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Aviation History
1980
1980 - 1713.PDF
FLIGHT International, 12 July 1980 101 aircraft of higher performance, cost and possibly lower fuel economy. Attention will be paid to how well the NGT fits the present Air Force simulator system. In 1972, Air Train ing Command set in motion a major simulator programme with the aim of increasing aircraft life, reducing flying costs and easing airspace con gestion. Each of the five under graduate training bases houses two T-37 and two T-38 simulator com plexes, each with four cockpits— representing an investment of $135 million in equipment and facilities. Almost all instrument flying training is completed on simulators, 32hr for the T-37 and 34hr for the T-38, and the undergraduate-pilot flying course has been reduced from 210hr to about 175hr. Simulator training costs an estimated $90 an hour. It was in 1972 that Air Training Command identified the need to re place the T-37, recommending that studies began in the period 1979 to 1982. The trainers reach the end of their 15,000hr-lives from 1987. The opportunity will be taken to over come the T-37's range and altitude restrictions, which often curtail train ing sorties as the T-37 is unable to skirt round, or climb over, bad weather. The Next Generation Trainer will also have modern instru mentation and should generate less noise. To achieve low life-cycle cost, the fuel-efficient engines will be coupled with increased reliability and maintainability. The trainer is ex pected to have a 20 to 25-year life. In 1979, the T-37 was available 80 per cent of the time, logging 284,000hr in 226,000 sorties. Pressuri- sation and low specific fuel consump* tion engines should increase NGT utilisation. Because of the problem of pilot retention, the student pilot intake will increase from 1,575 this year to around 2,400 by 1983. In 1979, Air Training Command turned out less than 1,000 fixed-wing, active-duty pilots and the instructor staff has been streamlined to handle this number. The build-up in student intake will not be accompanied by an increase in instructor staff, so the search is on for higher utilisation of existing air craft and teachers. The Air Force is planning to open up a third altitude zone, near 35,000ft, in addition to the 10,000ft and 20,000ft tiers now used by the unpressurised T-37. The Ser vice is also looking to increase the average sortie length from the present 80min while still leaving sufficient reserves to divert to alterna tive airfields. Study contracts have been given to Cessna, Fairchild, General Dynamics, Rockwell and Vought. The results are due on October 16 and one or two manufacturers will receive full-scale c Rockwell is proposing a modernised version of its T-2C Buckeye—one of the US Navy air craft up for replacement—and the new design illustrated here, d General Dynamics is work ing on a T-tail design with an all-up weight of 12,0001b, a top speed of Mach 0-85 and a range of more than 1,000 n.m. development contracts in the spring of next year. A production decision is expected early in 1984 and the first production batch of 54 will be bought in 1987. Cessna has proposed the T-37D, with new engines, avionics, instru mentation, pressurisation and ejec tion seats. Life-cycle costs 40 per cent lower than the T-37B are claimed. Modification of existing T-37s would cost an estimated $400 million while production of 600 all-new T-37Ds would cost about $520 million, ignor ing inflation. There is little connection between the US Air Force and Navy trainer re quirements. The Navy has only just taken delivery of the last few Beech T-34Cs for primary training and these aircraft will last well past the intro duction of the NGT. The Navy also has a preference for tandem seating not shared by the Air Force. The T-34C is a relatively high performance primary trainer which at the moment leads into the T-2C basic trainer—if the student is selected for fast-jet training. The students can be streamed three ways at this point— fast jet, maritime patrol or helicopter. The 26 weeks of basic instruction on the T-2C includes carrier qualification aboard USS Lexington and is fol lowed by 18 weeks of advanced train ing on TA-4Js. The student graduates from the Skyhawk to operational and weapons training on combat aircraft. The US Navy has begun studies into a complete training system to replace the T-2C and TA-4J. A single aircraft is envisaged, along with new simula tors and teaching aids. In many ways the aircraft is of less importance to the Navy requirement than the ancil lary equipment. Performance will be modest compared with some of Europe's trainer/light-attack aircraft. The high-performance T-34C will assume more of the lower end of the jet spectrum easing the task of re placing the T-2 and TA-4 with a single airframe. Carrier capability is an essential re quirement which rules out all but a few of Europe's existing trainers and favours an all-new design. As with the Air Force programme, revamping of existing designs is being considered. Rockwell is proposing a modernised version of the T-2. Two European competitors are still in the race and will provide a good datum for Navy experts to assess the performance of the paper designs. The continuing argument of single- versus twin-engines—the Navy tradi tionally prefers two—could be solved by a close look at the safety records of the Hawk and Alpha Jet. Both air-
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