Rolls-Royce and Qatar Airways train with virtual reality

With the number of air passengers expected to almost double by 2036, airlines need to be able to train an increasing number of engineers to maintain and repair their aircraft and engines.

To this end, Rolls-Royce is investigating ways to include virtual reality (VR) in its engineering training programmes, as part of its IntelligentEngine vision.

In a trial of the technology, engineers with Qatar Airways received VR training on Rolls-Royce’s Trent XWB engine, according to Stuart Moss, an IT innovation strategist at Rolls-Royce, who worked on the project.

The Trent XWB is so large that it must be separated before engineers can transport it for maintenance and repair, said Moss. “This process takes a couple of days, to ensure that you can put it back together again in exactly the same alignment.”

Engineers will often receive training in how to carry out this complex task a few years before they have to do it in practice. So the team decided to use VR as a way to offer them a refresher course in the technique.