C-130 Part Task Trainer
W/O Rick Kelman
Imagine stepping out the door and your hair freezing instantly…arriving at work to find 30cms of snow had blown in under the door during the night. Well…that’s what happened to me in Edmonton, Canada while supporting the C-130 Part Task Trainer (PTT) and the Fight Management System Trainer (FMST).
IMSS is responsible for the maintenance of this equipment in Canada through until the end of the C-130 ATE when it will be packed up and shipped back to NZ. Once the PTT is installed in the new building attached to 40 Sqn Operations IMSS personnel are then responsible for full maintenance support.
CPL Brian Cornes and I underwent a month of training on the PTT/FSMT late in 2007. The training was complicated by the ‘under development’ status of the PTT but I can report that CAE have since continued to improve the reliability of the system to where it can be comfortably used to achieve its mission. Fine tuning is still occurring.
The FMST is made up of three laptops, three Multifunction Control Display Units (MCDU), and one instructor station and allows the instructors to teach personnel about the normal and abnormal operations of the aircraft systems, and the effects these systems have on each other. The FMST also supports stand-alone instruction.
The trainers provide student pilots and maintenance technicians with access to the power of a full flight simulator in a classroom, at home, or on the road. This system offers unique consistency, quality, and efficiency in training, in a self-paced environment.
The PTT is a fixed base simulator that allows the crews to put into practice what they learnt on the FMST during a simulated flight. It has very good projected graphics, full movement flight controls and flat touch screens to simulate the instruments and switches.
It also has an Instructor Operating Station where the instructor can set any number of malfunctions as and when he wishes or he can create an automated scenario and sit back and watch the crews/engine runners react. Any sort of weather and seasonal patterns can be simulated along with air traffic avoidance scenarios where the aircrew have to respond to avoid a collision.
Apart from being beneficial to 40 Squadron it will provide LMTC a live training platform, the Avionics trade and IMSS a piece of modern equipment to work on, and could possibly be the first of the RNZAF modernisation programmes to be completed and functional in New Zealand.
As for the cold weather it’s not as bad as it sounds, it is a winter paradise…..in fact a Disneyland for some and well worth a visit. Brian has taken over from me now in Canada and I wish him luck with supporting the equipment until it is returned to New Zealand.