The First Simulators
The LINK Trainers
In early 1951 TAA purchased two D.4."Link Trainers" for a cost of £8000 each. They came from England where they were manufactured under licence.
One of the units was installed in HO Melbourne and one in Brisbane.
These were much in advance of the earlier Link trainers used by TAA for pilot instrument training.
(Link Trainers were originally designed by Edwin Link, and patented in 1930)
Link Trainer Instructor J Naughton and First Officer A Hart.
The D.4 Trainer was fitted with additional radio instruments, controls and engine instruments, and would simulate flying conditions and the "feel" of an aircraft to a remarkable degree.
The D4 trainers were "the most advanced aircraft instrument trainer in Australia" at the time.
The D4 Link Trainer Mark II
This unit was based on the Link Trainer and was manufactured by Air Trainers Ltd of Aylesbury England.
It was a procedural trainer and was used to train the pilot to use certain instruments common to the aircraft types he will be flying. This included teaching all phases of elementary and advanced instrument flying, including radio navigation, and instrument landing systems.
This type of trainer did not represent any particular type of aircraft.
Map chart table for airport arrival departure training.
The Redifon 727 Trainer
With the introduction of the Boeing 727-100 planned for 1964, behind the scenes preparations for the jets actually began on November 19 1962, when the aircraft were ordered from Boeing.
Pilot training for the 727-100 included the use of a special new electronic trainer imported from England at a cost of £30,000. (1)
In March 1965, TAA purchased a flight simulator costing more than £500,000. The simulator, which was the most modern of its kind in the world, became part of the airlines vast training and checking programme for jet pilots.
The equipment consisted of a full scale replica of a Boeing 727 100 T-Jet cockpit, coupled to a complex electronic computer and hydraulics system, which enabled complete simulation of flight conditions without leaving the ground.
The B727 simulator arrived in May 1967 and was installed in TAA's Flight Training Centre at Essendon. It first 'flew' in August 1967.
At the time it it was the first commercial digital computer to be used by any airline outside the United States. (2)
The Redifon DC9 Trainer
The $1 million DC9 Flight simulator being built for TAA by Redifon in England was to have been available in January 1967 but was delayed until January 1968 for final acceptance testing.
The DC9 simulator arrived in June 1968 and was 'flying' by September that year.
These simulators were a major jump in technology for TAA. They produced roll, pitch and heave but had no sound effects or visual display.
By 1975 computer technology had caught up and the first visual display was installed. It produced night time scenes with 2000 light points through two windows.
The Redifon Boeing 727 - 276 Trainer
In 1976, Redifon proposed to TAA an upgraded Flight simulator for the Boeing 727-276 series aircraft, which would complement the earlier 100 series Boeing 727 simulator.
This was to be provided with a new computer system and was marketed as the NOVOVIEW 6000
It offered a four window visual display, 6,000 light point presentation, capable of providing variable visibility and light intensities, runway surface markings, and variable cloud conditions. It also had full sound effects.
The the arrival of the B727-200 simulator reflected both the change in the airline's equipment and the now rapidly changing simulator technology. The new simulator was the first six motion machine purchased by TAA.
The Airbus A300 Trainer
The Airbus simulator, delivered in 1982 , has all the features of the B727-200 simulator but with a much improved computer software package and an "auto-lesson" system.
The "auto-lesson" system enabled the check captain supervising crew training to preselect a problem and program it to occur at a particular time so that he could devote his full attention to the crew's handling of the situation.
Why Simulators are used
Beside crew training, conversion training and licence renewal checks, the simulators are also used for research into abnormal flight conditions and situations.
The Airbus simulator was used for research into the effects of high crosswinds on landings.
Such research could not safely be carried out in the real aircraft, but in the simulator such situations can be tested beyond the normal safety limits without danger.
The increased use of simulators meant big savings in fuel and maintenance costs for TAA. As each model of aircraft was introduced so was that model simulator. Below the Boeing 737 simulator.
Using simulators for training and licence renewal checks reduced the amount of time aircraft spent flying non-revenue hours.
Before the simulators, a captain would spend 11 hours flying a company aircraft non-revenue as part of his training.
In 1983 an Airbus Captain would spend 32 hours in the simulators training, and just two hours non-revenue training before he would first fly the aircraft on a revenue flight.
In 1983 TAA was the only Australian airline operating Category 4 simulators
Today simulators continue to evolve and are used to provide the best training and experience
(1) trans-air Feb - Mar 1964 (2) trans-air March 1965.