For pilots who are transitioning into a turboprop or jet equipped with a Universal Avionics flight management system (FMS), the company has for many years offered FMS training at its headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., or at customer facilities. One of the problems with training, however, is replicating the FMS in the classroom, in a way that is realistic but doesn’t rely on taking an expensive real FMS off the shelf and wearing it out in frequent button-pushing sessions during training.
To solve this problem, Universal (Booth 273) developed the FMS Trainer software, a Windows-based program that basically replicates the FMS and its operation. The software allows the user to set up a flight, then use the FMS to flight plan and manage the flight. Another benefit of the FMS Trainer is that customer support personnel can use the software to replicate and solve customer FMS problems, even to the extent of plugging in specifics about the customer’s FMS.
To further the realism, Universal has developed an emulator app that allows an iPad to be used as the FMS control display unit so all the button pushing is done on the touchscreen. The app doesn’t run the FMS Trainer by itself but must be connected to a computer running the FMS Trainer software.
The actual FMS training at Universal, which is free for new FMS installations, involves a full day of academic study before students begin using the FMS Trainer. Class size is usually two to eight pilots. “When we do training, we start with the basics,” said technical instructor Paul Carlin, “then we do flight planning.” Instructor demonstrations are followed by student practice.
“We have all types of pilots,” he said, “first-timers using FMS, some who are experienced with Universal FMS and some who never saw an FMS. Some come annually for training. And some are experienced but discover functions that they never thought about before.”
Future improvements to the FMS training will include videos that students will be able to watch on their own and quizzes to test their knowledge. This will be coupled with an FMS emulator that is a real training module instead of just an FMS front-end, so they can learn on their own. “This is further down the road,” Carlin said.
