- 24,344
- Midlantic Area
- GTP_Duke
I got to fly a C-5 Galaxy. Second biggest aircraft on earth.
OK, I admit, it was only a simulator. But it was the real deal - the Air Force sim they teach the pilots on! Full motion, 180-degree visuals, the actual C-5 cockpit, everything. Made by Boeing. It was way cool.
I went in with a guy from Boeing who I'm working with, an Air Force pilot, and the woman instructor who was operating the sim. It's the real flight deck from a C-5, with 10,000 switches and instruments and levers and the yoke, etc. I thought I was just going to watch, but they put me in the driver's seat. The pilot took right seat, they loaded up the terrain map for Dover AFB, and the pilot took us off, flew a quick pattern, and landed, using brakes and thrust reversers to stop the big plane very quickly. They reset us to the hold point, and then the AF guy said "your turn!"
Gotta go right now - I'll finish tomorrow.
[edit] Here's the rest of the story. The 'copilot' stood on the brakes, and asked if I had ever been up in a sim before. I explained that I never had, but that 25 years ago (ouch) I had a few flying lessons, and I had done some desktop flying, so I knew the basics. So he said "go for it, and I'll coach you."
So I pushed all four throttles forward to 100% and the plane started rolling immediately. The 'plane' was set for a moderate load so it built airspeed quickly. I drifted off-center on the runway because I always forget the ailerons don't work on the ground, and I didn't want to over-control so I was light on the rudder pedals. Luckily we got to rotation speed so I eased the nose up and lifted off smoothly, just before we would have gone off the port side of the runway. The copilot scrubbed the flaps and landing gear as we climbed out, and I throttled back to about 75% power.
The graphics were mediocre - about the level of, say, MS Flight Simulator '98 - but they got the job done, especially presented in 180 degree panorama, through the real windows of the real cockpit. But what made the experience was the sound and the feel. The plane rumbled down the runway, jumped into the air, and banked in response to the yoke. It felt and sounded just like any airliner flight I've ever taken, except I was driving... and technically we were on the ground.
At the pilot's direction, I banked starboard to the heading the instructor was calling out, climbing to 1800 feet (pattern altitude for Dover). I leveled off and we flew east out over water, and made another 90 degree turn to fly south along the runway, a few miles off. The sim even fed in some turbulence as we passed through scattered clouds. The aircraft, big as it is, was actually quite responsive and easy to fly. It rolled into and out of turns directly, and they showed me how to trim the elevators to lighten up the resistance on the control yoke while maintaining altitude (two switches on the left thumb grip). We flew south until the runway slipped past the starboard windows, then turned onto the base leg of the pattern. I throttled back to about 40% power, and the copilot lowered the gear and added some flaps. The ride got a little rough with the aircraft 'dirty', and we flew west a little before turning north onto final, still descending at about 500 feet per minute. I came onto final approach fairly close to the runway centerline, and he showed me the glide slope indicator.
Four lights sit to the left of the runway. They're set so that 2 are white and two are red when you're at the right approach angle as you come in. I was a little low, so three were showing red. An alarm went off right over my head, repeating 'Minimum... minimum..." until I pulled up a little (probably scaring a few virtual cars, if there had been any). I got the glide slope corrected, and reasonably lined up on the runway, and the instructor started calling the altitude as we dropped below 100 feet. Now, I forgot the C5's cockpit sits about 40 feet off the ground or more, so I was just starting to flare when THUMP the main gear touched down, a bit on the hard side. Luckily I didn't bounce it, but only just.
I started to brake, but the pilot told me to get back in the throttles for a touch and go. This time I held steady down the middle of the runway and made a better takeoff. Instead of turning to starboard we turned west and headed over the Dover Downs Speedway (NASCAR's "Monster Mile"), then they threw me a curve: bad weather.
We dialled up an IFR (Instrument Flight Rating) approach. This meant I was relying on the compass, altimeter, artificial horizon, and VOR aids to navigate and land through bad visibility. The clouds got heavier (though they kept the turbulence down for me) and I had to follow the navigation aids, looking at the instruments as much as out the window. Then, with little warning, we flew into a solid grey front - zero visibility. I was trying to turn east to the correct compass heading while maintaining correct altitude and airspeed, with no feedback other than the motion of the cockpit and the instruments. The "Minimum..." guy was back, and then another alarm started calling "Terrain! Terrain!" with a little more urgency, and another alarm tone was going off (probably stall warning; I was overcontrolling quite a bit in the absence of visual feedback). The instructor behind me asked "Are you sweating yet?" and I was surprised to find it was true!
I managed to get the plane stabilized and up away from the "Terrain!" warning, and I suspect they lightened up on me by allowing more visibility out the windows. Plous, the runway VOR flashed a sequential series of strobes on the ground, marking the approach. One system had guided us to the base leg of the approach, and as we turned onto final, another system took over. The artificial horizon is like a 3-dimensional compass: it's a sphere in a glass ball, half blue (sky) and half black (ground), with a representation of the wings on the glass bubble. When you're flying perfectly level, the wings line up right on the equator of the blue/black sphere. Now, a target appeared on the ball, and two orange lines drifted in from bottom and side, indicating whether I was port or starboard of centerline, and above or below glide path. The object is to line both crosshairs up on the target, creating a virtual funnel in space, with the small end terminating at touchdown on the runway. I could now see the runway out the window, but in the interest of playing by the rules, I really tried to avoid looking too much, and concentrated on getting the plane lined up on the guidance target.
I was getting close to the touchdown point and we broke out of the clouds to find I was parallel with the runway but still notably too far to starboard. I didn't have much room to maneuver without getting diagonal to the runway (the classic newbie mistake), so I hotdogged a little and side slipped in: I banked to port to initiate a left turn, but I fed in starboard rudder to keep the plane pointed parallel to the runway. The cross controls make the plane crab, moving at an angle to the way it's pointing (rather like 'inverse' drifting). This brought me smoothly (and luckily) right into line and I throttled back just a touch more. This time I was prepared for the high point of view, and I flared earlier, greasing it in for a very smooth landing. I didn't know how to use the thrust reversers, but I remembered that the brakes are applied by rocking the rudder pedals forward, and I eased the plane down to zero near the midpoint taxiway.
The pilot, instructor, and the Boeing guy all sounded quite impressed, if I say so myself. Now, I was there for the 'red carpet ride', so they were probably being generous, but I think I acquitted myself pretty well. They definitely took it easy on me as far as conditions went, and eased up when I was getting disoriented, but the pilot and the instructor both said it was a good a landing as they'd ever seen for a first-timer. All together I was at the stick for about 25 minutes.
I hope I get another opportunity to fly the thing - it was a total hoot! Nothing like getting to play with about $15 million worth of equipment. Even if I don't get another chance, one of the flyers told me he'd walk me through the whole real airplane out on the flight line.
OK, I admit, it was only a simulator. But it was the real deal - the Air Force sim they teach the pilots on! Full motion, 180-degree visuals, the actual C-5 cockpit, everything. Made by Boeing. It was way cool.
I went in with a guy from Boeing who I'm working with, an Air Force pilot, and the woman instructor who was operating the sim. It's the real flight deck from a C-5, with 10,000 switches and instruments and levers and the yoke, etc. I thought I was just going to watch, but they put me in the driver's seat. The pilot took right seat, they loaded up the terrain map for Dover AFB, and the pilot took us off, flew a quick pattern, and landed, using brakes and thrust reversers to stop the big plane very quickly. They reset us to the hold point, and then the AF guy said "your turn!"
Gotta go right now - I'll finish tomorrow.
[edit] Here's the rest of the story. The 'copilot' stood on the brakes, and asked if I had ever been up in a sim before. I explained that I never had, but that 25 years ago (ouch) I had a few flying lessons, and I had done some desktop flying, so I knew the basics. So he said "go for it, and I'll coach you."
So I pushed all four throttles forward to 100% and the plane started rolling immediately. The 'plane' was set for a moderate load so it built airspeed quickly. I drifted off-center on the runway because I always forget the ailerons don't work on the ground, and I didn't want to over-control so I was light on the rudder pedals. Luckily we got to rotation speed so I eased the nose up and lifted off smoothly, just before we would have gone off the port side of the runway. The copilot scrubbed the flaps and landing gear as we climbed out, and I throttled back to about 75% power.
The graphics were mediocre - about the level of, say, MS Flight Simulator '98 - but they got the job done, especially presented in 180 degree panorama, through the real windows of the real cockpit. But what made the experience was the sound and the feel. The plane rumbled down the runway, jumped into the air, and banked in response to the yoke. It felt and sounded just like any airliner flight I've ever taken, except I was driving... and technically we were on the ground.
At the pilot's direction, I banked starboard to the heading the instructor was calling out, climbing to 1800 feet (pattern altitude for Dover). I leveled off and we flew east out over water, and made another 90 degree turn to fly south along the runway, a few miles off. The sim even fed in some turbulence as we passed through scattered clouds. The aircraft, big as it is, was actually quite responsive and easy to fly. It rolled into and out of turns directly, and they showed me how to trim the elevators to lighten up the resistance on the control yoke while maintaining altitude (two switches on the left thumb grip). We flew south until the runway slipped past the starboard windows, then turned onto the base leg of the pattern. I throttled back to about 40% power, and the copilot lowered the gear and added some flaps. The ride got a little rough with the aircraft 'dirty', and we flew west a little before turning north onto final, still descending at about 500 feet per minute. I came onto final approach fairly close to the runway centerline, and he showed me the glide slope indicator.
Four lights sit to the left of the runway. They're set so that 2 are white and two are red when you're at the right approach angle as you come in. I was a little low, so three were showing red. An alarm went off right over my head, repeating 'Minimum... minimum..." until I pulled up a little (probably scaring a few virtual cars, if there had been any). I got the glide slope corrected, and reasonably lined up on the runway, and the instructor started calling the altitude as we dropped below 100 feet. Now, I forgot the C5's cockpit sits about 40 feet off the ground or more, so I was just starting to flare when THUMP the main gear touched down, a bit on the hard side. Luckily I didn't bounce it, but only just.
I started to brake, but the pilot told me to get back in the throttles for a touch and go. This time I held steady down the middle of the runway and made a better takeoff. Instead of turning to starboard we turned west and headed over the Dover Downs Speedway (NASCAR's "Monster Mile"), then they threw me a curve: bad weather.
We dialled up an IFR (Instrument Flight Rating) approach. This meant I was relying on the compass, altimeter, artificial horizon, and VOR aids to navigate and land through bad visibility. The clouds got heavier (though they kept the turbulence down for me) and I had to follow the navigation aids, looking at the instruments as much as out the window. Then, with little warning, we flew into a solid grey front - zero visibility. I was trying to turn east to the correct compass heading while maintaining correct altitude and airspeed, with no feedback other than the motion of the cockpit and the instruments. The "Minimum..." guy was back, and then another alarm started calling "Terrain! Terrain!" with a little more urgency, and another alarm tone was going off (probably stall warning; I was overcontrolling quite a bit in the absence of visual feedback). The instructor behind me asked "Are you sweating yet?" and I was surprised to find it was true!
I managed to get the plane stabilized and up away from the "Terrain!" warning, and I suspect they lightened up on me by allowing more visibility out the windows. Plous, the runway VOR flashed a sequential series of strobes on the ground, marking the approach. One system had guided us to the base leg of the approach, and as we turned onto final, another system took over. The artificial horizon is like a 3-dimensional compass: it's a sphere in a glass ball, half blue (sky) and half black (ground), with a representation of the wings on the glass bubble. When you're flying perfectly level, the wings line up right on the equator of the blue/black sphere. Now, a target appeared on the ball, and two orange lines drifted in from bottom and side, indicating whether I was port or starboard of centerline, and above or below glide path. The object is to line both crosshairs up on the target, creating a virtual funnel in space, with the small end terminating at touchdown on the runway. I could now see the runway out the window, but in the interest of playing by the rules, I really tried to avoid looking too much, and concentrated on getting the plane lined up on the guidance target.
I was getting close to the touchdown point and we broke out of the clouds to find I was parallel with the runway but still notably too far to starboard. I didn't have much room to maneuver without getting diagonal to the runway (the classic newbie mistake), so I hotdogged a little and side slipped in: I banked to port to initiate a left turn, but I fed in starboard rudder to keep the plane pointed parallel to the runway. The cross controls make the plane crab, moving at an angle to the way it's pointing (rather like 'inverse' drifting). This brought me smoothly (and luckily) right into line and I throttled back just a touch more. This time I was prepared for the high point of view, and I flared earlier, greasing it in for a very smooth landing. I didn't know how to use the thrust reversers, but I remembered that the brakes are applied by rocking the rudder pedals forward, and I eased the plane down to zero near the midpoint taxiway.
The pilot, instructor, and the Boeing guy all sounded quite impressed, if I say so myself. Now, I was there for the 'red carpet ride', so they were probably being generous, but I think I acquitted myself pretty well. They definitely took it easy on me as far as conditions went, and eased up when I was getting disoriented, but the pilot and the instructor both said it was a good a landing as they'd ever seen for a first-timer. All together I was at the stick for about 25 minutes.
I hope I get another opportunity to fly the thing - it was a total hoot! Nothing like getting to play with about $15 million worth of equipment. Even if I don't get another chance, one of the flyers told me he'd walk me through the whole real airplane out on the flight line.
). But yeah man, it had to have been awesome 'up there in the sky.'
. Thats a once in a lifetime experience 
👍 
