Alaska Airlines is adopting Boeing’s Virtual Airplane, giving its pilots a new way to enhance their training anywhere, anytime.
- Alaska was a key development partner and will move from beta testing to full use of the platform in its ground school. The announcement came at the World Aviation Training Summit in Orlando, Florida.
Why it matters: This adoption gives pilots more opportunities for realistic procedure practice outside of full flight simulators, which can help standardize training and accelerate pilot readiness across the airline.
How it works: Virtual Airplane works on a variety of devices and training can be customized.
- Procedures Trainer, the first module, runs on computers and tablets and supports Boeing 737 MAX training. It provides high-fidelity procedures practice and a free-play Flight Management System for authentic data entry and exploration.
Voice of the customer:
- “Alaska Airlines’ commitment to innovation and safety has been instrumental in the development of Virtual Airplane,” said Chris Broom, Vice President of Commercial Training Solutions at Boeing.
- “Our collaboration with Boeing on Virtual Airplane has allowed us to provide our pilots with flexible, realistic training tools that complement traditional simulator sessions,” said Jeff Severns, Managing Director of Flight Operations Training for Alaska Airlines.
The big picture: Boeing plans to expand Virtual Airplane to additional airplane models in the near future.
Go deeper: Learn more about Boeing's Virtual Airplane product and hear an instructor pilot’s perspective of building crew confidence with Virtual Airplane.