Contributions of a Part-Task Trainer to the Learning and Relearning of a Time-Shared Flight Maneuver

Abstract

A cockpit procedures trainer is a part-task simulator that has no aerodynamic simulation, and it is used to teach in-flight procedural responses without provision for practising the flight controlling responses that are often time-shared with them in the aircraft. Using a flight simulator as the research device, two experiments were performed to test the importance of time-sharing in original learning and retention. In Experiment I an experimental group originally learned procedures and flight controlling separately without an opportunity to learn their time-sharing, whereas a control group practised the integrated whole task. Experiment II sought the importance of time-sharing in retention over 10 months. An experimental group used a cockpit procedures trainer to reinstate forgotten aircraft procedures, while a control group relearned in the whole task. Both experiments confirmed the time-sharing hypothesis. The cockpit procedures trainer contributed importantly to original learning and relearning, but the presence of time-sharing required additional whole-task practice to optimize performance.