A Brave New World

After the events of 9-11 in 2001, the established order in commercial aviation training was overturned: airline bankruptcies, mergers and the emergence of super low-cost carriers, together with the polarization of the major TRTO/FTO organizations, have combined to forever change the dynamics of pilot training. During this period of upheaval, Atlantis chose to concentrate on its successful military aviation training sectors, and to develop new relationships, technologies and skills which could be easily migrated to Atlantis' commercial sector, at some future date. That time has now arrived.

The Case For Optimization In Flight Training

Atlantis understands the need of airlines for cost-effective training that does not compromise the quality of training delivered. We also understand the need of airlines to reduce direct and indirect training costs, including travel to and from training nodes, accommodation and the need to minimise the operational cost element due to crew availability. Our approach is systematic: starting with an understanding of the training need and budgetary goal, Atlantis will work with the airline to analyse the training objectives, training points and other training fundamentals. Atlantis will then create or overhaul the instructional system design concepts, integrating the airline's existing media, if required, into a seamless, consistent and affordable solution. Airlines retain ownership and control of their training, and outsourcing cost is efficiently managed.

Atlantis will source, by development or acquisition, all the media needed to satisfy the training requirement. With our own synthetic flight training capabilities, virtual technologies, partnerships for instructional design, courseware, and a significant library of solutions already in place, we are confident that we can provide the training solutions needed for this new era in commercial aviation.

The Integrated Groundschool

For the Canadian Forces new ab-initio and advanced flight training program, Atlantis is responsible for integrating over 700 hours of courseware - computer aided instruction, SCORM level 2, 3 and 4 computer based training - with the Olé™ learning and content management environments. The courseware, together with level “D” full-flight simulators, several fixed-base simulators and desktop trainers, forms the nucleus of a new "integrated" groundschool training solution, operating within a sophisticated information environment, also provided by Atlantis. To ensure customer satisfaction and participation, Atlantis provides a state-of-the art collaborative development environment for the program's courseware suite, allowing the customer to actively participate in the design and development of this critical component, in real-time.

The program will be in a transitional development phase for two years, and will run steady-state for twenty years thereafter, and will provide ab-initio and advanced fixed and rotary wing flight training on commercial airframes such as the Grob 120, Beechcraft C-90B, Bell Jetranger and Bell 412.

Corporate Changes: A Knowledge Emphasis

Atlantis has undergone significant financial changes, including two major refinancing stages, conversi on of long and short-term debt and a complete overhaul of our management structure and philosophy. In the past year, Atlantis Systems Corp. constituted a new board of directors focussed on transforming Atlantis from a small military simulation company, into a major aerospace aerospace training systems solutions provider. With the addition of knowledge management expertise, instructional design capa-abilities, strategic training alliances, the capture of a major training integration program, plus a well-articulated training solutions strategy, Atlantis is poised to enter the commercial training sectors with a completely fresh, and exciting, approach.

New Technologies: Virtual Reality, Full Motion Simulation

Since 2002, Atlantis has successfully captured two key and revolutionary enabling technologies. Firstly, an entry into the world of usable virtual reality coupled to affordable full-motion for a suite of training solutions focussed on developing helicopter manoeuvring skills in a way not possible with other forms of synthetic training. Secondly, Atlantis defined a complete "virtual aircraft" to build a high-fidelity maintenance trainer for the F/A-18 community.

Both technologies, developed initially for military applications, are destined for adaptation in the civil aviation training markets. We're banking on the fact that virtual technologies will play a significant role in tomorrow's civil aviation training domains, because of the potential for improved training realism and immersion training possibilities. While extending the palette of training possibilities, the inherent economic advantage of virtual technologies over conventional trainers is also a persuasive factor.

Partnerships and Strategic Alliances

Atlantis has deliberately set about the establishment of a set of key technology-based relationships, through the mechanism of teaming arrangements, alliances and partnerships, to be able to provide full training solutions, and to expand the breadth and depth of our aircraft platform support. Our overriding goal was to create a team that incorporates the "best of breed" for the diverse components constituting a training solution, namely:

• Instructional Systems Design
• Subject-matter expertise for fixed and rotary winged platform training
• Learning and training information management
• Courseware development
• Learning content management and configuration control
• Computer-based training content libraries
• Simulation-based training solutions
• Mission rehearsal, briefing and de-briefing
• Web delivery.

By combining trusted partnerships and relationships, Atlantis can create a team optimized for a particular training solution, at low risk.