U.S. Air Force AWACS crews to train in modern simulator.

The Air Force has a new 32,000-square-foot facility designed to train flight crews that operate E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.

The facility includes two new AWACS operational flight trainers. Flight crews--consisting of a pilot, co-pilot, and flight engineer--can practice takeoffs, landings, aerial refueling and emergency procedures. The operational flight trainers provide a high-fidelity simulated cockpit, a six-degree-of-freedom motion system that replicates the aircraft's flight attitudes and out-the-window, computer generated imagery.

The flight simulator can replicate weather conditions, wind turbulence and even generate smoke in the cockpit.

The training facility is located at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.

If the simulator passes the required tests, AWACS crew members will be able to receive some flight certifications without having to leave the ground.

"Civilian airline pilots can get certified in a simulator today, walk out to a plane tomorrow, and land it with a planeload of passengers," said Pat Donley, director of the E-3 simulation certification program. "You, as a passenger, would never know that it was your pilot's first time landing a real jet."

The AWACS flight simulator came online in June, replacing the wing's 1960s technology. The pilot, co-pilot, navigator and flight engineer can practice takeoffs, landings and emergency procedures with a full-motion system and computer-generated images.

"The simulator works just like a real plane, except it has a new-car smell," Donley said. "It can simulate night, day, turbulence and ice on the runway. We can even use graphic images that depict the areas to which AWACS crews deploy."

The simulators will nor fully replace actual flying training, since Air Force pilots also must practice tactical maneuvers and midair refueling, but simulator training saves maintenance and fuel costs.

"This will replace the need for flight crews to fly, and for the Air Force to maintain, TC-18 training aircraft that crews have had to fly before transitioning to the operation of an E-3 AWACS," said David Williams, vice president of training services for Link Training.

The company's $60 million facility houses two full-motion E-3 flight trainers and one E-3 flight-training device. Link Training is responsible for operating and maintaining the facility and equipment, as well as providing instructors and training material.

A team of testers from Eglin Air Force base certify that training in the simulator actually replicates training that could be done on an actual aircraft. The testers, working with E-3 experts, rate each simulated task. If a task is rated a "1," then that simulated task can take the place of the aircrew member having to do the task in a real plane. If the certification team rates a simulator task as a "2," then that task can only be used for training purposes and cannot be used to keep an aircrew member's training up-to-date.

CAE Military Training and Simulation, of Canada, designed and manufactured the suite of E-3 training devices. The equipment was ordered in November 1999 and delivered in September 2002.

The two E-3 operational flight trainers, which exceed the FAA's Level D qualification standards, feature a 225-degree by 50-degree field-of-view display system. It has sophisticated aircraft simulation models, such as the downwash effects of air-to-air refueling.

Both the E-3 operational flight trainer and the E-3 flight-training device can be networked so aircrews can practice and rehearse ream exercises and joint missions. The AWACS flight-training device, which lacks a motion or visual system, is a realistic cockpit replica that will enable aircrews to receive instruction in essential elements of cockpit resource management and crew coordination.

Link has been the prime contractor for E-3 flight crew training since 1993 and currently is operating the program under a $158 million contract awarded in 1999 that could extend through 2014.

Link is revising and producing new instructional courseware that will be delivered via computer and paper-based materials.--Compiled from Air Combat Command News Service reports and company news releases