying hour course. That equates to a 5% increase in your available flight hours. Students will also be able to save 2-4 hours of ground instruction time, which is 10% of their ground-based training time.
Now you have the ability to train more students, combined with a reduction on instructor and aircraft requirements.
Plus, students love the unique, immersive VR experience, so they tell their friends - word of mouth grows a lot over time.
So PlaneVR can add 15%+ to the bottom line in your Flight School.
This is an incredible boost already. But what other benefits will you see?
Costs to students are also reduced. With less hours required with an instructor and an aircraft, you bring noticeable cost savings to students, for their training hours. That immediately differentiates you from other Flight Schools in the area. And you can bet they’ll tell their friends about that!
Students are trained MORE effectively. The feedback from students speaks for itself. They love the technology, and they are better prepared for the procedural aspects of flying. Impressively, we see students going solo in 10.7 compared to the usual 13.0. They ultimately gain their certification sooner. Learners also mention that their ability to judge spacing, turn points at base and ability to navigate abnormal and emergency situations is drastically improved.
PlaneVR is so easy to set up and apply. PlaneVR doesn’t take your time away from teaching your students. Students are provided with a small PlaneVR pack that they use to complete their training. The pack doesn’t require any supervision and takes up very little office space when compared with alternative simulation equipment.
PlaneVR becomes a game-changer once it’s implemented and being used regularly by your students.
Check out this example of PlaneVR in action!
How Can I Get PlaneVR Set Up in My Flight School?
The added value PlaneVR provides to flight schools is tenfold and the results speak for themselves.
Are you interested in getting more students through your doors?
To learn more about how PlaneVR would work in your Flight School, and to understand what results other businesses are seeing, book a call with one of our VR Strategist experts.
If you're interested in implementing a Capital XR product, or you'd like a demo please fill out the contact form below.
If you're interested in implementing a Capital XR product, or you'd like a demo please fill out the contact form here