FLYING INDOORS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 January 1940, Page 5

FLYING INDOORS

NEW METHOD OF TRAINING AIRMEN. INSTRUCTION TIME SHORTENED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, January 25. A new method of giving flying instruction of an elementary kind by the adaptation to this purpose of an apparatus known as the "link trainer,” hitherto only used as an aid in teaching blind-flying, is expected to shorten by one-fifth the time required by pupils to learn flying. Seated in a cockpit mounted in a small fuselage on a pedestal, the pilot can be given all the impressions of flying in any conditions of weather and with changing landscapes. This is done by induced movements corresponding to those of the actual flight and by a “cyclone” on the walls of the bare circular chamber in which the apparatus is installed.

Indoor instruction by this method can proceed when outdoor conditions would render flying impossible and valuable time would be lost. Driven by powerful bellows, the fuselage is steered on its turntable through all the motions of actual flight. The take-off, climb, turns and banks are made. Flying on a given course, the pilot passes from sunshine to fog, skirts a large town, and finally reaches his objective. The indicators under the wings, nose, and tail record for the instructors information on exactly how much bank the pupil is applying, how far the nose is down or up, and whether he is keeping these elements steady.