Improving Aviation Students’ Teamwork, Problem Solving, Coordination, and Communications Skills During a High-Fidelity Simulation

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Flight Operations Center – Unified Simulation (FOCUS) lab at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is a high-fidelity simulation of a regional airline’s flight operations center. During a simulation, a team of senior undergraduate aerospace students mustwork together across disciplines to manage 24 simulated Canadair Regional Jet– 200 aircraft and resolve real-world scenarios. After thesimulation, the lab’s staffevaluates the team’s performance, which is discussed during itsAfter Action Review (AAR). The AAR allows the team to establish strategies and an action plan to improve its performanceand skillsduring subsequent simulations. Overall,as the lab continuously increases in standardization and fidelity through various ways, such as the utilization of WSI Fusion and WSI Fusion Replay, the lab’s simulationshelpMTSU’s aerospace students improve their problem solving, teamwork, coordination,and communication skills while also helping the lab’s staff conduct reliable research onteamwork