"
Quote "The problem is whether or not they can prove it will be worth the investment.. will more students pass because of it, or will more students validate because of it?"
Hurn must be one of the last ATC Training agencies in Europe that does not use 3D tower simulators.
As for return on investment, the USAF have over 90 large footprint tower simulators and have reported between 30% and 50% reduction in training time since the were introduced. The FAA have 14 simulators with another 24 on order and they are reporting similar reductions. ENAV have over 30 tower simulators and most of the remaining European agencies have at least 1.
The succesful return on investment calculation for 3D tower simulators is well documented (when buying existing commercially available technology). ROI for self built simulators is not as clear.
There are at least 1/2 dozen commercial ATC simulator companies in Europe alone, with over 20 companies worldwide. There are probably 4 or 5 companies that lead the market.