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Simulators for Eurofighter training
By Dr. Stefan Petersen
Rostock-Laage airbase is rapidly approaching. With a brief tug on the control stick, Peter Meisberger pulls into a steep left turn and looks down on the Luftwaffe airbase whizzing by, the home base of Jagdgeschwader 73 “Steinhoff” (FW73 “S”). Only minutes later he has landed the Eurofighter safely – but without having been in the air at all. For Meisberger is sitting in the Luftwaffe's latest simulator and the “flight” took place indoors.
“For Eurofighter training, the Aircrew Synthetic Training Aids (ASTA) is one of the most advanced facilities in the world,” explains the 43-year-old retired squadron leader, who flew the F-4F Phantom and MiG-29 during his years of active duty with the Luftwaffe. “ASTA consists of two main systems, the Cockpit Trainer (CT), with a somewhat lean equipment configuration as regards visual system and head-up display, and the Full Mission Simulator (FMS). In the FMS, the pilot sits in an 8-metre diameter dome which has an image of the environment projected onto the inside.” The overall system, which also includes a Training Centre with resources for theoretical training and the Interim Training Device (ITD), a simplified simulator, is situated in an ultra-secure building complex on the grounds of FW73 “S”. As Meisberger explains, “There will be an ASTA at every Eurofighter base – in Laage, Neuburg, Nörvenich, Büchel and Wittmund, but the only TC is in Laage, where conversion training of all the Luftwaffe's Eurofighter pilots is to be carried out.”
According to the ex-pilot, the Cockpit Trainer/Interactive Pilot Station (CT/IPS) is itself a top-class simulator with a five-channel visual system. But the FMS is a whole order of magnitude more sophisticated. “To all intents and purposes this is a real cockpit with all the attributes required to make the illusion as perfect as possible – even the head-up display is an original part.” The FMS has a 13-channel visual system with a 360º, all-round view. “And six target projectors ensure that even distant aerial targets can be visually identified, projecting high-resolution aircraft silhouettes separately into the dome.”
Whereas a head set is all that is required in the way of personal equipment in the CT, the pilot sits in the FMS with his full gear on. “Inflatable seat cushion, seat belt tensioner and pressure breathing allow motion and g forces to be simulated as well.” But the CT will have one special characteristic that is not available in the FMS: “An integrated system will permit the simulation of other types – the “alternative aircraft function” – with all the relevant flight parameters of these jets.”
Otherwise, the two systems function largely identically, according to Meisberger. “Both of them can fly together in a network, or against each other.” A vast range of scenarios can be programmed. “The FMS pilot can be pitted against the CT pilot, or both of them can fly together against two or more computer-generated hostiles. There are many possible permutations.” When the “alternative aircraft function” of the CT is used, the aircraft type flown appears as a silhouette to the FMS pilot. “If the CT pilot is flying a MiG-29, the chap in the FMS sees a MiG-29 too.” It is possible to represent up to 200 aircraft.
Networking of the simulators is not confined to this location. “It makes no difference where the equipment is physically and whether it is coupled by LAN or WAN.” The aim is to use the ASTAs to practice complex missions with a lot of participants at other German Eurofighter bases as well. “In theory we could link ourselves internationally as well, but at present there are no plans for that.”
What is unusual about the FMS and CT is the depth of the simulation. “If one programmes in an engine failure, for example, not only are the technical problems portrayed, but all the secondary problems which go hand in hand with the engine failure – the influence of speed, altitude and flight attitude – are manifested, and these consequential problems then flow in turn into the calculation of the primary situation when it comes to restarting the engine in the air,” Meisberger explains.
Only the ITD has been kept relatively simple. As its name suggests, it was originally planned only as an interim solution to extended cockpit induction training until the FMS and CT were fully operational. “But now it will be kept on permanently and serve as an additional exercise platform for independent self-training by the students.” The simpler programming of the ITD has a number of advantages: “It gives us the opportunity to react to software changes on the Eurofighter more quickly than on the two more complex systems.”
Future Eurofighter pilots start by familiarising themselves with the cockpit and the basic functions of the aircraft on the simulators before taking to the air with the real aircraft for the first time. Later on, a large part of the simulation training is devoted to dealing with different kinds of emergency situations.
For example, the syllabus for conversion training from a different fighter type includes 20 simulator sessions. “The first four are intended to give the conversion student a practical understanding of the system after the theoretical training,” says Meisberger. The next five sessions provide an introduction to the cockpit and checklist procedure training – “start-up, taxi, take off, fly, land – all the basics.” Next come five sessions with instrument and emergency training, the fifth of which serves as a “check flight”. “Only after that is the prospective Eurofighter pilot allowed to fly solo for the first time.”
The remaining six sessions already introduce tactical flying, with interception exercises of one-versus-one to two-versus-two plus x practised. “The aim is that the student can then fly as a fully-fledged wingman in the corresponding scenarios,” says Meisberger.
For the basic (“B”) courses starting in June 2008 for students coming direct from jet basic training in Sheppard, Texas, an extended programme is planned. Along with Peter Meisberger, three other operators who have flown with the Luftwaffe as pilot or weapons systems officer and now work for EADS function as simulator flying instructors.
The Joint Integration Facility (JIF), which serves as the master system and where the software for the simulators is developed and tested, is located at EADS's Manching site. “Every new software release undergoes acceptance testing by the Luftwaffe there,” says Meisberger. It is then integrated into the ASTAs of the flying units and fine-tuned. “All that remains is then “individual acceptance” under which we examine whether the updates function exactly the same way in the equipment as they do in Manching.”
In order to create all the imaginary worlds in which future Eurofighter pilots are to be coached, in as authentic a fashion as possible, there are rows of six-foot high computers in the air-conditioned adjoining rooms of the ASTA. “It is already impressive, what is being built up here in the way of capacity and just how accurately the software can portray the real Eurofighter,” says Meisberger. Smiling, he adds, “I am convinced that the central computer has no idea that it isn't in a genuine aircraft!”
From page 44 of FLUG REVUE 10/2007
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