The training of synthetic trainer technicians in the Royal Air Force

Extract

1. The training of airmen for trades in the ground electronics engineering trade group of the Royal Air Force, and in the trade which maintains flight simulators and other synthetic aviation trainers, is carried out at No 1 Radio School which since the early 1950s has been based at RAF Locking near Weston-super-Mare, in the County of Avon. This paper explains the RAF's requirement for a trade dedicated to Synthetic Trainer maintenance and how the training of that trade was planned and implemented.

2. In the early days of flight simulators the equipment used—of the Link trainer variety—was relatively simple using electrical and electro-pneumatic techniques. Maintenance was undertaken by electricians who received specialist training on the type to which they were assigned. With the development of sophisticated aircraft electronic instrumentation, radar, communications and weapons systems after the Second World War, flight simulators increased in complexity and servicing tradesmen were drawn from a variety of trades which themselves gave experience in electronics which provided essential background to undertaking simulator maintenance. The seven trades which donated tradesmen are shown in Fig. 1 which illustrates the range of basic skills used.