Technology Leaps All Around Propel Advances in Simulators.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Date: 01 November 2000
• Author: Strachan, Ian W.

Ever since Edwin Link developed his "blue box" in 1928, it has been obvious that computer-based simulation is a powerful technology. Link originally had difficulty in selling his concept to the U.S. Army Air Corps, but a series of aircraft crashes during instrument and night flying forced the issue in the 1930s.

The Link Trainer was rescued from being merely a curiosity and fairground attraction, and its serious training potential was recognized. During World War II, virtually all allied pilots were trained in instrument flying in the "blue box," and a few other simulators and training devices were produced for aircraft, gunnery and navigation systems. By the end of the 1950s, replica cockpits with analogue simulations had been developed for the more expensive aircraft, but were regarded as secondary to training on the real vehicle.

During the 1960s and 1970s, developments in simulation included the replacement of analogue systems by digital, better modeling of vehicle characteristics, more powerful computing, and viable visual and hydraulic motion systems. Indeed, what had been developed by the end of the 1970s was the first standard of what is known in civil aviation terminology as a full-flight simulator, or FES.

Well into the 1970s, the aircraft itself continued to be used for hazardous training. The events of the 1930s, which led to the acceptance of the Link trainer, were repeated, in the form of a string of fatal accidents on crew training sorties, particularly involving engine-failures.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in the period 1962-72, eight aircraft and 41 lives were lost on crew training sorties being carried out under FAA regulation. These mishaps resulted in the deaths of six FAA flight inspectors and 13 people on the ground. One result was a directive from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to investigate safer ways of carrying out such training, and the solution was found through systematic application of modern simulation technology.

'Zero Flight Time'

In the mid 1980s, advances in technology had progressed to the extent of allowing the FAA, the United Kingdom's CAA and then the European JAA to adopt rules for the "Zero Flight Time" (ZFT) concept for recurrent training. This allows the use of high-quality flight simulators, instead of the aircraft for crew training sorties and also for conversion of already experienced pilots to similar types of aircraft to those on which they are already qualified.

The characteristics of such flight simulators are specified, tested and supervised by the appropriate regulatory authority. The FAA level D simulator now has become the norm for training in airliners of any size. Indeed, the concept has been so successful that there has been talk of a level E simulator, which could have enhanced fidelity. This could include not only visual and motion cueing, but also areas such as radio communication, radio background, and the ability to network with other flight simulators and with simulators for air traffic control.

On the military front, statistics on training and other accidents are more difficult to find, but they are estimated to exceed civilian figures many times over.

In the past, accidents on training sorties generally were accepted as an inevitable consequence of preparing for emergency situations. At times, more pilots and aircraft would be lost practicing engine failures than from real failures. In many ways, acceptance of...