One thing that has always
intrigued me is why so many real life pilots fly sims when they get to
fly the real thing for a living. BBall explains why he derives so much
pleasure from sims.
Simming - A Pilots Eye View- By William "BBall" Ball
It's every pilot's nightmare...the
feeling of not being in control of your situation. Sure, I was new to
the airline, but not new to flying machines, and how to keep the metal
from getting bent. But I was just not having a "warm and fuzzy" feeling
about this at all.
The weather was ugly; one of those dark, rainy nights that only look
good in movies. The machine was sick. It was one of our newer model Boeing
727s, but one of the three engines had developed an oil leak, so we were
aborting the flight to Minneapolis and were on our way back into Milwaukee.
The upside to all of this, is that the two gentlemen in the front seats
(I was a brand spanking new Flight Engineer) were seasoned veterens,
with many hours in the 727. But something just wasn't kosher.
It started about thirty miles from touchdown. We had declared an emergency
with ATC, secured the number one engine, done all the required checklists,
informed the flight attendants and the customers in the cabin, notified
the dispatchers, and I was in the process of telling the departure station
personnel that we were coming back. At about that time the number two
Pratt and Whitney started to "compressor stall", which the Capt. remedied
by reducing the number two thrust lever to idle. I was starting to get
very busy about now.
I asked the Capt. if he wanted me to start dumping fuel, in which he
replied "yes, take us down to 150,000 lbs landing weight". Opening the
Fuel Dump Panel, I positioned all the switches correctly (we were allowed
to do this from memory....most procedures require a checklist), watched
for the green lights to confirm the valves had opened, and started the
mental gymnastics to calculate the required dump time to have us at the
weight specified by the Capt. So far, so good for a new guy.
Here is where it began to unravel. I asked if he would like to run the
Single Engine Checklist (when down to one motor on any airplane....it
gets VERY SERIOUS.....and the [very involved] Single Engine Checklist
was the "make it, or break it" manuver for any B727 Flight Engineer).....and
to my amazement, he said, "no, we only have one engine shut down, we'll
fly this just like the book calls for". Well, he was right, we had only
one engine "shut down", but one of the other two was at reduced power,
and I had a strange flashback. As a kid of the sixties, I was a big fan
of the old WWII flying movies, and I was always amazed when the tattered
Fortress crew started to throw the .50 cals, the parachutes, etc out
the windows to keep the crippled bird in the air. The obvious logic....if
it can't help you, consider it junk, don't count on it, and maybe even
get rid of it. I adopted that mentality right then and there.
My next statement was very hard to make as a brand new hire, no time
on the airplane, and to a seasoned "gray beard" like this left-seater.
I told him that since number two was at idle, it's only use to us was
it's hydraulic pump, and it's electrical generator.....it WAS NO USE
for power....so let's set up to fly it as a single engine approach, and
if it quits.....cool, we're ready and all set up, and if it continues
to run, even better. The big killer on the single engine approach was
that (depending on which engine was left running) you had to crank the
landing gear down (couldn't bring them back up), you had to alternately
extend the flaps to land with only 5 degrees ( instead of 35 degrees,
and it took way longer than usual), and in our case with MAYBE just the
#3 running, ONCE THE GEAR WAS DOWN....YOU HAD TO LAND....THERE WAS NO
GUARRENTEED GO-AROUND CAPABILITY. He rejected my suggestion! I tried
to suggest it again, only this time a bit more forcibly.....he cut me
off. I shut up like a good new-hire; after all, he was in command of
this aircraft, and knew a bit more about it than me.
We hit the outer marker for runway 1L with the flaps at 15 degrees, now
the Capt. called for gear extension, and flaps 25. Thank god the number
two engine was still running, for it's hydraulic pump was doing the work
to get the gear and flaps out. In fact, they had pushed the power up
a bit on it, and it SEEMED to be running pretty well. Still, the feeling
in the pit of my stomach just wouldn't go away.
The tower had cleared us to land quite a while ago, and I could clearly
see the blinking lights of the emergency vehicles lining the taxiways.
At 1000' AGL, I secured the fuel dump, informed the Capt. of such, and
was tiding up the landing checklist when it happened.
All I remember is one loud BANG!, and the #2 engine seized! Holy shit....."flaps
to 5, flaps to 5" the Capt. was yelling at the First Officer! He firewalled
the only remaining engine, and I was gripping the backs of their seats
too frkkin hard, my hands were hurting. The nightmare was unfolding before
me.....totally NOT in control of what was happening. I remember calling
his airspeed for him, for he had to adjust it for the lesser flap setting.
About then the tower was calmly stating...."Flight 303, we show you going
low on the glideslope"......no shit pal.....don't bother us now. At that
moment, you couldn't have hammered a pin through any sphincter in that
cockpit! We were talking to this Boeing marvel of modern aviation, both
out loud, and to ourselves. "Come on baby, come on.....almost there".
It wasn't to be......three women became widows that night....we landed
short of 1L, smacked into the approach lighting system with the force
of a 150,000 pound hunk of metal, fuel and flesh. With the corresponding
explosion and fire......there were no survivors.
Actually I lied. It wasn't night at all, it was 10:00 in the morning.
It wasn't raining, it was January, which means it was snowing like the
devil. We weren't in Milwaukee, we were in Building F at the airline's
training center in Minneapolis/St Paul. I wasn't lying about the "brand
spanking new" part, for I was so new, I hadn't even finished my intial
727 Flight Engineer training, and this was the final "test" for my training
to be complete. So, except for that, it was all a lie......but a VERY
CONVINCING ONE. And that's what simulators (obviously, our workaday version
of the flight sim) do for the professional pilot, construct a TOTALLY
believable lie that we use to learn, hone, and develop our skill.
My first experience with flight sims came as ten year old lad in the
year 1966. Wait a minute, you say! That was eons ago, and the PC was
but a gleam in some scientist's fantasy. Absolutely right, but bear with
me for a few minutes on this one.
I was living a dream world for a kid like me. My biggest hero lived in
the same house as me, he had a cool job, we travelled the world, and
I got to play on some of the coolest "play grounds" on the planet. You
see, my father was an Aviator....even the name sounded cool to a ten
year old. His world consisted of these wonderfully noisy olive drab flying
machines, and he included me in it every chance he could. When his duties
required him to be at the airfield doing whatever Army pilots do when
they aren't flying, he would pack me in the car and off we went.
He would always march me out to the helicopter sitting at the farthest
parking spot, pull some important wires off somewhere under the engine
cowling (probably magneto wires), and always give me these instructions....."stay
with this helicopter.....do anything you want in this cockpit, but DON'T
leave this machine....got it?" YES SIR! What a blank check for any young
boys imagination. Thus, he created the first "flight simulator" for me.
For the next several hours (or minutes, or days, it just didn't matter),
my WORLD was in that cockpit.....and I WAS AN ARMY AVIATOR. I was "rolling
in hot" on an LZ in Southeast Asia, or using my skill to keep us at that
100' hover while the crew chief was on the cable snatching the downed
pilot from under the noses of the bad guys....it didn't matter what "lie"
I had created......for me, at that moment....it was as REAL as it could
get. I pretended I knew what all the switches and dials did, flipped
and spun them all, and always got back to base just as the rest of the
company had given up hope......I was simulating something, and I was
BELIEVING it. Cool days for a ten yr old.
So how does this relate to flight sims, and the experience we call "simming"?
As a reporter asked me recently when interviewing our LAN squadron, "why
would you fly these, when you fly airplanes for a living?". Good question
I thought. I gave her the corny "because I love to fly things" answer,
but that didn't seem to be enough. Then my next statement kinda came
out without thinking. I told her that at work, we operate under an umbrella
of enormous responsibility, and have to attack it each and every day
on it's terms. In other words, if the weather is crappy...we put on our
"weather game face", etc. But in the world of flight sims, I can attack
it on MY TERMS. And the real-world life and death things just aren't
there.
To expound on that a bit, I guess the "hardball" part of my career as
a professional pilot is there every time I put on the uniform, every
time I sign the Flight Plan. Does that mean it's not fun....of course
not, it's a huge amount of fun, just a totally different kind of fun.
But it's ALWAYS "hardball", every day, every flight: and that's what
I get paid for.....playing for keeps, getting it right the first time.
Does that mean I love "light" flight sims? God no! Keep those things
for the kids that are bored with Barbie's Riding Club II (if there is
such an animal)......give me the best of the best. I have found that
I'm mostly interested in the "hardcore" experience out there in the flight
sim world. I love study sims; always have, always will. But I find that
I want MORE than just the airplane. So I also love any military flight
sim that will give me a piece of a story that I can believe in....but
the flying part better be good......no Novalogic for me. I may not get
to turn upside down and drop napalm at work, but I get all the "airplane
only fix" I want ......I guess what I want is, I want more of the "lie"
as it were.
My friend Mark Bush wrote an excellent article many months ago expounding
on the concept of what our wants are as flight simmers. Do we want to
simulate the airplane part....or the PILOT part. I find that even though
I AM A PILOT....I too want that pilot part. Strange eh? But I want the
"lie" that goes with it. We've all been there. Finished a single player
mission, or a mission at a LAN, etc....felt exhilarated, a bit exhausted,
proud (maybe not so proud), and lot's of other emotions.....but the operative
term is "FELT". This ability to feel emotion is part of what allows our
little make believe world in flight sims to work for us....but even though
it was a "lie", was it any less real? Absolutely not....the emotions
are the same as any pilot would feel.....maybe not at the same level,
but they are the same emotions. The very same ones that a ten yr old
boy felt climbing out of that Sikorsky, at an Army airfield in Germany
34 years ago.
I'm not really looking to "alter" my reality....hell a good wine can
do that. I guess what I want is to be transported to that pilot's world
for those few hours. I want the world to be BELIEVABLE, ie, the world
of the leather booted Spad jock thinking he's immortal, the disillusioned
Luftwaffe ace fighting for his homeland, the newby Apache driver just
hoping not to f**k up on his first mission, or the present day pilot
in a multi-million dollar, bells and whistles loaded Hornet or Viper.....and
be very serious about the task at hand. But when all is said and done,
I can critique my flying, hope I didn't kill anyone that "didn't need
killin", police up the empty beer cans.....and call it a day. It was
all serious, but only in my little world. Again, reporter lady, I get
to attack it on my terms. It's a "lie" yes, but it's my "lie" and it's
as real as I want it to be. So I guess in a nutshell......that's why
I fly these wonderful things we call flight sims.
Addendum to the above mentioned 727 simulator story. The instructors
informed us that yes, we did crash and all perished. The Capt. and First
Officer were taken off "line flying" status, admonished for not taking
the advice of the "new kid" (don't think I endeared myself to them at
that point....but screw 'em, this is serious business), and sent through
more training and another checkride in the simulator. I was told that
I did a good job of everything but selling my "let's not count on it,
if it ain't working for us" program (he must've watched the same B17
movies I saw), but unfortunately, I perished in the fire with them. I
passed this test, and was sent out to fly the line with an Instructor
Flight Engineer (as required by the FAA) for my first trip. What were
my emotions in this little "make believe world" that I found myself in
for those several hours that morning in January, 1984? I quickly learned
as a student (later to become an instructor in the 727 simulator), that
these machines do much, much more than simulate that particular aircraft.
They simulate the maze of emotions that three people will have when they
are in a VERY BELIEVABLE world full of stress, challenges, and hardships.
I've seen this "mother of all flight sims" bring out the best (and the
not so best) in a lot of highly intelligent, highly skilled, dedicated
flyers. And it's all because at some point in the experience, they gave
into the "lie", and started to believe......it's not at all hard to do
in these things. And isn't that what a "good" flight sim for us does.......
allows us to give in to the belief?
Oh, and by the way. Believe it or not, those last few seconds before
we hit the approach lights in Milwaukee that dark, stormy night.....I
cringed and braced myself just like in real life. And when the dust settled.....my
only thought was......."f**k, I'm dead."
