Research - Simulation Field Study and Evaluation

In this course, you are required to complete a field study on an aviation simulation ( I chose the Microsoft Flight Simulator). A field study is research that is accomplished in the field (an uncontrolled environment). For this assignment, you will assume the role of a simulation expert evaluating the simulation of your choice. The study will require you to evaluate an existing simulation and make recommendations for application and improvement.

Any aviation simulation may be used including professional level, desktop, game console, or smart device hosted simulators (e.g., 737 sim, C-130 sim, X Plane, Real-Flight, Flight Gear, etc.). Keep in mind that the simulation is not required to be a pilot training simulator; it may be an aircraft maintenance sim, air traffic control sim, operational scheduling sim, or any other-aviation related simulation (non-aviation simulators must be approved by the instructor). Before you decide on the simulation that you will evaluate, make sure you have enough access to the simulator to make the required evaluation. Also, you may want to isolate a simulation component for your study, such as the flight management system (FMS) of an aircraft, force feedback, visual rendering, air traffic control interaction, or control latency.  Often, a more focused topic reveals more specific literature to review, more relevant findings, and is straight forward.

Review this list of a few desktop simulations (free and paid) on the Apps and Resources Page. There are many others built for mobile devices.

The field study and analysis requires 15-20 pages of material excluding the cover page, abstract, tables and figures, references, and appendixes. The paper will be written in APA format.