![Members of the team developing training elements for the new TH-57 simulator system show the advanced visual display allowing for more realistic aviation training. The background display shows a carrier in an at-sea training simulation. [LT.J.G. KYLE MCCARTHY/US NAVY]](http://127.0.0.1/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/ghows-DA-8383b7cc-9b83-2aef-e053-0100007f8254-a89cdc20-scaled.jpeg)
MILTON — In a ceremony onboard Naval Air Station Whiting Field yesterday, Training Air Wing Five (TW-5) accepted the Navy’s first new TH-57 flight simulator in nearly 40 years. The new simulator is now available for helicopter training operations.
According to Cmdr. Aaron Beattie, TW-5 Rotary Simulator Integration Lead officer, “this simulator represents a significant technology advancement and upgrade to naval aviator training tools. It improves our ability to train student aviators in night vision environments and the simulator displays are a vast improvement over the 1980s technology our current simulators afford.”
For the past 30 years, Training Air Wing Five has trained all United States Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard helicopter pilots at Naval Air Station Whiting Field. In 1981, the Navy transitioned to the instrument rated TH-57C Sea Ranger platform, which included flight simulators. Those original simulators have been used to train pilots since that time.
In December 2014, the Navy made the decision to upgrade the TH-57 simulators with new devices as part of a larger goal of modernizing the entire helicopter ground training system. The new simulators will serve to produce a more effective and lethal aviator who is better prepared to carry out Naval helicopter aviation missions. The advanced simulator technology will improve Crew Resource Management (CRM) training, simulation of challenging weather environments, and visual scene representation.
“The new training applications these simulators provide will increase the students’ field of view, night vision and all weather training—features we couldn’t do before in the previous simulator,” Beattie commented.
The Navy will receive three Level 6 and seven Level 7 simulators. The Level 6 devices are stationary cockpits with seat queuing vibration with a full visual screen that wraps around the cockpit. The Level 7 devices are full motion cockpits with a slightly larger field of view. Also included in the upgrade will be a central control station that will provide the capability to link all ten simulators together in a single virtual environment. This significantly improves training by adding the ability to fly aircraft in formation and in an instrument training environment, with the added feature of student aviators being able to communicate with one another to more closely simulate their flying experience.
“The student aviators will experience training features that will enhance their learning, including the central control station that will allow linked training. They will benefit from training in the safe environment,” explained Beattie. He went on to say that, “all of the team members from the three helicopter squadrons, FlightSafety Systems, Frasca, Aechelon and so many who contributed their efforts made this new advancement a reality. We can’t thank you enough.”
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: New flight simulators arrive at Whiting