April 2010
Flying
on the Ground
After an entire afternoon of flying, and
four instrument approaches in hard IMC, I
was lined up on the ILS @ Edmonton (YEG).
It was the last leg of a five city run
through a weather system that cloaked Alberta
in low cloud and snow. Alone in a
Skylane, I was tired and feeling the
stress of hand-flying all the approaches
right down to minimums. Four miles
back
right on the localizer,
slightly above the glideslope. Adjusting
the rate of descent ever so slightly, I
reminded myself there was over 10,000
feet of runway. No go-round on this
one. Three miles back, the
cross-hairs right where they should be.
No wind, no reason to drift off. One
minute later those first, tiny lights
appeared in my peripheral vision over top
of the panel. At the minimum
descent altitude I looked out the window
to see the centerline right where it
should be. Im always amazed
at the technology that allows us to do
that, and pleased with myself when it
happens so precisely. But that
evening in the cloud and snow, it was
especially sweet.
Muscles in my neck and back let me know
just how tense the approach had been.
My head ached as the last few hours
filled with NDB and ILS approaches, one
after another, were catching up with me.
After this final one, I never bothered to
taxi in to the terminal or even pull the
mixture to shut down the engine. The
plane was still sitting halfway down the
runway as I punched the keyboard command
to end Flightsim. The screen
went black, I slowly pushed away from the
desk, stretched long and hard, then
headed to the kitchen for a cup of
coffee.
Its a great advantage to know there
are no consequences when you fly the
simulated airplane down the ILS into hard
instrument conditions made up of the
worst you can program. Ten foot
ceilings, eighth of a mile visibility in
heavy snow would be a real challenge in
the real world. But sitting at your
desk in front of the computer gives you
the opportunity to actually go for these
approaches. When you succeed, the
reward is huge. When you fail, you
simply try again.

Simulators
are one of the most valuable tools
available for training pilots. But
some flying in this ground-based
environment is actually for real. UAVs,
or unmanned aerial vehicles, are flown by
pilots who sit in a cockpit which closely
resembles a simulator. During the
last twenty to thirty years, UAVs
have evolved into highly capable,
specialized aircraft utilized worldwide
by the military and other government and
private industries. And although
these machines have no pilot on board,
theyre still under human control
. from the ground.
The UAV most recognized would be the
military plane called the Predator.
Its the one we see and hear about
on the news and is used for surveillance
and reconnaissance as well as weapons
delivery. Its capable of
firing missiles at enemy targets, and is
an efficient tool in the U.S. arsenals.
But UAVs have many peace-time
applications. Theyre used in
search and rescue operations, wildfire
detection and suppression, law
enforcement, disaster and emergency
management, research, photography,
pipeline and powerline patrol, crop
spraying and as communications platforms.
They are relatively inexpensive to build
and maintain, and have the huge advantage
of keeping the risk out of flying them.
The pilot controls a UAV the same way he
would fly in a simulator. Its
been described as flying while looking
through a straw, referring to the view
from the aircraft projected on the screen
in front of the operator. If
youve flown FLIGHTSIM on your home
computer, its similar.
If you believe there is no future in
unmanned flight, you may have to
reconsider. Educational
institutions are stepping up to the plate
to train personnel for this expanding
enterprise. The University of North
Dakota has set up the first program, a
bachelors degree in Unmanned Aircraft
Systems Operations. The university
states that the last fighter pilot
has already been born, and
the last fighter is being
built. Already, about 12
students are enrolled for the first year
of this program. These people will
be trained with the most advanced
technology available, information that
will be changing rapidly. The
university is hoping to secure a
13,000-square-mile testing range in North
Dakota so that they can fly the
UAVs without endangering other
aircraft.
Operating a flight simulator, whether
its a grand-scale commercial tool
or one on your home computer, can be a
huge challenge to your knowledge,
ability, experience and endurance. Your
skills are tested and honed, and
youll undoubtedly feel satisfied
when you complete the flight, all the
while sitting safely with your passengers
on the ground. And for young
pilots, the UAVs future may be more
closely linked to their own. At one
point in time, there were predictions of
commercial super-sonic flight. That
in fact did happen with the Concorde, but
did not last. Its given way
to larger aircraft that move more people.
All the talk about space flight for
the general public is perhaps not that
far away. Consider that weve
been riding subway and above-ground
trains for years that are controlled by
computers. Then ask yourself, can
unmanned airliner cockpits be far behind?
Having fun in a flight simulator or on
your own computer with FLIGHTSIM should
be taken more seriously. Someday,
it may be the only flying you will ever
do.
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