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THE FLYING CLASSROOM: TURBOPROP AND JET TRAINERS ON OFFER

Even if, in some places, defence structures are reduced and units dissolved, the world's air forces are always on the lookout for new pilots. After all, retiring aviators have to be replaced. However, it is not only this foreseeable need for new blood that has to be covered. Successors for pilots, who "migrate" to better paying airlines have to be found. This places high demands on training organisations.

The omnipresent pressure on costs means that the "production" of new pilots has to be cost effective. Therefore pilots must gain the required qualification with the least expenditure. Greater use of powerful flight simulators and computer aided training devices is very helpful indeed. Even outsourcing these tasks to civil companies, which are only paid for (flight) lessons actually performed is an option. For this purpose Bombardier is setting up its NFTC Centre in Canada, where pilots from NATO countries will be trained.

Regardless where and how pilot training is performed, the training aircraft, in which the prospective pilots are mostly airborne for more than 200 hours, remains the most important "tool" of the trade.

Over the years a host of training aircraft have been on the market. One of the main reasons for this was that their design and construction provided young and ambitious aviation countries with a popular project to hone their technological skills. From an economic point of view many of these programs were a flop, because of high development costs and low production numbers. In recent times only few planes like the British Aerospace Hawk, the Pilatus PC-7 or the Embraer Tucano have had any noteworthy export success.

However, there are still two dozen trainers with either turboprop or jet engines currently available or in development. They can be split into four categories:

1. Small and light aircraft with side-by-side seating, which are ideal for basic training and beginners.

2. Turboprops with tandem cockpit. These are available in a wide performance and equipment range and cover a braod spectrum of instruction up to weapons training. Their main advantage is a more favourable price when compared with most jet aircraft. In order to ease the transition to high performance jet propelled frontline aircraft, they are often fitted with state or the art cockpits. These include CRTs or LCDs. There are also attempts to make the aircraft feel like a jet by controlling the engine electronically

3. Jet trainers are also available in various performance classes. However, they are mainly used for advanced and tactical training. There are attempts to ease the transition to future fighters with their complex systems by utilising newer designs or modernising existing models. Fly-by-Wire is even used to simulate the special flight characteristics of the highly maneuvrable designs like Eurofighter or F-16.

4. The supersonic performance trainers Samsung KTX-2 and Dasa Mako are one step closer still to "proper" fighter jets. Whether this kind of performance is actually needed during training is disputable. At any rate the US Air Force has used the T-38 Talon for decades, and it will be in action until 2040 thanks to a modernisation program to the cockpit.

Trainer aircraft are on the whole quite long-lasting. This is why investment in this area is rarely given top priority by defence ministries. Thus business for manufacturers is not booming, and they eagerly answer any invitations to tender. After Greece has recently decided on the T-6 Texan II and South Africa on the Hawk LIFT, there are hardly any sales prospects for the foreseeable future. Still British Aerospace for example is optimistic: According to the company's estimation there is an annual global demand for 150 jet trainers, and British Aerospace is trying its utmost to secure at least a third of these orders.

From page 50 of FLUG REVUE 2/99