Fri, Oct 28, 2011
Donor Gifts Enable Purchase Of Flight Simulator For Relief
Organization
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has acquired a new high-tech
flight simulator, providing another tool to help prepare its pilots
for the challenging conditions they face when flying in remote
parts of the world. With funds raised by the MAF Ministry
Advocates—a volunteer group—supplemented by a matching
grant, MAF purchased the RedBird SD flight training device for
approximately $60,000.
This new piece of equipment is a fully-enclosed Advanced
Aviation Training Device that is certified by the FAA. With visuals
that wrap around the device and realistic flight controls, pilots
have an opportunity to experience a simulated flight with
conditions similar to the environments in which they will fly.
“This new RedBird enables us to do a lot of training that we
couldn’t do before,” said Paul Bergen, MAF’s
aviation training manager. “We can experience the overseas
environment—we can see the exact terrain. We can fly in the
mountains and over rivers and give pilots an experience similar to
what they’re going to see when they arrive on the
field.”
By training at Idaho’s backcountry airstrips, MAF is able
to duplicate the mountainous terrain of various countries in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Matching the atmospheric
conditions of those places isn’t so easy. With the new flight
simulator, an instructor can introduce weather and other variables
such as causing a plane to malfunction with low oil or instrument
failures, or simulate engine failure. Bergen says it will be
especially useful for training pilots to fly in instrument-only
situations, where visibility is limited. “It gives us a much
more realistic experience than we had before,” Bergen
said.
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