AkzoNobel and American Airlines Partner for VR Training of Painters

AkzoNobel Aerospace Coatings (AkzoNobel) and American Airlines have partnered to implement virtual reality (VR) training of apprentice painters and existing teams. This training will use technology that the companies say is significantly more efficient and sustainable than the airline’s previous training regimes.

The VR platform is designed to mimic a customer’s production environment and multiple coating systems. A VR headset immerses the American Airlines’ trainee in a virtual paint booth, complete with the aircraft part to be coated.

The system can be programmed with various paint specifications, such as the thickness of the coating required. As the operator uses the spray gun, for example, they can see whether too much or too little paint has been used and look for inconsistencies in the way the coating is being applied.

Meanwhile, the training system measures the operator’s core skills, including setting up the spraying session and determining the distance, angle, and speed at which the gun is to be used. The feedback is immediate, so trainees can react quickly and change their technique to become more consistent. It shows where runs and sags occur, or where the wet film thickness is not sufficient or the coverage inadequate to deliver a smooth finish. It can also help them avoid common problems such as paint overlap.

To test the system for American Airlines’ purposes, an programmer loaded a very specific part of the aircraft — a nose landing gear cylinder — into the system. A cohort of 13 painters of varying abilities then practiced spraying the part but without using any actual paint.

“In a spray booth, we’d have to spray the primer, then let it dry, then measure the results to see how they did — all of which takes time. If we were training 13 painters, we’d also have to have 13 nose landing gear cylinders available to paint. With VR, we don’t have any of these challenges. I can train more painters, more quickly, and allow them to make mistakes without it costing me anything,” said Terry Lesperance of American Airlines.