FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method of evaluating and examining a student pilot in an automated, consistent, unbiased way.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Student pilots are trained and examined by human instructor pilots. The personal relationship that the student pilot has with his instructor is thus central to the instruction and testing process. It has been shown that a student pilot's personal relationship with the instructor can affect the final score of the evaluation.

In the U.S., each maneuver to be learned is tested based on an FAA articulated standard. For example, a “steep turns” maneuver might be assigned parameters governing a differential altitude, a differential airspeed, a differential bank angle, and a differential entry heading. During tested execution of the maneuver, each parameter is recorded at the beginning of the maneuver and at the end of the maneuver. The student is graded using an algorithm that measures the entry parameters and their delta from the exit parameters. A flight test is a sequence of these events.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An exemplary embodiment of the invention comprises a flight data recording device such as a Garmin G-1000, a Wingbug®, or any other instrumentation system capable of recording flight data affixed to an aircraft used to administer the test. Next, the pilot and the instructor take the aircraft up. Once in the air, the instructor calls out a maneuver for the student pilot to attempt. At this point, the student attempts to execute the maneuver the instructor selected. During the maneuver, the flight data recording device records various parameters such as the altitude, the airspeed, the bank angle, and the entry heading associated with the maneuver at the beginning of the maneuver, throughout the maneuver, and at the end of the maneuver. Once the maneuver is completed, a software program uses the recorded parameters and objectively compares them to a pre-defined standard (FAA or any other standard). Finally, the software program assigns a grade based on the differential it calculated during the previous step.

