Japan Airlines held a press appointment two days ago in which announced the fruits of its collaboration with Microsoft Corporation since August of last year. JAL has embraced the use of HoloLens as a tool for training its employees.
With this initiative, Japan Airlines is the first company in Asia and the first airline in the world to work closely with Microsoft to develop applications. It was at that press appointment that two prototypes were shown that are available as a demo. One for in-depth lessons for the flight crew and one for teaching airplane engine mechanics.
The crew members are seated in front of a panel with pictures of the instruments and switches. Given limited experience and restrictions of available personnel, time and location, Japan Airlines believes that Microsoft HoloLens will improve training by providing more accurate operations.
With augmented reality you can access a life-size cabin anytime, anywhere with the voice of an instructor who will be in charge of directing the training. If the student gets lost or stuck at any point, they can move on to the next step or start over at another. You can touch and disable switches and other common actions in a flight operation.
When it comes to engine mechanics, they offer a similar experience in which students can be trained with a real one in front of their eyes. You can identify parts, rotate the model, and study the structure of the engine and its systems. A big step up from what is now available in instruction by relying more on textbooks and diagrams.
The benefits of using Microsoft HoloLens speak for themselves and those interactive experiences can mean a breakthrough for many fields as it is in this case in the one used by Japan Airlines.