Karen A. picks up the gauntlet: Snow in Hawaii, two engines on fire - anything is possible in simulator

Published May 4, 2010
By Karen Abeyasekere
100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

RAF MILDENHALL, England -- "Ladies and gentlemen - this is your captain speaking. Welcome aboard "The Gauntlet." Please hold onto your hats, because we may just be in for a bumpy ride ... "

Usually when I fly, I always feel sick.

I think it's because usually when I'm on an aircraft, all I can see in front of me is the back of someone else's seat, just inches from my face. It's the same when I'm a passenger in the back of a car - I just get travel sick.

But not this time, oh no. This time, I get to see where I'm going. So move over aircraft commander, because that seat has my name on it (for the time being at least)... and "Capt. Karen A." is flying this jet today!

Well, I've done the marshalling, now I'm moving on up, right into the front left seat of the aircraft.

Start your engines

"Alright crew, let's get a good safety check ... " (Cue crew checking instruments, annunciators, fuel panel, flaps and lights)

"Setting 70 percent on the N1's ... " (pilots push throttles up until reaching 70 percent of engine capacity)

These are just a couple of the final verbal checks that pilots say while rolling down the runway. Then it's off to the wild blue yonder - and I say, "Let's fly this baby to Hawaii!"

Now this just so happened to be the day after the volcano eruption in Iceland, so all flights were grounded - except mine.

And before you think Col. Chad Manske, 100th Air Refueling Wing commander, has gone slightly crazy and let me loose at the controls of one of his aircraft, I should point out that I was actually in the simulator, safely fixed to the ground.

In the simulator

My instructor pilot, Maj. Chris Saettel, 351st Air Refueling Squadron, sat beside me, laughing. Mind you, this guy is always smiling - though this time I'm sensing he's a little nervous - and that the smile is possibly mixed with a little hysteria, if only for the short time I'm in the cockpit.

For my latest challenge I was able to "fly" the simulator, which, though it looks like a building on the outside, has a very expensive training aid on the inside.

It puts our pilots (and those from other nations' air forces) through their paces, thus saving money and fuel by not using the actual aircraft as often. It also means, if there happens to be a "crash", people don't worry about it, and it doesn't cost big bucks to put right.

So early one Friday morning, I climbed the stairs before stepping inside the machine - which looks kind of like a giant white ball on six hydraulic stilts - feeling rather like I was stepping into the world of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe."

Inside is an exact duplication of a real cockpit, with the addition of a computer and screens to the right - the simulator instructor operating station - where the simulator instructor sits and works his magic.

Once Major Saettel had strapped himself into the co-pilot's seat, he let me sit in the aircraft commander's chair. As usual, my trusty sidekick, Staff Sgt. Jerry Fleshman, was close by to record the event (and make fun of me when I would occasionally upset the wheel - or 'yoke' - as I struggled with the controls.)

In the 'driver's seat'

After pulling my seat right up so I could actually reach the "pedals" (steering the aircraft while on the ground is done with just foot controls, and not with the yoke) and touch the dashboard (to make sure I could reach the switches), I got the chance to look at the controls properly.

It made me feel dizzy just looking at them all! There are so many dials, switches, levers and buttons in the KC-135 cockpit, it's no wonder the pilots need two to two-and-a-half years training before they can lead their own crew.

"Pilot training is a year-long course," said Bruce Golson, RAF Mildenhall's simulator site manager, and FlightSafety contractor. "These days, the training is mostly done in simulators - in my day, (Bruce spent 22 years in the Air Force as a pilot) it was mostly flying in actual aircraft.

"When pilots leave their school, even though they are wearing their wings, they're not actually qualified to fly (an operational aircraft)," he said. "At that stage, they've learned the basic skills but every cockpit is very different, and every airframe has a very different mission."

Mr. Golson explained that mission training for a particular airframe takes between four to six months, after which they can fly, but are not qualified as aircraft commanders.

"They start as a first officer (second-in-command) or co-pilot, and will be in that position for one to one-and-a-half years. Most pilots will have close to 1,000 flying hours by the end of that time," he said. "You're talking a minimum of two to two-and-a-half years before a pilot can qualify for the role as aircraft commander, and sign-out an airplane with a crew on his or her own."

A lot to learn

Before I was able to go in the simulator, I had to go in the briefing room and Mr. Golson and Major Saettel quickly explained to me what the pilots discuss before a mission.

Pilots usually have to go through a two-hour pre-brief before then spending four hours in the simulator. Prior to that, they have to self-study, so they are prepared for the training, as though it were a real mission.

In the briefing room are three massive binders, each containing technical orders covering aircraft performance, emergency procedures, and normal procedures (which ensure everything is working normally on the plane).

"They're like encyclopedias, containing everything a pilot needs to know," Major Saettel said. "We also have two in-flight binders and checklists which we take with us on the flight."

In addition, the pilots have to memorize what are known as "bold face procedures" - fast-action checklist procedures which every aircrew member must know by heart.

"We do a monthly test, checked by the standardization and evaluations office, to ensure we do know it by heart," Major Saettel said. "Other, more involved emergency procedures are found within the in-flight technical order, and generally, we have the time to pull the book out and reference them.

"But boldface emergency procedures must be executed quickly and accurately, without the use of checklists, due to the nature of specific emergency situations," he said.

Outside the briefing room is a chart, about 8 meters long by 1 meter wide, covered in what seems like hundreds of dialogue boxes and flow charts, each containing different information on the steps to take for various situations.

My brain couldn't comprehend or make sense of all that information, but Major Saettel explained that pilots have to memorize it all, and know exactly what information to input for each particular item.

They have condensed checklists with them during the flight, but all the information has to be learned during their months of pilot training on their chosen airframe.

Importance of the simulator

So like I said, now I'm finally in the simulator and this time I get to see where I'm going.

But hang on a second. That's a different view through the windshield to the usual one seen at RAF Mildenhall. Where am I? Oh - coming in to land at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Nice! Now I wonder if Major Saettel will let me get out and stay a while ...

That's the amazing thing about the simulator - it can show almost any runway, anywhere in the world, and lets pilots practice take offs and landings wherever they choose. It allows them to deal with many different scenarios, including thunderstorms, fog, icy runways, engines on fire, turbulence - and even snow in Hawaii.

Pilots from the Turkish air force also use RAF Mildenhall's flight simulator when they are here, as do firefighters from the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron Fire Department. It allows them to do training and experience another viewpoint to any incidents and accidents they may have to respond to.

"There are two main reasons why having the simulator here is so important," said Mr. Golson. "First, it saves a lot of money. Using it for one hour costs about one-tenth the amount of the amount it would cost to fly an aircraft for one hour.

"Second, and what I think is more valuable, is the realism we can provide in the simulator, that can't be done - or would be very risky if done - in the airplane, such as shutting down two engines at once."

Mr. Golson added that pilots now take their qualification and check rides in the simulator, instead of in an actual aircraft.

"If an engine is on fire, they would have to shut it off completely - if practicing in a real aircraft, they would only take it down to idle, as they obviously couldn't shut it off for real. I've seen guys do that in the simulator - just turn engines down to idle - and I've had to tell them, 'You can't do that - you have to finish the procedure properly'," he said. "So it makes the training much more realistic.

Training scenarios in the simulator focus on the major aircraft systems - hydraulics, engines, fuels, electrics, pneumatics and aerodynamics. Superimposed on each one of those scenarios is crew resource management, otherwise known as 'teamwork.'

The purpose of CRM is to find out how the aircrew functions together when there's a problem. When there's a volcano erupting and they have to fly through the ash, it can test how well they pull together to get the plane on the ground safely.

Keep the pink bars aligned

Meanwhile, back on board "The Gauntlet", Major Saettel was giving me my instructions.

The main thing I had to remember was to keep focusing on the small screen in front of me (the attitude director indicator) and the screen underneath it (horizontal situation indicator, which would have a broken arrow in it, which I had to try and keep together).

The ADI had a little symbol which represented the aircraft, and had pink bars outside of it, and I had to try and keep the aircraft aligned with the pink bars, to ensure we were the right altitude and going in the correct direction.

The trouble is, because there were so many dials, screens and switches, I was concentrating very hard almost entirely on that screen.

Major Saettel kept reading numbers of dials and screens in front of him, and I kept trying to glance at the same dials on my side of the cockpit, but I just couldn't take any of that other information in.

Turn left!

All of a sudden, there was a massive black cloud in front of us. We'd hit a thunderstorm - or was it an ash cloud?

I saw it, but was intently focused on the screen, trying to keep the little aircraft symbol aligned with those pink bars, and to do so, I was turning the yoke right.

Then Major Saettel kept saying (in a strangely louder and louder voice...) "Turn left! We can't go through the thunderstorm, we have to go round it - turn left!"

I looked at him and nodded, and kept turning the wheel ... right. Because I was so intently focused on that screen, and to get those bars lined up (I thought) the little plane needed to move right.

"Turn left! Your OTHER left - your MILITARY left!" - By this time, even Jerry had joined in.

That's when I realized what I was doing wrong ... so sharp left it was. The airplane responded very quickly.

Phew! We came out of that unscathed! I just don't understand why those three guys inside the sim with me were starting to cry ...

Suddenly we were on the runway at Altus Air Force Base, Okla., and bringing up the rear in a formation of three KC-135s.

I got to steer our aircraft along the taxiway, turn and take off just after the first two.

Granted, it took me a while to catch them up once we were airborne, but I got there in the end.

Then Major Saettel took the controls and we got to see what it's like to be an aircraft on the receiving end of an (attempted) refueling. That was a really strange sensation, seeing a huge plane - exactly like your own - just 50 feet above you and traveling at 350 miles per hour.

We had to ("expertly", according to Major Saettel) dodge the boom a few times (it was his first time having a go at being refueled) - it must be even scarier for the small receivers, such as RAF Lakenheath's F-15s. But I guess their pilots are used to it, as they do it all the time.

Where are the palm trees?

Finally, we got to land at Hickam Air Force Base. Hurrah! We're in Hawaii! Now somebody pass me my pineapple drink!

I have to say I was very disappointed that I couldn't see any sand or palm trees when I was coming in to land ... but I guess this is just a simulator, so it can't show every single detail, everywhere in the world.

Keepin' it real

"I can't say enough about Bruce (Golson), Badger (Brooks) and Larry (Little), the FlightSafety simulator instructors, and the FlightSafety support staff (Rob Swenson, Bill Dukes and Eric Rolefson) that help keep the sim running," said Major Saettel. "These guys are true professionals and each of them cares deeply about the level of training every aircrew member receives under their charge."

"The scenarios they develop, the realism they create, and the detail and thought-processes they infuse during our training in the sim, help keep our pilots and boom operators on the front line of proficiency, capability and knowledge.

"If I had a nickel for every time those guys tried to kill me in this thing, I wouldn't have to work so hard for my paycheck!" the instructor pilot joked. "But that's the point of the sim - to throw plausible scenarios, many of which have actually happened to real aircrews, at our 100th Air Refueling Wing aircrews to push us to grow in our capability and ability to handle the most difficult situations that aircrews worldwide have come across.

"We can't safely duplicate engine fires, hydraulic failures, pneumatic overpressurization, or electrical fire isolations in the real aircraft. That's what the sim is for - and it delivers," Major Saettel said.

Oh, and just to let you know exactly how realistic the simulator actually is, I really WAS feeling very sick by the time I got out of it, thanks to the "motion" being switched on and a little turbulence Bruce threw in for good measure...

I couldn't get out of that seat fast enough!