The CV-22 Osprey fills an important need for increasing the United States Air Force’s (USAF) reach into remote and contested environments, but its unique design and capability profile leads to substantial operation and maintenance costs. Moreover, such a complex platform requires highly-skilled specialists to ensure optimal support of operational tempo, but limited fleet size translates to significantly constrained resources for training maintainers. Maintainers’ opportunities for hands-on training is further complicated by varying aircraft availability, task demands, and operational tempo.  To supplement traditional training opportunities, Link developed the Immersive Maintenance Guide (IMG) as an adjunct training tool that promotes knowledge and skill development among new maintainers.  The IMG allows 3-Level maintainers to virtually and independently “walk” through the steps involved in a broad selection of maintenance tasks.  A collaboration between the Rapid Sustainment Office (RSO) and the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) evaluated the IMG using both objective and subjective measures to quantify the holistic benefits of the system over a five-month evaluation period in comparison to maintainers who used only the traditional training resources.  A comparison of the two groups revealed substantial improvements for both Experimental and Control participants, though advances over baseline were highest among those who used the IMG.  This was evident for participants’ knowledge of the task steps, such that Experimental participants’ demonstrated a 42% greater improvement over their peers, and for their self-efficacy to lead completion of the task.   Moreover, these gains were significant for simple and routine tasks as well as those less commonly encountered.  As a demonstration of training benefits, the current assessment revealed the IMG’s promise as a valuable tool for improved task knowledge and an increased sense of readiness for task completion, gains which in turn likely contribute to increased combat power. 

Keywords
AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR),BLENDED TRAINING,IMMERSIVE,PERSONALIZED TRAINING

Additional Keywords
Aviation maintenance