The $150,000 grant will be used for teaching software in the World Indoor Airport to simulate the new flat-screen flight decks.

Metro State’s World Indoor Airport will be getting some new simulation software, thanks to U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard (R-Colo.). A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Allard has secured $150,000 for the College as a part of the 2008 Labor, Health and Human Services Appropriations bill.

“Higher education is the future of our state and I am pleased that my seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee puts me in a position to help secure this important funding for Colorado,” Allard said, adding that he intends to continue to work with the other committee members to ensure that the project remains funded.

“Metro State would like to thank Senator Allard for his leadership on initiating this important funding for the College,” said Metro State President Stephen Jordan. “This federal funding will allow us to enhance our primary flight simulator with the latest technology and best practices.”

The grant couldn’t come at a better time, according to Department Chair Jeff Forrest, because most airplane flight decks have undergone an unexpectedly rapid change from analog instrumentation to flat-screened technology. “This change means that to train our students we need to have teaching software that simulates the new flight decks,” Forrest said.

With flat-screened technology, pilots no longer see the dials and needles of the old analog system. “Basically, the instrumentation is going onto desktop computers,” Forrest explained. “Pilots see screens with the information layered in an organized and structured way that is different than looking at dials. Pilots not trained in this are getting lost in the new information environment.”

According to Forrest, aviation industry professionals and educators thought that this change would take 15 to 20 years to occur. “Instead it only took about two to three years because the airlines realized it’s not as expensive as analog,” he said.

Teaching students how to fly using the flat-screened technology is a big challenge. “It really is a paradigm shift; there has been a lot of research regarding learning theories, course content and such,” Forrest said. Forrest himself has done research and been published in Collegiate Aviation Review on the subject.

“With the funding our department is getting from our partnership grant with CCD that is allowing us to build a new simulation lab and now this grant, things are really snowballing,” Forrest said.