Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) News
Printer Friendly VersionSwRI® air refueling trainer to cut Air Force tanker crew qualification time
San Antonio -- December 6, 2004 -- Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI), in conjunction with Trainer Development at Randolph AFB, Texas, is developing a device to train U.S. Air Force refueling boom operators. This new trainer is expected to reduce in-flight instruction by up to one-third.
Under a two-year, $10 million contract with the Air Education and Training Command, SwRI will deliver the first of two trainer-simulators for the KC-135 tanker in May 2006. The trainers, which provide realistic control feedback and sophisticated auditory and visual cues, replace trainers that are more than 20 years old and lack advanced sensory capabilities. They are to be installed at Altus AFB, Okla.
Using the new apparatus, which is built around the boom operator's station from a real KC-135 aircraft, trainees can approximate the in-flight training experience without leaving the ground, said project manager Joe Wilson, a principal technical specialist in SwRI's Training, Simulation and Performance Improvement Division.
"The overriding goal was to reduce the number of actual sorties to qualify as a boom operator," Wilson said. Currently, students must fly nine sorties aboard a tanker before gaining the required skill level. Each involves significant costs in fuel, aircraft maintenance and crew time.
Wilson said, "We hope to cut the number of sorties by two or three. That's one of the most significant benefits this project will have for the Air Force."
A projected 3-D image of one of 25 types of aircraft is visible through the boom operator's window, allowing depth perception as the simulated receiver aircraft approaches the tanker's refueling boom. Trainees also hear simulated sounds from equipment, fuel flowing through the lines and radio chatter from air traffic controllers. Meanwhile, haptic software linked to the boom controls allows a trainee to experience the feel of air turbulence or the bow wave created by an approaching receiver aircraft.
Each trainer contains three stations: the boom operator's platform (where the operator lies prone in the aircraft's belly), an instructor's station inside the simulator and an operator's control station outside. The operator can program the simulator for the type of aircraft to be refueled, the speeds to be flown and any malfunctions to be addressed. Additionally, the scenario can be adjusted or changed in mid-session.
For more information, contact Joe Wilson at (210) 522-2517 or joe.wilson@swri.org.
For more information contact Joe Fohn, Communications Department, at (210) 522-4630, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510.
