Flight simulators help AMC to 'maximize value, minimize waste'

  • Published
  • By Laura McAndrews
  • Air Mobility Command Public Affairs
SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. (AFNS) --  In Air Mobility Command, the use of flight simulators as an Air Force Smart Operation for the 21st Century effort is helping significantly reduce costs, maximize training and make more aircraft available for operational missions. Through AFSO 21, initiatives provide a "dedicated effort to maximize value and minimize waste in operations."

The use of simulators, in lieu of airplanes, results in safer flight training, large flying hour cost reductions for the Department of Defense, saves fuel and increases the service life of AMC aircraft. One of the major ways simulator use benefits the command is by enabling the training of dangerous scenarios.

In a simulator, aircrews can practice shutting off an engine to simulate a "flame out or burn out," said Mr. Jim Fell, AMC's KC-10 aircrew training systems resource manager. In an actual plane, doing the same training scenario is just too dangerous.

AMC is tailoring its emergency procedures training scenarios to reflect what's going on in the real world, said Mr. Joe Widincamp, chief of AMC's training resources branches. "They need to train so if that problem ever does happen they can safely get back to the ground."

Capt. Sean Burke, a C-17 pilot from the 15th Airlift Squadron at Charleston AFB, S.C., said simulator training allows aircrew to expand the envelope, train safely and handle potentially dangerous situations and learn from them.

"If the aircraft crashes in the simulator, we can simply reset it. That's a luxury not possible in real life," Captain Burke said.

Simulator use also aids in flight hour reduction. It's 10 times cheaper to train in a simulator than to fly the aircraft. And it's just like flying the real thing. "You can do everything in the simulator just like a real aircraft," said Mr. Denny Hughes, C-5 aircrew training systems resource manager.

Mr. Bill Whatley, a KC-135 simulator instructor with the Air National Guard's 126th Air Refueling Wing at Scott AFB, said the simulator they use has about 25 custom databases. In a simulator, users can go anywhere on the planet. If simulator users go someplace where there is no custom airfield, they can put it in to the simulator's software program.

In the civilian airline community, simulators are used extensively for training. As an example, when someone flies on a commercial airliner, many people may not realize it could be that co-pilot's first flight in a real aircraft.

"They train their people at this level of simulation so the first time they actually fly an airplane, you and I are in the back as paying customers," Mr. Whatley said.

Throughout AMC, aircrew personnel perform much of their training in simulators. In fact, according to AMC's Distributed Mission Operations, or DMO, office, the command would need an additional several million dollars for their flight hour program every year if simulators were not in use.

Simulator use has also produced savings in fuel usage and costs. The Air Force is the Department of Defense's largest consumer of fuel, requiring 64 percent in fiscal 2008. Of that portion, 84 percent went to aviation fuel and mobility aircraft required 52 percent of the aviation share, said AMC's Fuel Efficiency Office.

"If you're going to attack an area for energy and cost savings -- it's mobility," said Mr. Sean Carey, AMC program manager for DMO at Scott AFB. "Bottom line is that it's a priority and we can save on money and fuel through the use of simulators."

Mr. Carey, a former KC-135 pilot, said the types of simulators in use today also continue to get better. It's a "drastic improvement" from simulators in use just over 20 years ago.

"In 1986, our 'quote, un-quote' simulator was on a stationary railroad car," Mr. Carey said. "We would go in and it had no visual, there were just white screens. It was like being in your car, but you couldn't see out the windows."

In the past, simulators were "more of an instrument trainer" rather than a flying trainer. Now, it's like flying the real thing.

"Now we've got simulators on hydraulic and electric jacks with six-degrees of freedom where it provides full movement," Mr. Carey said. "It's very realistic. We can log a lot of training activity out of the simulators so we don't need to get it at the aircraft. It's a huge leap forward."

That leap forward is aiding the Air Force and AMC, through AFSO 21, to pile up the savings and maximize efficiency.

"Just like your desktop computer is getting better, so are the simulators," said Col. Mark McLean, chief of AMC's AFSO 21 office. "That's a win-win for all of us -- our aircrews get great training and the Air Force saves time, money and resources."