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For years the U.S. Navy has utilized the time-honored and time-tested method of training naval pilots to the some of the highest piloting standards in the world. It takes a superb and confident pilot to land a combat aircraft on the rolling, pitching deck of a carrier during a night “trap” (the Navy's term for a carrier landing) in any weather. In the past these aviators got their start in Primary Training, flying real aircraft daily to hone their basic flight skills in the T-34C Turbo Mentor. They learn the basics under the flinty gaze of primary flight instructors whose job it is to wash out those who can't make the grade. Needless to say, in this rigorous environment a perfect score in the first phase of flight training occurs about as often as a flyby of Halley's Comet.
Twenty-four year old Ensign Herb Lacy did exactly that. His first instructor, Lt. Dave O'Connell was incredulous, stating “The only student who did better than him had 2,000 hours of flying time.” When the Naval Academy graduate was asked the secret of his success, the answer stunned his superiors:
Microsoft Flight Simulator 98.
Lacy had purchased a copy of MS Flight Simulator 98 off the shelf and then built a customized instrument panel that simulated the T-34C's instruments and then logged 40-50 hours of virtual flight time over the simulated landscape of the Naval Air Station at Corpus Christi, Texas. Lacy states, “I didn't know it was going to be this big of a success. I did it for myself. As it turns out, everybody's talking about it. My phone is ringing off the hook.”
Lacy has been so successful that the Navy is inaugurating a six-month pilot program that will compare a group of students that train using Flight Sim and another control group that uses the traditional method. But the Navy is betting that it will work. In an article in the Navy Times, the chief of naval pilot training, Rear Admiral Michael Bucchi said that, “I think we are going to find that it does make a difference. And it's cheap enough that I could literally give one to every student when they start flight training.” At Herb Lacy's base the new trainees began asking for copies of Flight Sim and many have reported that the virtual flight experience gave them a real sense of comfort when they got into the Mentor for their initial flights.
For the Flight Sim team this has been additional praise on top of the endorsements they have from FlightSafety International. Bruce Williams the Product Planner for the Flight Simulations group said, “The Navy's use of Flight Simulator 98 validates the realism message that has been so important to the Flight Simulator franchise from the beginning. The Flight Sim team strives to make each release live up to its tag line -"As Real As It Gets" - and the Navy project shows that we're succeeding.”
So it appears that Ensign Herb Lacy has succeeded beyond his wildest dreams when he stood in line to purchase his copy of Flight Sim. Lacy has toured the country to demonstrate Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 to admirals and other Navy officials.
But Herb only discovered something that Zoners have known for a long time. YOU and Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 are an unbeatable combination. What's next? Perhaps we can interest the Navy or Air Force in using Combat Flight Simulator or Fighter Ace to train their pilots for combat? Time will tell and Zoners know where the REAL action is! The Zone Rules!
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