Comparing the Effectiveness of Student Pilots’ Flight Capability between VR Display and Aviation Training Devices

This study compared a traditional Aviation Training Device (ATD) with a Virtual Reality (VR)–based flight training environment to examine the efficiency and quantitative evaluability of student pilot training. Conventional ATDs have limitations in providing a realistic cockpit environment during the initial stages of flight training due to restricted fields of view and low levels of immersion. To address these constraints, a VR-based training environment was introduced, and both systems were used to perform an identical Visual Flight Rules (VFR) traffic-pattern scenario for comparison. The experiment was conducted with student pilots majoring in aviation, and physiological responses—including heart rate (HR) and blood oxygen saturation (SpO2)—were measured during flight tasks as quantitative indicators. Through this approach, the study evaluated the extent to which a VR-based training environment can provide training effectiveness comparable to, or exceeding, that of a conventional ATD in early-stage student pilot education.