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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 0029.PDF
reputation, and a CAA-approved school, is a big attraction for many potential over seas customers. "We have not needed to advertise. The present level of serious interest could mean an extra 50 per cent to 100 per cent growth over what is planned at the moment," claims BAe. The choice of a Prestwick base was made on a number of counts, including the advantage that BAe already has a factory there, providing organisational infrastructure. An existing hangar has been gutted and rebuilt with classrooms around it. The Scottish Office offered a grant to bring employment into the region, and both the British Airports Authority (BAA) and the CAA welcomed more use of the under-utilised airfield and ATC facili ties. About 100 commercial movements a week should create no great conflict with training, while the school benefits from the navaids and control. Sharing the airfield with airliners is good training psychology. High ground nearby creates the vital sense of safety height from the start. Weather is, on aver age, good for training, yet wind and adverse weather will be met at an early stage and "soft" initial training avoided. Added flexibility comes from reopening some 2,000ft of the short runway. A relief landing ground is also being negotiated some 20 miles south of Prestwick. The school fleet will comprise 36 all- new aircraft: 11 Wrens, 19 Warriors, and six Senecas. It will reach full strength in February 1989, as the school comes up to capacity. Prestwick can cope with about 50 training aircraft, on the proposed basis, so a 50 per cent expansion is possible. The three aircraft types were chosen to match three distinct needs. The aerobatic Above left Well tried Cherokee Warriors form the backbone of the training fleet. Above Video disc interactive displays should speed ground- school studies Swiss/Italian FFA AS.202 Wren, with a 180 h.p. Avco Lycoming piston engine, is to be used for the first 50hr of primary training. The Bulldog was considered, but the source withdrew. In any case, secondhand aircraft were not a first choice, and neither high-wing aircraft nor converted tourers were acceptable. Dave Martin says that he might have gone for £he Trago Mills SAH.l if it had been in production last year; the view from the cockpit is very good, and it is well-built and strong (for. early landings). The Piper Warrior II, with a 160 h.p. Lycoming, is an established trainer for commercial schools, tried and tested in both operations and engineering aspects. This type serves for the next 105hr. The same navcom equipment is fitted as on the Seneca, thereby providing continuity in instrument flight training. The four- or five-seat capacity is suitable for student positioning, and is important to enable students to observe exercises. The Senecas, with two turbocharged 220 h.p. Continentals, has a training repu tation like the Warrior, and is used for the final 45hr of flying. Its primary asset is that of real performance with simulated engine failure, and it is described as "good value for money" in starting the airways training task, which will then be completed on a BAe 125-700 simulator. The Seneca's navigation fit is supple mented by King area navigation equip ment. The school's engineering staff will maintain aircraft to light-aircraft main tenance schedules, under approval from the CAA. The simulation exercises will take place on five simulators: • Two Warrior Frasca fixed-base units, with cockpits identical to those of the aircraft. • Two Seneca Frasca units with motion. These are to be cleared to "Level 2" train ing. • One BAe 125-700 simulator with motion, also to Level 2. Apart from airways training, students will take a standard 8hr type-conversion course on the simulator, with the equiv alent of instrument rating renewal as both captain and copilot, to accustom pupils to airline conversion training. No CAA rating will be given, as the aircraft itself will not be flown. Glass cockpits are now commonplace in airlines, and future pilots will not wait long before they find themselves in one. The school is now planning for a further simulator—probably a 125-800— with Efis. Big-jet training is reinforced on four Carrel trainers, which familiarise the students with the systems, instruments, and controls typical of a modern airliner. The CAA sets a 500hr minimum for approved ground training. BAe will give l,000hr, reaching "frozen" ALTP stan dard by the end of the course. Economics and world affairs will be taught, to focus commercial aspects. Aviation medicine in particular will be stressed, with the theme of "how to look after yourself in flying for 30 years," and human factors and cockpit- resource management generally are to be given a special place. The division of the programme between formal subjects has roughly the following balance in number of periods: Aerodynamics 90 Air law 5 Aircraft instruments 55 Aircraft loading 5 Nav/flight planning 240 Aviation medicine 15 Aircraft performance "A" 50 Aircraft type-technical 2 Aircraft systems 40 Communications 5 Electrics 4 Meteorology 130 Propulsion 8 Radio/radar aids 70 Total 935 These courses are supported by eight Wieat terminals. This teaching aid, which is connected to a central computer, models aircraft systems' controls through picto rial reproduction of the actual control panels which can be shown and made to work, as in real life. It acts as a FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 2/9 January 1988 27
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