Christian Rolleston, Project Technical Manager, ETPS – Flight Simulator
With its history of research, design, advice, and disposal, QinetiQ is at the centre of aviation. Our Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) was the first of its kind in the world. Established 70 years ago, experience and knowledge in flight test is still gained from the real-world testing and evaluation of current military systems at MOD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
In my role I am responsible for one of the valuable tools that form part of our test pilots’ crucial training – our flight simulator, which was made completely in-house by QinetiQ, and allows us to run both rotary and fixed wing aircraft types in one simulator. Using a cockpit swapping system, the flight simulator can be converted between fast jet single-seat and helicopter side-by-side configurations in just one hour.
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The simulator has a range of uses on the ETPS graduate and diploma courses; it is used to enhance the learning process and to ensure that student understanding of vital flight test principles is in place. Throughout the year the simulator is used for a wide variety of exercises, varying from learning about variations in flying control mechanical characteristics, identifying handling quality deficiencies in different aircraft, and creating a high order flight control system.
To experience what it’s like to use, you can see a demonstration of the School’s motion simulator in this video; it shows the fixed-wing, fast jet capability of our simulator flying over the Cranfield terrain database.
Follow the link for further information about the range of QinetiQ’s test and evaluation training capabilities, or click here to contact us.
