Alaska Airlines announces investment in Loft Dynamics and partnership to develop and deploy first Boeing 737 VR simulators

Alaska is supporting Loft in the development of a Boeing 737 full-motion VR flight simulator with the financial investment and the expertise of its flight operations training department. As part of this partnership — and once the VR simulators are developed, built and approved — Alaska and Loft aim to install them at individual Alaska bases for pilot training. These state-of-the-art simulators will feature:

Six-degrees-of-freedom full-motion platform with improved pilot motion cueing that replicates real-world physics, force feedback from flight controls and all haptic sensations of the aircraft.

A 360-degree panoramic 3D view, providing correct visual cues inside and outside the aircraft.

Advanced full-body pose tracking, allowing pilots to see their hand and body movements in real-time within the VR environment.

Customizable training scenarios and environments, enabling pilots to practice any situation, condition, and maneuver safely and realistically.

Compact size, requiring 1/12th the space of legacy full-flight simulators, allowing for increased accessibility and flexibility.

Virtual demonstration mode, which lets instructors record immersive lessons — including visuals, audio and control inputs — for pilots to replay and learn from during future simulator sessions.

LoftSPATIAL app for Apple Vision Pro, which, when connected to the simulator, enables pilots to use spatial computing to train anytime, anywhere.