Waypoints

AOPA Pilot Editor in Chief Thomas B. Haines has flown more than 100 models of aircraft.

You know it's going to be a bad day when before lunch you've already veered your twin turbo-prop off the runway and sent it cartwheeling into the weeds. Based on the keystrokes I could hear behind me I had a sense the Mitsubishi MU-2's right engine might take a powder during the takeoff roll. But even with foreknowledge, I couldn't prevent the cantankerous airplane from departing the runway as the big Garrett engine packed it in right at rotation speed.

Fortunately the only collateral damage was to a few electrons as instructor Leif Langbakk reset the simulator for another try.

To keep my aircraft insurance company happy — and who can't benefit from a little extra training — every year I take some sort of flight training course that ends with an instrument proficiency check and a flight review. The annual official signoff gets me a lower rate on my insurance and the training increases my proficiency and sometimes allows me to experience a different model of aircraft that I otherwise might not get much experience in. This year I took Pan Am International Flight Academy President and CEO Wally David up on a longstanding offer to revisit their Orlando SimCom training center and sample some of their multitude of training equipment — from sophisticated flight training devices to full-motion simulators.

I've been to SimCom many times over the years and watched as David has ramped up what was a small training operation with a few home-brew wide-screen visual simulators into an international flight training leader. Along the way SimCom was purchased by Pan Am International Flight Academy and David runs the entire show. Today, the academy bearing the august Pan Am name offers programs for student pilots wanting an airline career, transition training for airline pilots in simulators up through jumbo jets like the Boeing 747, flight attendant and mechanic training, and even air traffic controller training. The academy was started by Pan Am World Airways in 1980. It continued to operate after the esteemed airline went bankrupt in 1991. Since 1998 it has been owned — and greatly expanded — by a Boston investment firm.

Through it all, SimCom, which focuses on business and general aviation training, continues to be one of the academy's shining stars. With locations in Orlando and Vero Beach, Florida, and Scottsdale, Arizona, the division offers a wide range of options from initial training for customers buying new airplanes from New Piper Aircraft at Vero Beach to initial training and add-on type ratings for airplanes as sophisticated as the Raytheon Hawker 800 business jets. In between, SimCom provides training options for owners of many piston twins, turboprop twins, and turboprop singles.

SimCom for several years focused exclusively on using static training devices built from actual airplane cockpits. The first was a Cessna 421, which was completed in 1990. Computer-generated aerodynamic forces are fed to the flight controls as the pilot looks through actual cockpit windows at a 180-degree wide screen. The "cockpit" and its computer station sit in a large room with white walls. An array of computer projectors flashes the visuals on the walls. From inside the cockpit you really do feel as if you are flying. Given the feedback from the flight controls, computer-generated noises, and the realistic visuals, your inner ear is tricked into feeling nearly all of the sensations of flight.

A MU-ving experience

A few years ago Mitsubishi, which continues to manage the training program for its fleet of twin turboprops even though it hasn't built an MU-2 in decades, opened discussions with Pan Am about taking over the simulator training. The two aging Mitsubishi full-motion simulators were moved to SimCom's Orlando center and put into service while SimCom technicians, who still manufacture SimCom's simulators and training devices, bought two MU-2 cockpits and set about building a new generation of wide-screen training devices. With the new trainers in place, the two simulators were retired.

Because occasionally I have the opportunity to fly an MU-2, I decided it might be a good time to try out SimCom's new trainers and gain some proficiency at the same time. Leif Langbakk is one of SimCom's most experienced MU-2 pilots. He first began flying the speedy twin turboprops in his native Norway. Since then he has worked for numerous companies there and in the United States that have operated MU-2s. Now he calmly helps pilots in the trainers work their way out of tough computer-generated problems. Like many other training organizations, SimCom has begun to present pilots with more realistic training scenarios, often incorporating line-oriented flight training (LOFT) concepts. In a LOFT session, the pilot plans a normal trip and begins flying it in the simulator. At some point along the way, the instructor inserts an unexpected situation — the failure of a system, a close call with traffic, or deteriorating weather. The training emphasizes aeronautical decision making and shows how a small wrong decision at one point in the flight can lead to significant challenges later.

As with its other aircraft training programs, SimCom offers a variety of courses for MU-2 pilots — from a two-day advanced refresher course to a six-day initial course. A three-day recurrent course, for example, costs $3,980 while the six-day initial course is $7,080.

Becoming a cab driver

In order to offer start-to-finish training for pilots of airplanes that require type ratings, SimCom began building full-motion simulators a number of years ago. Perched on tall hydraulic legs, these multi-million dollar cockpit cabs incorporate sophisticated visual displays and computer-generated aerodynamic forces along with movement to produce an even more realistic flight experience. The movement of the cab on the hydraulically actuated legs simulates G forces and allows a pilot in some cases to earn a type rating without ever setting foot inside the real airplane.

SimCom now offers full-motion simulators for Cessna Citations, Learjets, and Hawkers. Its newest jet simulator is the Hawker 800. In between customers I managed to sneak a quick flight in the Hawker simulator. Equipped with the same glass cockpit as the real airplane, the simulator provides a stunning representation of what it's like to fly one of these business jets. I took off on a dark night from Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport and made a couple of ILS approaches back into the field. It must have been during a Delta push, because the computer generated numerous other targets both in flight and on the nearby taxiways and runways. Combine the flight with a professional instructor acting as the air traffic controller and you can become completely convinced that you're out there in the system.

Always looking for ways to improve the economics of flight training, SimCom technicians have found the holy grail of simulator construction — a way to replace the messy and finicky hydraulics with efficient electric motors to move the cab. The company will incorporate the improvement into future pro-ducts. One new simulator, a Cessna CJ business jet, should be on line in the fall. Another, a Beechjet 400A, is under construction at SimCom's second Orlando facility, located seven miles from the existing operation near Orlando International Airport. The new location was built by Lockheed Martin as an airline training facility. When Lockheed Martin decided to get out of that business, SimCom bought the building, ready-made for housing flight simulators.

As a corporate entity Pan Am International Flight Academy has established itself as the only company in the world that can train pilots no matter what orbit they may be in. The hope is that student pilots coming into the academy's career pilot programs will find their way into corporate airplanes and will ultimately lead the corporate flight department back to training at SimCom, or they will find their way into a regional or major airliner, perhaps influencing one of those companies to take their pilot training to one of Pan Am's training facilities for airline pilots.

Providing training to more than 200 airlines worldwide, Pan Am's influence still reaches across the globe, much as it did during the company's 50-year reign as a magnificent airline.

E-mail the author at [email protected].

Links to additional information about Pan Am International Flight Academy may be found on AOPA Online ( www.aopa.org/pilot/links.shtml).