December 9,
2008: The U.S. Air Force has finally found a commercial (PC based) flight
simulator that works for them. That's because the game, X-Plane, provides
sufficient editing capabilities for aviation engineers to use classified flight
characteristics to create simulated warplanes that are realistic enough to
allow military pilots to get useful training while using them. That's a big
deal.
Mass market
flight simulators have been around since the 1970s. Publishers soon found that
their customers were more interested in military aircraft, and there followed a
flood of military flight simulators. But military pilots also were interested.
For over a
decade, using commercial flight simulators for training has become increasingly
more popular among younger aviators. The younger ones see the simulators as
giving them additional "experience," but the more senior ones are
more aware of where the simulators fail to replicate actual flying conditions,
and teach the young pilots the wrong lessons. The U.S. Air Force has long kept
tabs on commercial flight simulator development, and notes which are strong, or
weak, and in what areas. This information is distributed to their pilots, to
warn them about what works in which flight simulator, and what doesn't.
Back in the
1990s, the U.S. military even checked trainee pilots for prior use of these
flight simulators, and found that these "games" did help with initial
pilot training. Experiments were then conducted, having some trainees spend
time with the commercial flight simulator software, while others did not. This
confirmed the belief that the commercial flight simulators were useful. But
with the classified "Plane Maker" mods, military pilots of fighters,
bombers, helicopters and transports can get inexpensive, realistic, flight
simulation training. X-Plane also allows you to create your own scenery and
weather conditions, which are also very realistic.
