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.