Learning to Fly with Newline Interactive

The Redcliffe Aero Club, an hour’s drive north of Brisbane, is a site that has been tied to Australian aviation since the late 1960s, with its airfield officially designated in 1972. These days, it’s a busy hub for pilot training, offering full time diploma courses and CASA flight training. There’s also scenic and charter flights on offer, along with social ‘flyaways’ that members organise to attend events in distant locales.

Aviation is a necessarily conservative environment, with only the most tried and trusted methods employed, including in training. Until recently, the pilot training classrooms at Redcliffe were still using a combination of projectors and whiteboards as their main classroom teaching technology.

“In aviation, everyone loves using projector and whiteboards,” explains Redcliffe’s RTO (Registered Training Organisation) Coordinator Bernadette Killick. “Last year, my boss wanted to buy more projectors, and I said ‘I’ve think I’ve got a better solution’.”

Bernadette’s better solution was discovered through nearby audio-visual integrator MacroSphere, based in Clontarf. Bernadette had encountered LED interactive screens and knew they could offer massive benefits to the Club. “I contacted MacroSphere, and they put forward three options. We chose the Newline Interactive Q Series, and installed two of them.”

The Q Series are 4KUHD LED screens running an Android 11 operating system. They have 20 points of active touch control through infra-red detection, USB-C connectivity with 65W of power, built-in speakers, included collaboration tools, and an app store with more than 100 tools available.

Since their installation, Redcliffe Aero Club have been using the screens for their flight training, workshops, and committee meetings. They have come into their own particularly when used in training pilots on EFBs; Electronic Flight Bags.

“EFBs are the electronic versions of the big folder of printed documents pilots used to take on each flight,” explains Bernadette. “It’s all now on iPads; all of your charts and documentation. EFBs are a closed ecosystem that only runs on iPads. Connecting those to the screens and showing students what an EFB can really do, and being able to annotate it and draw over it has been a great benefit. Beforehand, connecting iPads to projectors was difficult and the result didn’t look good. We needed something high resolution. The screens are very energy efficient, and we have proven that we can do so much more with them compared to a whiteboard.”

The smaller of Redcliffe’s two Newline Interactive screens is a TT-Q65 65 inch model installed in their Briefing Room. “Our flight instructors are able to display presentations, play videos, and connect their iPads,” continues Bernadette. “Our second screen is in what we call ‘The VET (Vocational Education and Training) Shed’, which is a demountable classroom. That screen is the larger TT-7521Q 75 inch model, and we use it for larger briefings, bigger classes, and busy meetings. It handles presentations, screen sharing from iPads and laptops; a bit of everything.”

Outside of pilot training, the Newline Interactive screens are used for a variety of internal communications. “Our CEO says that the board meetings are enjoying the new technology, and being able to interact with the material while they do their presentation has been amazing,” relates Bernadette. “Now they’re able to integrate their presentations, charts, and other documents. When it comes to our staff meetings, having the ability to replicate a screen on a large display, being able to draw over it, and direct people through the material has been a great improvement.”

Redcliffe Aero Club’s investment in Newline Interactive technology has been backed up by excellent service and support from their supplier, MacroSphere. “Macrosphere’s service has been amazing,” confirms Bernadette. “Jodene Mckenzie is MacroSphere’s Newline guru, and she has provided both in-depth and ‘quick start’ type training for us. She’s been amazing; even her short and quick demonstrations immediately teach you about the screen’s capabilities. There’s always more we can learn, and support is just a phone call away.”

With solid support and supply from both MacroSphere and distributor Amber Technology, Bernadette is sure that Redcliffe Aero Club will continue to expand with Newline Interactive. “We most definitely will be looking at buying some more Newline Interactive screens in the future,” she concludes.

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redcliffeaeroclub.com.au

newline-interactive.com

www.macrosphere.com.au

www.ambertech.com.au