My interest in aviation
began early. My father worked for a
number of American and foreign airlines and I remember being around airplanes
from my earliest childhood. In
those days my father would make arrangements for the Captain of what ever
airplane we were flying on, to pay a
visit to the cockpit. It wasn't until 1988 that my dreams of flying became
realized, when I obtained my private pilot certificate.
Most pilots would agree that obtaining their private pilot certificate and
other ratings often represent their greatest challenge in life as well as the
source of their greatest fulfillment. It
was so for me. I soon learned that
flying an airplane required more than manipulating the controls.
There was a great deal of knowledge from a variety of fields I needed to
understand and there were many times when I felt overwhelmed by the whole
training process. Throughout my
training I encountered many instructors, each with their own style and approach
to teaching. I learned very quickly
that an instructor might be a good pilot, but unable to clearly communicate the
knowledge to a student. On my journey to becoming a pilot I learned from a variety
instructors I flew with about the art of teaching. Learning to fly is a complex
process and an instructor, depending upon his ability, can create confusion or
comprehension in the mind of a student . After
I obtained my license, I reflected
on how the process had changed me and what I had learned from it.
I had of course learned a
bit about aerodynamics, engines, meteorology, and physiology, communications,
navigation, and regulations in the 80 hours prior to obtaining my license. Many
of the things I learned were taught when I went to school, but because they had
little relevance to me at the time or because I found the subject matter
confusing, I paid little attention to it. During
the flight training process I once again encountered the scientific and
mechanical principles that were unavailable or ignored by me while attending
school. My training required that I become a little more of the
scientists, the mechanic, the mathematician, the communicator, and the navigator,
then I was before training. Pilot
training had demanded that I increase my ability to concentrate as well as to
multitask. The flight planning also
required that I obtain all necessary information concerning my flight and that
I exercise good judgment .
As a pilot I was required to make accurate assessments about the
condition of my aircraft and myself and learned to be aware of all the factors
concerning my situation, or what is called situational awareness . When
faced with unexpected conditions or circumstances pilots must be ready to alter
their plans and to determine alternate courses of action.
My ability to listen and to understand and my ability to speak and be
understood was a vital part of learning to communicate properly.
The use of the ever present aircraft checklists involved in flying found
their way into other parts of my life, helping to cut down on a variety of
mistakes. The more I reflected on
my mental transformation as a result of my flight training, the more I realized
that learning pilot skills was a great way to improve mental abilities.
True, learning to fly was full of difficult challenges and it was not all
fun and games but the sense of fulfillment, accomplishment and the increased
confidence I experienced, gave a new meaning to the word Fun.
The sense of power and adventure in flying was the driving force behind
the learning that I needed. It occurred
to me that such training was perfect for young people who found little relevance
between adventure and the subject matter they were learning in
school.
With the ever increasing
cost of flight training it seemed unlikely that many students would ever have
the opportunity to undertake flight training.
My own flight training had cost me, including books, flight instructors,
and aircraft rental, about $5000. Today
the the costs are higher.
Before going down to the
flight school to begin my flight training I experimented with one of the
first desktop flight simulators available for a personal computer.
At the time I was thrilled to have an opportunity to begin my flight
training. The simulator was very
primitive and very difficult to control. The
scenery was simple, green for ground and blue for sky.
Runways and airports were an array of yellow lines.
Although I obtained little practical abilities from this early simulator
and after about 30 hours of wrestling with an uncontrollable airplane, I was
nonetheless inspired to begin my first flying lessons.
I had been infected with the dream of flying and following that dream had
taken me into areas of myself that had never occurred to me. Since that first
lesson I have logged almost 600 hours of flight time, a good part of
it training time. Every
flight and the challenges that it contains have increased my abilities.
By the time the year 2002 rolled around the personnel flight simulators
had come a long way from the first model I had tried so desperately to control not so long
ago. With faster computers, the simulation now moved effortlessly and smoothly displaying detailed graphics that
included roads, airports, buildings, and realistic weather conditions .
It occurred to me that this new "virtual airplane" could be the
answer to providing an opportunity for anyone interested to explore the world of flying in
an inexpensive and Fun way. Flight
training on flight simulator is not new, the military and commercial aviation
community have been training pilot's using flight simulators
since World War II. The
simulators they use are very
elaborate and in many cases have full motion capability making the simulator
experience as real as possible. As
the cost of computing power went down more programmers devoted their energies to
building realistic flight simulators for the general public.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is perhaps one of the most popular and
detailed programs available for general use and is the program that works best
for the program.
Based on my own training
experiences, I decided to create a simplified version of a private pilot
course so that anyone who wanted to explore the challenges inherent in being a
pilot would have an opportunity to do so. I
was inspired by the syllabus used by the United States Navy in training their
own pilot cadets. The syllabus
broke down the entire course into small tasks to be accomplished by the student pilot.
At the completion of each task the cadet would demonstrate proficiency
and then move on to the next level of training, each task building upon the one
that came before it. At any point
in the flight training a new instructor was aware of progress of the student. Instructors could change
because new instructors were aware of the progress of their student in the
syllabus. The idea virtual flight
training remained just an idea for quite a while because I had no place to try
it out. To make the idea work would
require many computers in one room, all capable of supporting the flight
simulation program. The instructor,
rather than teaching one student at a time, would have to oversee the
instruction of as many as 20 students at a time, no small task for even the best
of teachers.
An opportunity to try my
idea out came in 2002 at Compton airport in Los Angeles.
An after school program was already in existence at Tomorrow's
Aeronautical Museum, complete with a
room with approximately 20 computers already in place for students to play games
and do homework assignments. For
three years my classes were held on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday for one hour and
all who wished to participate could sign up for a small fee.
In the three years that the program was in existence over 200 students
participated in the program, some of them going on to obtain their private pilot
license and continuing education in the fields of aviation. Students passing level four had the opportunity to fly with
an instructor logging their first hour of flight instruction time. Initially there was little ground school to go along with the
simulation training. As teachers
became available I started to develop a ground school program to accompany the
flying part of the program. The age
of the students was between 10 and 17 years of age, however
age seemed to have little to do with the abilities of the students.
Often times the younger students showed a better ability to learn than
the older ones. The sense of
confidence and power gained by the students was the greatest reward of the
flight simulation program. It seemed that undergoing flight training had
transformed the personalities as well as the mentality of the students involved.
The simulation training also had an added benefit of reducing the time necessary
for real training in the real airplane. The
cost of flight training could be reduced as much as 40 percent with the proper
flight simulation training. Certain
aspects of flight training such as navigation and communication were better
learned in the simulator than in the real airplane .
In February of 2006 the Flight Sim Pilot program began at Orville Wright middle school in Westchester California. One classroom with 16 state of the art flight simulator computers and some very dedicated school administrators provided the opportunity for the first students attending a middle school anywhere, to experience aviation and basic flight instruction. I was permitted to teach the class accompanied by a certified teacher who himself a had a desire to learn about flying. The flight simulation sessions at school are held on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday with Tuesday and Thursday being ground school with the teacher. I have been developing the ground school portion of the program to coincide with the flight training sessions. I feel it is important to present flying in both its practical and theoretical aspects . Over the years I have established a correlation between ground school and the flying abilities of each student. Those that seem to understand the principles of flight seem to do better in the practical flying tasks. Materials used in the course include task briefings, detailed written instructions given to each student to help them accomplish their task and to improve reading and comprehension skills. Proficiency certificates are issued at the completion of each task and serve as the student pilot logbook. Besides having to pass flight tests on individual tasks, there are written quizzes and tests given by the teacher on a variety of aviation subjects. In September of 2006 the program was expanded to include three periods, a total of 45 students per semester, who signed up for the elective. The program has been well-received by all involved. As of 2007 Orville Wright middle school has built yet another flight simulator room with 20 state-of-the-art flight simulator systems. The new room is for for the advanced classes, level 5 through 9 of the syllabus. In 2008 The Flight Sim Pilot Program exists for about 80 students per school day at Orville. The program and I have come along way and I'm loving every minute of it!
My hope at this point is to establish a flight simulator program in as many locations as possible so that as many students as possible can take advantage of the flight training experience.
Contact Barry Trop at:
548 W. 32nd Street , San Pedro, CA 90713 (310) 809-2118 cell