Flight in a real A-10 simulator...or not! - By Dice
I was part of a HQ/ACC Tiger Team visiting Barksdale AFB LA. two weeks ago looking at how they do business. We had finished our look-around and had just given our out-brief to a room full of section commanders and the 917th Operations Group (OG) Commander.
After the briefing we were all standing around just talking and I mentioned to the OG the upcoming release of Lock-on Modern Air Combat. The reason I brought this sim up to the OG was because in some of the screen shots I've noticed it may contain A-10s dressed in the Barksdale colors. I thought he may be interested in that information so he could pass it along to his troops. The conversation then turned to flight sims in general when he made the statement, "I have two A-10 simulators right across the street, would you like to fly one?"
Would I like to fly one! I could barely hold back my enthusiasm when answering,
"Yes sir, I sure would."
As we headed through the building towards the front door servile people stopped us with question and information for the OG but he very polity put each on hold saying, give me about a half an hour and I'll be back, OK. At this point I knew I was time limited and must make the best of what I could get!
As we finally made it to the door there was a major thunderstorm going on outside, which had moved in during our out-brief and, it was threating to knockout power at anytime. There was also a captain standing by the door watching the rain and lightning outside, he made the off-hand comment, " I don't know if the sim is up or not Sir, it was being upgraded with the EGI software earlier in the day! EGI stands for Embedded GPS/INS the newest modification to go on the Hog.
Man, the OG is pressed for time, there's major lightning storm going on outside, and now the sim may be down for upgrades! So I did the only thing I could (being a E-7 and the OG a busy O-6) I gave the Colonel a way out by saying, "Sir you really don't have to do this I know you have a lot to do." AHHHH I don't believe I just said that! My only chance to fly a real A-10 simulator and I just threw it out the window!
He stood there looking out the door and said, more to himself than to me, maybe you're right it looks pretty nasty out there. Well that was it, I wasn't going to fly a A-10 sim today. I started to say my good-byes and was in the process of telling him how much I appreciated the attempt when he looked at me and said, heck it's just across the street at least you can see the sim. Hey better than nothing, so I said sure.
As we entered the building I saw the first (of two) sim sitting with the cockpit facing me. Much like the A-10 its simulator is very basic, nothing like the full-motion/enclosed cockpit some airframes enjoy. As you can see in the photo below it consists of a cockpit (with no canopy) and four projection screens that give you about a 120-degree field-of-view. The forward section, which is built around the windscreen of the "cockpit", is made of plywood and houses the screens. It's painted black and there's also a black curtain that can be drawn around the rest of the sim and can be seen folded behind the ejection seat. The forward section of the "box" behind the screens contains the projection units.
Here I must point out I only had a $20 disposable camera and had laid it beside the door on the way in, only remembering it later, that's why the quality of the photos is so poor. I know...I know... what an idiot but this was a spur-of-the-moment thing and I was not prepared to say the least!
Here you can see the four screens, one in front, two on the sides, and one above. Also note there's no HUD built into the forward instrument panel, the HUD is projected as part of the forward image
After showing me the two sims the Col. said "Well they look OK, lets turn one on and see what happens." NO, please don't play with me like this I thought to myself! "Sure sir, why not." Was my only answer. After about ten minutes of boot time and one reboot because of lightning the sim finally came on-line. YES it's working! He looked at me and asked, "Do you still want to give it a try?" "YES SIR"...We're on again!
As I said before I knew I was time limited so I asked if he just put me in the air, a few miles from the runway, and let me try to land? He said sure but, in the end because of computer problems I found myself on the end of the runway. I told him no problem I'll take-off and we will go from there.
In this photo you can see me sitting on the end of the runway 15 right at Barksdale AFB LA. Notice that all the instruments "off-flags" are visible this is because the engines have not yet been started. Also there's no HUD because of the EGI upgrade I mentioned earlier had taken the HUD off-line. I guess I'll just have to use the main instruments to fly this thing...no problem...just let me fly!
After a couple more minutes of getting ready, starting engines, setting the altimeter, and checking switches I'm ready to go! The curtain is pulled around the sim and I shift around in the seat to get comfortable and then place my hands on the stick and throttles, it's just me and the sim now!
BOOM!! Another crack of thunder and the cockpit lights flicker...I wait for the screens to go blank... they don't! The God of sims was looking over me that day because the sim stayed on-line and the next thing I hear over the headset is, looks like you're ready to go she's all yours.
I didn't waste any time and quickly moved the throttles to full military power (I couldn't very well go to AB now could I) and released the brakes...I start moving down the runway! At this point my nerves are raw and I have to force myself to settle down and enjoy my flight and not worry about what's going on outside, my heart is pounding!
My speed increases and I pull back on the stick, the nose lifts off the runway but the mains hang on for just a second more and then they lift to, I'm airborne! It took me a second to remember to reach down and put the gear handle up and retract the flaps, the aircraft is now clean and I'm gaining speed and altitude.
I have to say a little on the simulators sound system which were two speakers built into the "cockpit's " back wall beside the ejection seat. These two speakers were responsible for all external sounds such as gear retraction, flaps, engines sound, and all other aircraft noises. The headset I wore was only used for voice and Bitching Betty and I think this setup worked very well. Because the two speakers responsible for outside sound was located "outside" my headset, this gave me the impression/feeling these sound were in fact, outside the aircraft. On my system at home all sounds are blended either inside my speakers system or inside my earphones.
I let my airspeed build as I take time to look around. I will have to put the sims graphics into the Fighters Anthology class because the runway, tower, and some hills were modeled but very little else. There were no trees, only a couple of buildings and no clouds. The landscape was cartoonist with no shadows or spectacular lighting. I only flew around Barksdale and can't say what it would have looked like elsewhere but I have no reason to think it would have been better away from the "base".
On the positive side the 120-degree view more than made up for the lack of detail. Being "surrounded" by the images caused me to actually lean my body in conjunction with the aircraft's movements. I believe it would even have been possible to get motion sickness if I'd the chance to do more aggressive maneuvers!
I turned left and put the aircraft onto a 90-degree parallel heading with the runway at about 2,000 feet. It was handing GREAT and the feedback from the stick and 120-degree FOV made me feel like I was really flying! BOOM, another thunderclap and I knew I didn't have much time if I wanted to try a landing. I flew a couple of miles past the end of the runway so I would have a long inbound leg and banked left bringing the aircraft around onto alignment with the centerline, I could see the landing strobes in the distance.
As I lined-up with the runway things really started to get interesting. As stated before I had no HUD so I had to use the main ADI, altimeter, and airspeed indicators to try to land this thing! This is also where my sim experience was both a help and a hindrance! It helped because I knew how to use the above mentioned instruments and decipher the information they presented and also I knew how to "fly" an aircraft. It hurt because I was conditioned to use keystrokes for functions like landing gear, flaps, and everything else in the "cockpit" but now I had to find all the controls in the "real" cockpit and move them with my hand...BIG change! I was lucky because I'm an A-10 Crew Chief and knew the cockpit layout and where to find the controls needed but, I can just imagine the confusion I would have experienced if this had been say, an F-16 simulator! I know you say well, I know the layout of an F-16 cockpit from playing Falcon4 and this would not be a problem for me but, I tell you it was hard for ME to translate my sim knowledge into hand movements inside a cockpit.
As I began my descent the lack of a HUD really made my job hard! I had no Flight Path Marker or pitch ladder to help with my approach so I had to keep looking down to the instrument panel and back up to the screen. I tell you the truth I was all over the sky! I got down to below 1,000 feet and decided to just concentrate on putting the aircraft on the center of the runway and forgot about all the other stuff. I put the gear down, flaps out, extended the speedbrakes and reduced throttle to bring my airspeed under 150 knots, I didn't look down at the instruments again. Closer, throttle back...closer, little less throttle... flare... chop throttles, float...float... and tire screech, hard on the brakes and I'm down! I receive a big "that'a boy" from the OG through the headset and my flight was over.
It was not much, only about five minutes but I smiled for the rest of the day! Being surrounded by a cockpit, having a 120-degree FOV where I actually had to move my head to view out the sides of the aircraft, feedback from the stick/throttles and having a cockpit full of lights and controls was a sim experience to remember! I will never forget my five minutes in a "WartHog"!
Here you can see me a couple of minutes after landing and I still had a death grip on the stick but a BIG smile on my face!
After the flight it was back to OPS for a well-deserved beer because I not only landed the aircraft but, did it without a HUD...I was very proud of myself!
Next I'm trying to work with public affairs to get Kosmo and myself a flight in the F-16 simulator here at Hill AFB UT.
