Synth sense

Not surprisingly, every member of the team has the right credentials. An ex-RAF fast jet background is a prerequisite. These people are not a group of XBox warriors, their jobs are too important — they produce the nation’s elite fighter jet pilots. 

David Hake, one of BAE Systems’ Aircrew Simulation Instructors, explains what happens. He says the team’s work has three main aspects
 

1. Ground School

The ground school Operational Conversion Course is the team’s bread and butter. Ultimately, they take pilots who are new to Typhoon and, amongst other things, prepare them to fly solo. The initial training takes seven to eight weeks duration. The students learn about the Typhoon aircraft’s systems as well as how to fly the jet. 

“It's a very competitive training environment to get here. They're all professional pilots, they've all got their wings, and they all know how to fly. They have proved they are good enough to be here, our role is to turn them into safe and competent Typhoon pilots.

“At this point, we're not interested in teaching them to operate the jet as a tactical machine. It's the basics we’re focussed on and once we've got them to a suitable standard, we put them through their Instrument Rating Test, effectively their annual driving test. Then we hand them over to 29 Squadron. That doesn't mean to say we're done with them, but it does mean ‘you can fly the jet and we think you’re ready to go solo.’”

The whole training syllabus and documentation come from the RAF. Even the simulation devices themselves are all owned by the RAF.

David adds: “Within our team, there is a growing group of instructors who can teach the entire Operational Conversion syllabus because they were previously Typhoon Qualified Flying Instructors (QFIs). We work closely with 29 Squadron, the RAF’s Operational Conversion Unit, and generally work as if we were in uniform. We also have a small group (all ex-Typhoon pilots) who fly the Typhoon as civilian instructors on 29 Squadron. These individuals are handpicked and bring a vast amount of experience to the RAF."
 

2. Emergency Training and Emergency Handling

The second role is one of the most common tasks carried out by the team. Typhoon Force pilots have to carry out an emergency simulation every 60 days to be allowed to go flying.

In addition to delivering the emergency training syllabus, the team collects data from the courses and presents it back to the RAF, which then uses it as part of its risk mitigation process. 

David says this work keeps the team busy, “At Coningsby, we have several simulators per day allocated for such training.”

3. Facilitating
 

About a third of the work undertaken by BAE Systems’ simulation specialists comes under the banner of facilitation, helping frontline Squadrons prepare for their Operational tasks. By using synthetics smartly Typhoon Squadrons gain a great deal of tactical exposure very quickly in scenarios that they are likely to face in live flying. Whether this is on an Operational deployment, such as the Baltic Air Policing, defending Europe’s eastern flank or on one of the many training exercises the pilots face each year. 

For example, in the weeks before 3(F) Squadron went to the Red Flag exercise, at Nellis Air Force Base Las Vegas in the United States in January, they spent a lot of time in the simulators preparing for this activity.