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Simulator are not stimulators!
By John G. Denham

After a career at sea and a period of piloting I tried a tour in academia. I was surprised to find that maritime academies, along with other educational institutions were using classrooms furnished with middle school furnishings and tools. Are we teaching kids or future professionals I thought? Mostly the furnishings are still in use. If you treat students like kids, they will act like kids. Therefore, tools and the environment are important.

Involved in continuing education, simulators attracted me. At Marine Safety International, then the fore runner in maritime simulation the concept of simulation (make believe with electronics) was interesting, but unreal. Nature can not be simulated. For the next 10 years I visited simulators in Kings Point, New London, Piney Point, Toledo and San Diego. Each facility emulated the other and the concept of instruction was the same and teaching was partially effective. A critiques of students indicated, it’s great, but not the same.

Why doesn’t simulation prepare one for the real experience?

Looking at the COSCO BUSAN pilot house I could not recall any simulator with a similar physical arrangement. A collection of students will have a collection of pilot house arrangements in mind and therefore make believe is initiated. The installed bridge equipment in most cases is unfamiliar and therefore another make believe is instigated etc.

Simulation serves excellent purposes when used to rehearse procedures or test theories, things that are not well known, and specially ship characteristics, tactical diameters in specific conditions and human responses to critical situations. Acceleration and deceleration rates/times are not reliable due to the possible human response factor. I found that using simulation to display a critical maneuver as an illustration is excellent. A competent instructor can interject critical information as it occurs (or in advance) and implant a learning experience without the confusion of interpretation. Most want to be as good as the best. An example that I used: “I am about to show you a simulation of how old Charley Brown approaches the turn and rounds the bend at PotreroTurn to Richmond Inner Harbor.” Shown once, or more as needed with some comments on key points, delivered the lesson.

While engaged with a computer driven problem one is constantly shifting from real experience and computer generated displayed data.

For $1,000,000 American President Lines instituted a three day work shop for all ship masters and promising chief mates and invited USCG, educators and lawyers to attend. The attendees (Captains, mates, visitors and consultants) were divided into small groups and each was given a real accident problem to resolve (prevent and analyze). Some simulation was provided by video tape of simulated scenes of the situation. Realism was stimulated because it was factual.

The final critiques of each workshop indicated an awareness that the master and pilot/ watch officer relationship was essential for safety in critical situations and that masters or persons in charge should act responsibly. Simulation training as presently practiced fails in this most important facet of ship operations management; implant thinking as a process and experience by example.

John Denham is a retired USN Captain, Licensed unlimited Master and Pilot, maritime academy teacher,and author with extensive experience as a marine consultant. He is also author of The Assistant and DD 891.

Currently all mariners are familiar with the large full mission ship simulators like the one pictured above. Some have even played with either purpose built or recreational PC based simulators but each of these three types have inherent problems. The full mission simulators are very expensive, the purpose built ones lack realism and the recreational games are mostly avoided because, as professionals performing life critical operations in dangerous environments, we need assurance that game play is true to life. Even the slightest differences in maneuvering characteristics between the game and real life ship handling can make simulated practice detrimental to job performance.

Below is a video I found YouTube. It shows a simulated disaster situation played out on the game Ship Simulator 2008. Like a low budget Hollywood movie it contains numerous errors and I doubt it was produced by a licensed mariner but that’s not the point. This video contains realistic images and sound all produced by game that costs less than $40 US. It also lacks any type of technical simulation that might confuse a mariner looking to prepare for a sea watch. What it does contain is a real life threat to vessel safety, the dynamic between watch standers and the master. And the game is fun!

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Until the game makers have funding to obtain regulatory approval or the industry commissions game developers to produce one of their own, Ship Simulator 2008, will not be the replacement for time consuming trips to expensive training facilities. Let’s not let this problem stop us.

Recruitment

Ask the US Navy what has been the best recruiting device of the past 20 years and they will tell you it’s the movie Top Gun. Maritime Academies, Seafarer Organizations and Companies themselves do not have the budget or will to produce a Hollywood blockbuster but they can certainly sponsor game play and interact with young participants. The US Army does this today with great success the NYTimes has endorsed the solution for Tall Ship training, why can’t we? Getting young minds engaged and excited should be our first step in solving the manning crisis. Offering this type of gaming in a regulated and structured environment would have the benefit of assuring that players are learning lessons from the game play.

Non-Technical Training

Full mission simulators and manned ship models are likely the only solution to technical skills like ship handling and dynamic positioning but lack of skill is not the industry’s largest problem. The vast majority of large casualties are attributed to human error and the error chain leading up to the actual incident. The Titanic, Exxon Valdez and more recently the Pasha Bulker, Empress Of The North and Cosco Busan all suffered casualties due to the dynamic of trust between the Master (or pilot) and the watshstanders.  Let’s use this game to promote not just Bridge Team Management but the relationship of power on the bridge and other common pitfalls a mariners experience during the course of their career. Let’s use our collective experience to create real life scenarios mimicking those watches when you had to make a difficult decision then allow our fellow mariner to face your nightmare on the simulator. The best and worst outcomes could easily be shared online for comments and viewing.

What Do You Think?

• Have and idea for creative training opportunities that speak to the problems faced by watchstanders on the Pasha Bulker, Empress Of The North, Cosco Busan or the wide array of other recent incidents? Share them with us in the comments below.
• Purchase Ship Simulator 2008, record your own scenario and post it to our forum. Be sure to ask the hard questions.
• How would you handle the scenario in the video below?

John Konrad is a USCG licensed Master Mariner of Unlimited Tonnage currently working as Chief Mate aboard a 865′ ship in the Gulf of Mexico. Since graduating from SUNY Maritime College he has sailed in 4 of the worlds oceans and reports from his ship via satellite.

We recently showed you the video game Ship Simulator 2008, the “realistic” (we haven’t tested this claim) simulator game for your PC, but today we point you towards another product from the company Vstep; RescueSim. Here’s the short description from the RescueSim website;

RescueSim allows emergency response teams to prepare for incidents in a virtual working environment. Under the guidance of your own instructor, any incident can be realistically simulated. Crews experience the incident as they would in real life. They determine the best response strategy, implement it and then observe the consequences of their decisions.

The training platform can be supplemented with industry-specific training modules that include environments, scenarios and equipment relevant to that industry. Today, modules exist for Ports; developed with the Port of Rotterdam and Rotterdam Harbour Fire Department, it includes training incident scenarios with various vessels and industrial fires.

While we still recommend any organization in need of this type of training contact our friend Tom Guldner at Marine Firefighting Institute, we look forward to learning more about this product.

If any gCaptain readers have experienced Ship Simulator 2008 or RescueSim, please let us know what you think!