The Saxon Microlights Flight Simulator
The
British weather! Don’t you just love it?
Even though we operate in an area
with some of the UK’s best flying weather, we are still restricted by the wet
and windy weather in the Autumn and the short, dreary days in the Winter. Some
student pilots solve this by taking a holiday to the warmer Mediterranean
countries to continue their practice, but it is expensive and most people can
only manage a week or two at the most. At Saxon Microlights we have been spending
the wet days and the dark nights on a solution to this problem – our microlight
flight simulator.
This
simulator is officially a ‘synthetic training device’ and is designed to meet the
BMAA’s stringent requirements for such things. It allows the student pilot
to sit in a full-size microlight cockpit with all flight controls functional
and a good view out into the simulated world beyond the cockpit. Not only does
it permit practice ‘flights’ after sunset or when the weather is bad outside,
but it does also allow the student pilot to practice at a much lower cost than
when flying the real aeroplane.
What is
our simulator?
It is a
professionally designed flight training aid. Real control column and rudder
pedals are connected electronically to a computer system which simulates the
behaviour of a real aeroplane. A large screen displays the flight instruments
and a view of the world ahead of the cockpit.
On the
screen, the instruments are scaled to appear a similar size and at a similar
position to the real aircraft which makes it easy for the pilot to swap between
the simulator and the real flying. When sat in the simulator’s seat, the
perspective view gives a strong sensation of being ‘in the scenery’. This sensation of flying is real enough that
a real-world pilots find themselves scanning the distance for ‘other traffic’
that they might need to avoid, and sometimes there is indeed other traffic for
them to see!
The secret
is that the controls are derived from real Thruster aircraft controls which
means that they are in the right position to feel the same as in the real aircraft
and the screen is placed so that the pilot gets an accurate perspective view. A
sound system run through the aircraft-quality headsets and the base of the seat
ensures the pilot can hear and respond to changes in engine sound, airflow
noise and even the sound and feel of contact with the runway on landing.
The pilot’s
seat and joystick are fitted with ‘tactile transducers’ to simulate the
vibration and feel of the aircraft in flight. These are driven with carefully
designed waveforms by the simulation computer to provide motion sensations,
especially those associated with ground contact at take-off and landing. A
large video screen shows an image representing the outside world and the
aircraft instruments as viewed by the pilot in the left hand seat. The
simulated instruments match the arrangement and behaviour of those in the real
aircraft. As in the real aircraft, the instructor sits in the right hand seat
and has full access to the controls to demonstrate the manoeuvres being taught.
In addition, there is an instructor’s station allowing control over various
flight parameters such as weather, fuel contents, or equipment failures such as
a stuck airspeed indicator or an overheating engine.
What can
we do with the simulator?
1)
Have
fun!
2)
Demonstrate
parts of the flying syllabus which need very specific weather conditions (eg.
strong crosswinds, or flying in poor visibility and low cloud)
3)
Practice
exercises which a student is struggling with, without the need for a full
flight (eg judging landing height or performing steep turns)
4)
Practice
take-offs and landings without the need to fly lots of circuits which can
disturb the neighbours
5)
Practice
cross-country navigation on days when the real-world weather is not suitable
for doing it for real (and at far less cost).
... and
lots more.
For some
short video clips click on this link.
- A visual approach and landing showing how
the pilot can fly the simulator using the visual cues
For some higher
resolution photos click on these links:
- Approaching
North Weald (high
resolution image – 407kB)
- In formation over Essex (high resolution image – 327kB
[Click here] for a map of the area shown in the photograph linked above.
Many years
ago, Joan worked as a test engineer and programmer* for a company that made flight
simulators for the airlines. That was so long ago that one of them has been
restored for a museum. There’s a video of it [here].
[* a real one using assembler and machine code
– none of your wimpish high level languages for us!]
... and finally,
a link to a history of flight simulation so you can see where
we fit in the greater scheme of things.