FLIGHT SIMULATOR TRAINING

During the latter part of 2008, we acquired the proto-type of the WX-400 Flight Navigational Procedural Trainer (FNPT II). We already placed our order three years ago, whilst the Trainer was still in its’ engineering phase and we have waited with abated breath for the delivery and installation. It was launched in November 2008 with rave reviews in the local press and Aviation magazines.

What makes this FNPT II so extraordinary is that it was designed by South Africans for South African flying training under South African flying conditions. All the main South African aerodromes are visually programmed and recognizable to the students. The Instructor’s station has a touch screen where any type of exercise or malfunction can be introduced to the lesson at the touch of an icon.

Another feature that makes this FNPT II unique is that the old-school way of procedural training, where the lesson can commence on the runway or in the air, is being done away with. Lessons can only commence after all the relevant planning has been done and the flight starts on the apron, the taxi-way or the holding-point.

This will ensure that planning becomes an ingrained part of the students’ preparation for a flight. Proper planning is often the step that was omitted when accidents and incidents are investigated and this Trainer will help to eradicate the ‘get-in-and-go’ approach that pilots often have.

We all know that practice makes perfect and this FNPT II’s aim is exactly that.

Our students will be encouraged to make use of this Trainer for far more than what the syllabus requires for Instrument training. The day when students make use of the FNPT II for practice even if the hours can not all be logged, is when we will know that a new era has dawned for flying training.