In the fall of 2021, as it became clear that there weren't enough flight opportunities to meet the growing training and proficiency needs for all of the approximately 65 AuxAir crews in DNE-SR, some of these aviators began exploring additional ways to prepare for the upcoming Ice Patrol season.

Recognizing this, the SPG offered to reach out to private industry to see if any affordable, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) training aids existed that could help these AuxAir crews maintain their skills between flight assignments.

This led to an evaluation of a recently installed flight simulator at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, which attracted the SPG's attention because of its distinctive 200° field-of-view graphics. This feature enables crews to search, locate, circle, and photograph objects of interest, which is essentially the primary purpose of AuxAir patrols.

It is widely recognized that being operationally proficient generally involves performing tasks with expert accuracy and efficiency, and that many of these critical task skills are perishable, requiring periodic review and practice to maintain those ready-state levels of proficiency.

While most crews will probably never participate in an emergency response, they must be prepared to respond effectively every time they operate under orders.

Another key reality is that gaining personal experience with actual SAR or other critical events is a rare and infrequent opportunity.

Early research experiments showed that crews could maintain their proficiencies by practicing SAR techniques, ice reconnaissance, and other airborne anomalies in no-risk, non-jeopardy exercises. This allowed them to gain a better understanding and increased confidence in handling these and other critical events and situations that can be too risky to practice during real flights.