AR HELICOPTER TRAINING - MAUNA LOA HELICOPTERS THE FIRST AR HELICOPTER TRAINING APP
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Photo by: Andrew McHowell

When our CEO, Enrique Sanchez-Rivera started his helicopter training, he knew early on that student pilots could benefit immensely from harnessing the power of spatial computing to enhance their learning process and understand complex aerodynamics concepts of rotor wing aircraft. As a team, we searched for a potential partner to develop an augmented reality helicopter training program – something that had never been built before. There was one school that stood apart from all others, Mauna Loa Helicopters, a Kona, Hawaii based school led by CEO, Ben Fouts. After a first meeting, Ben immediately knew building a training program in AR would mark the future of helicopter training. Quickly thereafter, Mauna Loa Helicopters and Augmented Island Studios embarked on a one and a half year partnership to develop the first ever AR Helicopter Training Software.

The software is a revolutionary leap forward for student pilots. It’s comprised of a set of 9 augmented reality lessons that can be viewed in AR or on-screen 3D, a preflight experience where students can practice pre-flight procedures on the Robinson R22 helicopter, and a mini hover simulator that teaches the concept of micro movements to students. The app is available on both the Apple App Store and on the Google Play Store. So far, hundreds of students have enhanced their training successfully thanks to “AR Helicopter Training”.