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Aviation History
1981
1981 - 2054.PDF
1968 FLIGHT International, 20 June 1981 New American Airlines pilot academy n n r* ™L "-J U U 3 • 3 3 LITTLE more than a year after it was a grass plot, American Airlines' new $33 million Flight Training Centre near Gatwick will be opened on July 21. It will be one of the biggest facilities of its kind in the world devoted entirely to flight-crew train ing. Several thousand British and international crews will use the facility every year. Location is at County Oak, Crawley, easily acces sible from Gatwick. A Boeing 747 simulator is already operating in one of the four bays: also installed since May has been a DC-10, similarly supplied by Redif- fusion (formerly Redifon). A 737 will be in operation by late next year, and an A300 may complete the first four- bay section; a second four-bay area will probably be added with a 767, 757, A310 and a helicopter—either an S-76 or a Puma. Other simulators are being considered. Eight bays give a potential of 48,000hr simulator time a year. Revenue-earning operations started at the beginning of June, with Aerolineas Argentinas crews under training on the Rediffusion 747 simu lator. American Airlines Training Ltd (AATL) is a British registered sub sidiary of American Airlines Training Corporation. There are three British directors and two from the American parent—its president J. P. Mulry, and its senior V-P simulation technology F. A. Wirth. Managing director is Capt P. A. Mackenzie, who retired as BCal flight operations director at the end of last year. The new venture has been under pinned by BCal and Laker contracts for all their DC-10 crew-training— type-conversion and recurrency. Both of these Gatwick-based airlines have ten-year contracts, a sound base for the enterprise. Another is Rediffusion's geographical proximity (Crawley). Mackenzie believes that all the centre's simulators could be supplied by British companies. Rediffusion, he says, has performed well. The sup plier's nearness will be mutually con venient for technical support—main tenance has been contracted for on a 24 hr a day, 363 days a year basis— and for sales demonstrations. Redif fusion has no financial involvement in the operation, however, and will have to compete with other suppliers —as it is doing at present in the A300/A310. Mackenzie reckons that the com pany will attract training contracts from the increasing number of air lines who cannot afford a simulator, and who in his view need about 20 aircraft to justify one at today's prices. "This is why we are here, and why American Airlines is committed to a total investment of $33 million." He says that London is a good place for a profitable operation, with more airline-crew movements at London than at any other European city. American Airlines' procedures will be followed, starting with audio-visual tutorials, CRT systems-trainers and cockpit-procedure trainers, and on to full flight simulation. The instructors will be mostly British, the local area being a good source of experienced airline pilots. All successful appli cants—24 out of 160 so far—attend an eight-week course at the American Airlines Dallas/Fort Worth academy, followed by training at the UK centre. The instructor staff will average about 15 to each machine, although airlines may use their own instructors for certain items of training. Total staff this summer, including ten administrators, will be 40. The staff could reach 160 in three years' time. The association of BCal and Laker with American Airlines goes back to the beginning of the British indepen dents' DC-10 operations. Both were quite demanding in their DC-10 train ing standards, developing a mutual respect. The two British companies will continue to train their crews at Dallas/Fort Worth on DC-lOs until the Gatwick centre is in full swing in July. Finnair starts training in August on the DO10, and this particular simula tor will be working at 60 per cent of its 20hr daily capacity. AATL is negotiating with a Middle East air line and enquiries have been coming from Africa, Europe, the Indian sub continent and Australia. Mackenzie claims that the centre's simulators "will more truly represent aircraft than any other simulators available," with the latest visual dis plays eventually permitting zero- flight-time (ZFT) type conversions as now allowed by the US Federal Avia tion Administration under FAA AC 121.14c with simulators like Braniff's Rediffusion 747 at Dallas. But such type conversions, in Mackenzie's view, are only for experienced fast- jet pilots. Moreover, "zero-flight-time" is rather a misnomer, since a 727 captain (for example) would start flying actual passenger-carrying 747s only under line supervision. The Rediffusion visuals on the DC-10 are four-window Novoview Avionics SP2s—colour daylight, with the usual dusk and darkness capability. The SP1 was dusk/night only, whereas the SP2 allows the pilot to do a fully visual daylight circuit, approach and landing. SP3 is a brighter development of SP2 with more detail, and with all the visual and motion cues neces sary for "ZFT" training. Mackenzie plans to have SP3 for the 737 simula tor due in service next year. So far the FAA has approved ZFT conver sions for only one simulator, the Braniff 747, while ZFT training has not yet been approved. Although some airlines do not believe in ZFT—and Mackenzie him self did not at one stage—the con sensus now seems to be developing that, given the best simulators, and actual line flying under supervision, ZFT is almost here. The UK Civil Aviation Authority remains cautious, however. Macken zie believes that the modern simula tor's ability to fly and perform com pletely naturally—especially in the last 100ft, allowing the pilot to get a normal visual touchdown with a proper stopping performance—makes it the modern way of training. He believes that the CAA will support the idea of a panel of independent pilots to assess ZFT and its feasibility. The instructors are all type- examiners or instrument-rating exam iners on modern jet aircraft, and all have considerable instructing ex perience. Some are retired, but all have been fully licensed and, to quote Mackenzie, are "bright-eyed with enthusiasm." They will be given regular line refresher-flying as super- numaries with customer airlines to watch standards and to keep them selves up to date. Mackenzie intends to avoid "simu lator orientation"—currency in the real world is most important, however excellent simulators are, he believes. The need to train for the real world is essential to inculcate, he says, especially in young 230hr flying-school trainees—"very competent, but they've never been frightened or landed on ice or used problem nav- aids." He emphasises the reality of to day's simulators—"I never had an engine failure at unstick in 40 years. Pilots today can acquire a lifetime of such experiences—turbulence, storms, engines breaking up and so on—in a few hours." J.M.R.
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