flight simulator: Training for extreme situations in the air

Flight simulator Large rolling bearings provide a convincing illusion

2024-08-19 From Rothe Erde | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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In the Airfox ASD flight simulator, pilots practice how to respond correctly when they lose orientation. The large rolling bearing in the drive is crucial for successful training.

The cockpit is adapted to the corresponding aircraft or helicopter type.(Image: Rothe Erde) — The cockpit is adapted to the corresponding aircraft or helicopter type.
(Image: Rothe Erde)

If pilots lose their orientation during a flight, extremely dangerous situations almost inevitably occur. However, how to deal with such situations can be learned in special training sessions. For safety and cost reasons, these trainings usually take place on the ground in special flight simulators. The Airfox ASD, in which handling with such extreme situations can be practiced thanks to unlimited rotation of the cabin, is available at the company AMST in Upper Austria. Among other things, a large roller bearing from Rothe Erde ensures the perfect simulation.

"One form of spatial disorientation we induce here is visually, by showing the pilots unexpected situations, such as a tilted landscape, but also with the help of a sensory illusion of the balance organ, the so-called vestibular illusion," explains Christian Plonka, product manager and trainer at AMST. To induce this in the flight simulator, the cabin is put into a slow rotation, which is barely perceptible to humans and their balance organ. "After just a few seconds, this rotation is no longer perceived by humans, so that pilots, in case of additionally missing visibility, no longer notice a spin or a dive of the machine," says Christian Plonka.

Gallery

The large rolling bearing from Rothe Erde between the cabin and hexapod ensures the smooth rotation acceleration, with the help of which vestibular illusions causing disorientation are created.(Image: Rothe Erde)

In the AMST-Airfox-ASD flight simulator, pilots train to handle extreme situations associated with spatial disorientation.(Image: Rothe Erde)

The flight simulator primarily trains military pilots and rescue crews, but also individuals who are active in aerobatics or who fly as a hobby. For this purpose, the cabin can be individually adapted to the respective aircraft or helicopter type.

Special requirements for the large rolling bearing

In order to make the illusion perfect and thus the training successful, the slow, unlimited rotation of the simulator cabin below human perception thresholds is crucial. "A jerk or an uneven acceleration would be detected by the sense of balance and destroy the illusion," explains Rüdiger Stache, who has overseen the project from a sales perspective for Rothe Erde.

The simulator cabin is moved by an electric hexapod along the three axes in space, which means that the bearing must also run smoothly when tilted. The rotary drive with the large roller bearing is located between the cabin and the hexapod. In addition to smooth running, the load-bearing capacity of the bearing is another important criterion: "Abrupt changes in direction, such as those that occur in training when 'intercepting' the machine from the dive, exert enormous forces on the substructure and specifically on the connection with the cabin and thus on the bearing." (dm)

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