Apps for training.

[grejen]

Along with recently earning my Canadian Rec Pilot Permit I've also been learning how to create Android apps. Since my high school math skills were 30+ years old I built an app to practice doing the diversion / ground speed check math.

 

Here is the trial version of Diversion math practice

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Great! I just bought this book "M3: the mile, the mach, the minute" mental math for Aviators, similar theme.

 

 

[grejen]

Very similar. I'm hoping to build more of these types of apps. Just released this one today for learning/practicing the ICAO phonetic alphabet

 

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=appinventor.ai_grejen711.ICAOPhonetic

 

 

[Oksinay]

Hi guys

 

Could you make an app to practice CTA readbacks? I have a PPL with CTA/CTZ endorsement, but rarely use it and it is definitely an acquired skill.

 

 

[grejen]

Great idea! Interesting problem too. It'd have to read out random but sensical instructions and check the read back with some ability to 'judge' for missing/erroneous content.

 

Saying "...one six right..." instead of "...one six left..." would be a definite fail but skipping the word 'cleared' might be less so. It'd have to have some AI built in...

 

 

[Oksinay]

Perhaps it could just record and playback so that the trainee could self assess?

 

 

[grejen]

Btw - what does CTA / CTZ stand for. I'm guessing (and googling) that it's similar to the ATC (Air Traffic Control) or Control Zone airspace (Bravo/Charlie) here in North America.

 

 

[grejen]

Perhaps it could just record and playback so that the trainee could self assess?

Like this:

http://www.aviatorwebsite.com/education/communications/phonetic-practice.php

 

ah.. no you mean record a practice readback so you can listen to yourself. hmmm....doable for sure.

 

Ideally an app - like my phonetic alphabet app - could listen to your readback do the voice recognition and pick out the keywords to compare to an expected response, and then provide usable feedback (ie a 'score') about the performance. I know the flight sims are starting to include real time live ATC, traffic, and weather but I doubt any of them can listen to a pilots radio calls and make any 'sense' of them.

 

 

[grejen]

Very nice blog / podcast site from an ATP.

 

http://atccommunication.com

 

Seems he's working on an aircraft radio simulator.

 

 

[Oksinay]

There's nothing new, hey...that site looks perfect, thanks for the interest.

 

 

[grejen]

Published another app (free/no ads.) This one is a reenvision of the 'Whiz wheel' wind vector calculator. My hope is that it's actually quicker and easier to use and learn.

 

Plus it includes a practice game page where you can practice estimating the WCA in your head. There are a couple of methods for doing this:

 

http://www.luizmonteiro.com/Article_Estimating_Wind_Correction_Angle_01.aspx

 

and

 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/rec.aviation.student/BLgeSZRy_Mk/78cS4W_ADFEJ

 

After reading those methods I created the game page to practice the mental arithmetic. My concept is that the best and most credible backup for any device be it a tablet, E6B, calculator, GPS or even a full glass cockpit, is the pilot's own head. My hope is to build this app into a tool to actually teach the methods above rather than just provide a way to practice them.

 

 

[metalman]

I read the heading and was going to post something smart ar*s, but after reading the post you've got some good ideas , until we moved to Melbourne I rarely went into controlled airspace so I was really out of my comfort zone when I started doing it more often , the read back checker would be a great one if you could get it doing the word recognition , the phraseology is standard here so if you get it wrong you have to read back tiill it's right , good luck with it

 

Matty

 

 

[grejen]

I've been keeping that one in the back of my head for a while. Would be a great app if it works really well. I have two thoughts on how to generate the instructions:

 

1. Use real, recorded ATC instructions which have been transcribed.

 

2. Randomize standard phraseology and use text-to-speech

 

The main disadvantage of the 1st option is you need to transcribe the instructions and check the transcriptions. This is a huge ongoing resource problem.

 

The main disadvantage of the 2nd option is that it's...well.. not realistic. Text-to-speech is typically way clearer than a real radio transmission.

 

If there is value in simple repetitive readbacks then option 2 is the way to go. If the value rests with the ability to understand real ATC over real radio then option 1 is necessary.

 

Thoughs?