GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Student pilots from one of the largest aviation schools in the world now have the benefit of instant replay.
The University of North Dakota aerospace school is changing out its fleet of aircraft, which happens about every seven years. The new planes should eventually be equipped with software to reanimate flights in real time from a cockpit view.
‘‘You can in a virtual sense jump in the cockpit, look at the gauges and see what the pilot saw,’’ said Jeff Johnson, a vice president for Appareo Systems, a Fargo aviation software firm.
The system is known as flight data monitoring. It has been used by airlines for many years, but only recently became available to UND as it makes the switch from the traditional instrument panels — dating back to World War I — to computer screens known as glass cockpits.
Jim Higgins, a UND associate professor in aviation, said it should help improve pilot performance — and safety.
‘‘We often don’t know that something went wrong until there’s been some kind of accident or incident. It’s really a tough way to manage and make change,’’ Higgins said.
‘‘Now, with this data in advance, we can identify these trends proactively before they become full-blown incidents down the road,’’ he said.
One of those rare incidents happened last week when a UND student pilot slid off the runway during a landing. The pilot was unhurt and the plane was not damaged. Because that particular plane is not yet equipped with flight data monitoring, it’s harder to determine what happened, Johnson said.
‘‘It certainly is difficult to recreate without that data,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘That was a student on a solo flight, so there wasn’t a witness. If you have that data, you can recreate the flight in three dimensions over satellite maps.’’
Appareo is working with both UND and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on a federal grant to help expand the system into general aviation.
About 80 percent of UND’s fleet of 120 aircraft have the capability for flight data monitoring. The school has bought about 45 aircraft with glass cockpits in the last 12 months, said Dana Siewert, the aerospace school’s director of flight safety.
‘‘We’ve had some people from industry that said students should learn how to fly the traditional and then move into the glass cockpits,’’ Siewert said. ‘‘Only time will tell what type of pilot it produces.’’
Johnson said Appareo has worked in the last couple of years on flight data monitoring with a civilian helicopter company called the Bristow Group Inc., which is claiming a dramatic drop in accidents and incidents.
‘‘Safety has been a hard sell over time,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘We’re now seeing folks other than Delta and people like that embracing flight data monitoring — and seeing big benefits from it.’’
Not everyone in general aviation can afford to add safety. Although most flight schools are considered high-cost, low-enrollment ventures, UND has enjoyed high participation that has allowed the school to make money or at least break even, he said.
The aerospace school — which includes aviation, computer science, meteorology and earth system science — is expecting a fall enrollment of about 1,900 students, up more than 100 from last year, school officials said. About 750 of the 1,300 aviation students are on flight training schedules this semester.
A UND student typically pays about $100,000 over four years to pay for flight training, tuition, room and board, school officials said. Flight training costs about $72,000 for a student majoring in commercial aviation.
‘‘How do we end up paying for it? Students pay for it,’’ Siewert said. ‘‘But it is a tricky balance, because now what you have to do is take an organization out here at the airport and it has to be run strictly like a business.’’
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GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) — Student pilots from one of the largest aviation schools in the world now have the benefit of instant replay.
The University of North Dakota aerospace school is changing out its fleet of aircraft, which happens about every seven years. The new planes should eventually be equipped with software to reanimate flights in real time from a cockpit view.
‘‘You can in a virtual sense jump in the cockpit, look at the gauges and see what the pilot saw,’’ said Jeff Johnson, a vice president for Appareo Systems, a Fargo aviation software firm.
The system is known as flight data monitoring. It has been used by airlines for many years, but only recently became available to UND as it makes the switch from the traditional instrument panels — dating back to World War I — to computer screens known as glass cockpits.
Jim Higgins, a UND associate professor in aviation, said it should help improve pilot performance — and safety.
‘‘We often don’t know that something went wrong until there’s been some kind of accident or incident. It’s really a tough way to manage and make change,’’ Higgins said.
‘‘Now, with this data in advance, we can identify these trends proactively before they become full-blown incidents down the road,’’ he said.
One of those rare incidents happened last week when a UND student pilot slid off the runway during a landing. The pilot was unhurt and the plane was not damaged. Because that particular plane is not yet equipped with flight data monitoring, it’s harder to determine what happened, Johnson said.
‘‘It certainly is difficult to recreate without that data,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘That was a student on a solo flight, so there wasn’t a witness. If you have that data, you can recreate the flight in three dimensions over satellite maps.’’
Appareo is working with both UND and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on a federal grant to help expand the system into general aviation.
About 80 percent of UND’s fleet of 120 aircraft have the capability for flight data monitoring. The school has bought about 45 aircraft with glass cockpits in the last 12 months, said Dana Siewert, the aerospace school’s director of flight safety.
‘‘We’ve had some people from industry that said students should learn how to fly the traditional and then move into the glass cockpits,’’ Siewert said. ‘‘Only time will tell what type of pilot it produces.’’
Johnson said Appareo has worked in the last couple of years on flight data monitoring with a civilian helicopter company called the Bristow Group Inc., which is claiming a dramatic drop in accidents and incidents.
‘‘Safety has been a hard sell over time,’’ Johnson said. ‘‘We’re now seeing folks other than Delta and people like that embracing flight data monitoring — and seeing big benefits from it.’’
Not everyone in general aviation can afford to add safety. Although most flight schools are considered high-cost, low-enrollment ventures, UND has enjoyed high participation that has allowed the school to make money or at least break even, he said.
The aerospace school — which includes aviation, computer science, meteorology and earth system science — is expecting a fall enrollment of about 1,900 students, up more than 100 from last year, school officials said. About 750 of the 1,300 aviation students are on flight training schedules this semester.
A UND student typically pays about $100,000 over four years to pay for flight training, tuition, room and board, school officials said. Flight training costs about $72,000 for a student majoring in commercial aviation.
‘‘How do we end up paying for it? Students pay for it,’’ Siewert said. ‘‘But it is a tricky balance, because now what you have to do is take an organization out here at the airport and it has to be run strictly like a business.’’
