V.G. Duffy (Ed.): Digital Human Modeling, HCII 2007, LNCS 4561, pp. 1018–1026, 2007. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007 Using Multimodal Technologies to Enhance Aviation Maintenance Inspection Training Carl Washburn 1 , Paris Stringfellow 2 , and Anand Gramopadhye 2 1 Greenville Technical College, Department of Aviation Maintenance Technology, Greenville, South Carolina, USA 2 Clemson University, Department of Industrial Engineering, Clemson, South Carolina, USA Carl.Washburn@gvltec.edu, {fparis,agramop}@clemson.edu Abstract. Recent collaborative efforts between Greenville Technical College’s Aviation Maintenance Technology (Greenville, South Carolina, USA) training facility and Clemson University (Clemson, South Carolina, USA) have lead to significant improvements in Aviation Maintenance Technician training through the use of advanced computer technology. Such applications included: 2.5D and 3D virtual environments of a large-bodied aircraft cargobay with interaction modalities ranging from fully immersive (using a head-mounted display and 6 degrees-of-freedom mouse) to semi-immersive (using a spatially-tracked suspended, touch-sensitive window display) to non-immersive (using a basic desktop computer and mouse); and 3D virtual environments of turbine engine blades where nondestructive inspection methods (e.g. borescoping) could be practiced. This paper discusses the integration of these technologies into an existing educational curriculum and provides insight as to how such programs might be implemented and evaluated. Keywords: Education, Virtual Reality, Computer-Based-Training, Aviation Maintenance, Multimodal Instruction. 1 Introduction Sound aircraft inspection and maintenance are an essential part of safe and reliable air transportation. Aircraft inspection is a complex system interrelating the human and machine. A number of previous aircraft crashes have been attributed to faulty maintenance procedures. Visual inspection by a trained human inspector forms an important part of the maintenance procedure, contributing to almost 90% of the visual inspection of an aircraft. Training has been identified as the primary intervention strategy to improve the quality and reliability of aircraft inspection. Traditionally, the aircraft inspector obtained on-the-job training (OJT), which helped bridge the gap from the classroom teaching to practical workplace environment. This, however, may not always be the best method of instruction [1]. Some of the limitations inherent to OJT include the lack of feedback, the high cost of aircraft exposure, and the limited defect exposure. Older, more experienced maintenance technicians are retiring from commercial aviation maintenance and are being replaced by a much younger workforce coming