How is it Used?

In-Flight Simulation Education

One of the primary uses of In-Flight Simulation is to train test pilots and engineers. Pilots and engineers are familiar with concepts like “static and dynamic stability”. Static stability is the aircraft’s initial tendency to return to equilibrium after it has been disturbed from level flight. Dynamic stability describes the dynamic (long term) response of the aircraft to this disturbance. A common analogy used to describe static stability is a marble in a bowl. The following illustration is often used to explain the concept, however very few pilots ever get to experience anything but a stable aircraft with excellent handling qualities. This is because unstable and neutrally stable aircraft would most likely not fair too well in the market place. The videos below illustrate how our In-Flight Simulators can be used to help test pilots and engineers gain experience in such aircraft. Our In-Flight Simulators can also help manufacturers to design an aircraft with superior handling qualities. These short videos illustrate a dutch roll with positive dynamic stability, neutral dynamic stability and negative dynamic stability using our in-flight simulators.

This simple demonstration is just one of hundreds that we can do. Our planes allow pilots and engineers to experience conditions that would be unsafe or impossible to do in a conventional aircraft. For example, we can demonstrate an aft center of gravity problem or an ice contaminated aircraft.