New graphics for the flight simulator

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Alan Abernethy
  • 916th Public Affairs Office
SEYMOUR JOHNSON AIR FORCE BASE, N.C. --  With the simulated hum of aircraft noise, the feeling of the floor moving beneath your feet and the sight of recognizable landmarks passing on the video screen ahead, the KC-135 Stratotanker flight simulator here makes it easy for users to believe they are actually flying in an aircraft.

Using the simulator is fun and exciting but it's also a very valuable training tool, said Maj. Nate Rodriguez, KC-135 pilot with the 911th Air Refueling Squadron.

The simulator equipment was recently updated with new visual graphics software and the user experience is now more realistic than ever. This comes at a time when it is being used increasingly more as a cost saving measure to train pilots and boom operators.

In the past, simulator users could see very few details in the visual environment, said Rodriguez. Elevation changes and landforms were depicted merely as green, amorphous shapes.

Since the update, the new visuals accurately simulate weather phenomena such as rain and patchy fog, daytime and nighttime conditions, as well as location correct environmental features, like hills, structures, roads, and flight line layouts for many different locations around the world.

"Elmendorf, Kandahar, Lajes, everything...there's a ton of places we can go and it will simulate every one of those," said Rodriguez.

While the new visuals are stunning, they represent only one aspect of the simulator's capabilities, which work to replicate the reality of flight operations in nearly every possible way, said Rodriquez.

"Anything we can do in the airplane, we can do in the simulator," said Rodriguez, adding that all cockpit controls and procedures in the simulator are identical to those in the aircraft.

This realistic practice environment serves as a benefit to pilots, as well as boom operators here, said Capt. Kevin Badinski, KC-135 pilot with the 911th Air Refueling Squadron.

"The booms have to come along and practice their crew position," said Badinski. "They will assist us in running checklists...we treat the simulator as if it was an actual flight with a full crew."

The flying simulator came to the wing in 2009, a boom simulator is expected in the near future.