Vanguard Magazine

T TRAINING Ian Coutts is the author of four books, most recently Brew North. His writing has appeared in Toronto Life, Canadian Business, the Globe and Mail, and elsewhere. LEARNING TO FLY in a virtual world Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Off to the leſt, in the darkness, the runway lights of N'djili Airport are visible, and beyond that, the black mass of the great Congo River. The C-130J Hercules banks and begins its descent. Looking at the dark, silent scene from the cockpit, it is easy to forget that this is a vital mission, easy to forget the difficulties of a night landing in a potential battle zone. Easiest of all to forget that this is all taking place in a simulator at CFB Trenton. "Simulation is the way to go." RCAF Cap- tain Greg Bush is standing in front of two new weapons systems training simulators installed in the Wing Commander Sedley S. Blanchard Building at Canadian Forces Base Trenton. The glossy white simulators perch atop tall, spindly legs that give them the appearance of the Martian machines out of a new version of War of the Worlds. The weapons systems training simulator behind Bush isn't quite finished yet – the cowling that will fit over its nose sits ready a few feet away on the concrete floor, but off to his right, the second simulator is ob- viously in use – the pod that the training crew sits in shifts up and down and left to right, mocking the movements of an air- craft in flight. The air force has long relied on simula- tors for pilot instruction – right back to the LINK trainers used to familiarize would- be flyers with the subtleties of instrument training in World War II. What they pre- sented was, at best, an approximation of flight. What CAE has created for the air force's new Air Mobility Training Centre (AMTC), however, nearly erases the dif- ference, helping trainees not only develop basic flying skills but master situations no pilot has yet faced. In 2009, the government of Canada awarded a contract to CAE as its Opera- tional Training Systems Provider (OTSP) to complement DND's recent purchases of 17 CC-130J Hercules aircraft and 15 medium-to heavy lift CH-147F Chinook 20 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2012 www.vanguardcanada.com helicopters. Under the OTSP program, CAE was contracted to develop compre- hensive training facilities for the CC-130J and CH-147, to be opened in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The new Trenton facility, which opened September 13, houses the centre for Her- cules training. Within the walls of the $40.5 million, 17,000 square-metre facility, aspir- ing Hercules pilots will be trained to fly and maintain the new CC-130J Hercules using simulators and software developed by CAE and its partner firms as part of their 20-year, $330 million dollar deal with the govern- ment. Loadmasters and mechanics will also be trained at the new facility. Bush characterizes the pilot training pro- cess, which typically takes about 25 weeks, as a series of "baby steps." Initial pilot training takes place in a classroom, where, seated at a triple monitor set-up students learn the basics of the aircraft – "switcholo-

• Cover