Company Developing Innovative Answers For GA's #1 Killer

For years the FAA has contended the leading causes of general aviation fatal accidents are related to weather and loss of control. When an unskilled (or skilled, but non-proficient) pilot flies VFR into IMC, the (usually) inevitable loss of control is the direct result of what the experts call spatial disorientation (SD) -- an inability to determine the aircraft's attitude in relation to the earth.

Believe it or not, falling victim to SD (some pilots call it spatial-D, or vertigo) is not just the province of the lowly bug-smasher pilot -- it can bring down even the most highly-skilled pilot.

Don't believe it? Consider that SDS International, a company specializing in training, testing, evaluation and technical solutions for advanced technology, has been developing an SD training program since 2004. SDS' program is designed to help pilots recognize, avoid, and recover from key SD situations, and they're developing it for none other than the US Navy and Marine Corp.

That's right, the same guys and gals who land their jets on a moving carrier deck sometimes experience debilitating vertigo, and the Navy is looking for a solution.

SDS's Advanced Technologies Division in Orlando, FL has earned a contract modification to continue and enhance its ongoing Phase II small business innovative research (SBIR) program awarded nearly three years ago. The company is now developing the next-generation of what it calls the Spatial Awareness Training System (SPATS).

SDS says it received this latest contract enhancement as a direct result of the Navy's favorable assessment of the company's Phase II prototype SD courseware and scenario-based SD simulation capabilities.

SDS' approach to SD training is a three-phase program including academic training (instructor-led, computer-based and web-based training), immersion training (observing simulation-generated SD scenarios), and simulation training (focused on hands-on, SD-specific, scenario-based training using SDS' low-cost, non-motion-based LiteFlite Reconfigurable Simulator).

SDS says the contract enhancement will allow it to broaden the initial SPATS Phase II effort with the addition of simulators for fixed-wing ejection-seat aircraft, fixed-wing non ejection-seat equipped aircraft, and rotary-wing aircraft -- and subsequently, significantly increasing the number and variety of SD scenarios made possible through the increased simulation capability.

Under the enhancement, SDS will also develop a list of initial, refresher, and annual SD training objectives to support the near-term fielding of SPATS' innovative spatial strategies and training approaches/capabilities for the US Navy.

Obviously, for the average private pilot, buying expensive simulator time to learn to deal with a phenomenon easily avoided by staying out of the clouds seems a waste. But consider the success -- validated by the US Navy no less -- SDS has had with its low-cost, LiteFlite system. A training program tailored to the general aviation community using such a system might just be worth the cost. Hello... SDS... are you reading this?

SDS says spatial-D is a potential problem for all aviators in virtually all phases of flight, and the lessons it learns in developing this program for the US Navy will have direct cost benefits to training military, private, and commercial aviators alike.

Let's hope SDS can put something together (cost-effective) for us bug-smasher pilots!

FMI: www.sdsportal.com