h a l f b a k e r yNot so much a thought experiment as a single neuron misfire.
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The aircraft simulator is a vital component of pilot
training
and competance monitoring. Every few months all
commercial pilots spend a few hours in the "box" where
they perform simulated flights while a simulator
instructor*
makes an engine fail here or a wheel drop off there to
see
how
the crew copes.
The simulator affords tremendous opportunities to build
experience through exposure to scenarios that are rare
and
dangerous on real aircraft. But, they lack realism. The
cockpit is often a perfect replica, identical to the
aircraft,
xyz movement is used as a stand-in for real accelerative
forces and the windows host much-improved computer-
generated visuals. But, there's no provision for traffic
sharing the same airspace.
So, how about we link simulators to a common electronic
environment. Now a pilot undergoing training will be
flying
around in a sky populated with other pilots, just like the
real world. It will be somewhat more intense however,
since those pilots all seem to be having tremendously
bad
luck with engine failures at V1/wheels falling off. Better
still, air traffic control could easily be handled by real
air
traffic controllers undergoing training.
The main problem is that there aren't so many pilots
undergoing training at any one time. So, this world
should
include the upper echelon of amateur flight simulator
enthusiasts. Of which there are quite a lot. This would
be
the ultimate level of MS flight simulator, once you've
demonstrated competence**, you get to fly around in the
company of professional pilots. This might be worth
enough
to the airlines that they'd be happy paying the "traffic
pilots" a small fee.
Some issues would have to be ironed out, aircraft
suddenly
appearing/dissapearing would be fairly common, so
adding
automated continuation of flights would be preferable.
*specialist type of torturer
**and use a sensible aircraft, JFK with 27 SR-71s on the
taxiway isn't very likely.
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Annotation:
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This kind-of happens already in that real ATC chatter can be fed to your cans, with the instructor(s) supplying the stuff meant for you ... "Golf Bravo Pappa, descend and maintain three thousand, course one niner five, traffic on your left, five miles, descending, detatched airbus tailfin, someone used their rudder pedals too much ..." |
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MMORPGs are Baked, but not seemingly for "serious" flight sim. |
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Pr. "misanthropic malevolent sadist". |
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Not as tricky, vicious and unforgiving as the U-2, by a long way. |
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Three somethings ... no, don't answer that. We'll ask the Intercalary. |
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No good asking him. He spends all of October in the Turks
and Caicos islands out of contact with the rest of the world. |
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//Not as tricky, vicious and unforgiving as the U-2, by a long
way// |
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Doesn't tend to drip fuel all over the place though. |
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JP-7 is only just "fuel" - it's only slightly more flammable than water. Anything that needs a bucket full of perborane to chivvy it into burning really isn't worth bothering with. |
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100LL AVGAS with a methanol/nitromethane top ... now, that's an aviation fuel for real men. Real men with stained underwear, yes, but real men nonetheless (even are they are whimpering and wanting a hug from their mummy. Hitting 200kts IAS in a microlight during your takeoff roll* will unnerve even the toughest pilot). |
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*Attempting to run a Honda 50cc 2-stroke scooter on unleaded fuel "improved" by the addition of a high proportion of nitromethane model car fuel has a similar sphincter -dilating quality, particularly when it becomes apparent that the engine is dieseling and the grip-mounted killswitch has no effect. |
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I suspect the overarching problem is that when it is
all said and done, you still know that you're in a
flight-sim. |
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What should be done is the pilot trainee should be
fed some kind of tranquilizer, and then wake up in
the pilot's seat in an acted simulation in which they
have to react to not knowing whether the situation is
real or not. |
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As the trainee is approaching the simulator, a gurney could be trundling
away with a well-swaddled "training failure"... "Yeah, kid, we make
simulators to save on equipment. You still have to keep yourself alive in it." |
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//JP-7 is only just "fuel" - it's only slightly more flammable
than water.// |
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Enough of it would turn the runway into a sort of tarmac
slurry. That could qualify as a contaminated surface... or
with a little marketing, could be sold as a high friction
surface. High enough that some of the less powerful aircraft
become just... craft. |
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Presumably, with a little software patching, you could find
yourself at 37,000ft being overtaken by a moustachioed Italian
plumber. |
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That's a high performance aircraft, plumbing in Italy pays
well I see... |
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Oh yes, there's a lira money to be made ... |
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