The STI VR simulator provides immediate assessment and solution of any canopy deployment problems and allows the user to set up and fly a landing pattern while scanning in all directions for other crew members, obstacles, and hostile forces. This produces a compelling, immersive and realistic environment which allows for obstacle tracking and avoidance, a view of malfunctions overhead, as well as the field of view and display rate to avoid common simulator sickness. Specific mission terrain can be created from digital map data. Military aircrew receive maneuverable parachutes for emergencies, but when these occur they have none of the options on landing terrain, wind maximums, hostile location, and time of day or night that are available to operational parachutists. Of these, over half result in injuries or worse, a significant number of which are related to parachute flight skills.
Aircrew losses have enormous social, financial, political, and tactical costs.
Although aircrew proficiency is critical, actual flight training provided is limited to a towed upwind low altitude launch under benign conditions at beginning of their careers. Essential parachuting skills and self-confidence could not be developed. Teaching parachute flight has always been a difficult task. Safe, accurate parachuting requires both training and the practice of perceptual skills. Parachutists must learn to accurately assess parachute opening status, sense visual motion cues, and to predict and manage their descent and drift toward the landing zone while avoiding obstacles.