Use of Flight Simulators in a Flight Mechanics Course: Potentials and Weaknesses - 2nd International Workshop on Evidence-Based Technology Enhanced Learning - page 49

The study of the effectiveness of this technology-based learning, and how such
novel educational techniques are influencing students during the learning process,
needs to be measured in order to ensure the ability of the method, being this the
main purpose of the present work.
2 Methodology
The experiment was conducted at the Universidad de León during December
2012. All the students who take part on it were enrolled in the Aerospace Engi-
neering degree program and coursing Flight Mechanics (3 rd year students). The
whole experiment comprised two different parts, the first one was a single test in-
cluding questions about flight mechanic issues. The second part was the exercise
with the flight simulator. The test was executed twice, initially prior to the practice
and again when the practice was concluded. All students in the class (41) were in-
vited to participate although the final number of participants in the practical ses-
sions was 31, distributed in two groups, allowing us to create a 10 people control
group. All the students, including those in control group, made both tests.
2.1 The Equipment
The practical lessons were developed at the flight simulators belonging to the Cen-
tro de Simulación Aérea de la Universidad de León (Saule). The simulator has a
virtually real aircraft cockpit reproducing a Beechcraft Baron 58 with X-Plane as a
simulation engine. X-Plane is a realistic flight simulator capable of simulate air-
craft performance and weather effects. It has good models of airplanes, which in
some versions are already approved by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
for full motion simulator to train commercial airline pilots.
Fig. 1 Left: external view of the flight simulator. Right: cockpit view
2.2 The Practical Session
We have developed a complete set of educational simulations, where the students
and the learning process are the centre. Those simulations are at the same time in-
structive, motivating and fun, allowing students to explore an important range of
flight situations and maneuvers. These practical lessons are described next.