Flying on Instruments (with memories of Leslie Nielsen)

Sleet and snow today in Idaho, so the aircraft stay in the nice warm hangar (with underfloor heating).

For Stuart and I though, it's time to go and play with 'Redbird'. This is not a Sesame Street character but a walk-in flight simulator owned by MAF and used mainly for instrument flight training.

It is also excellent for practice emergency drills such as engine failures, as these can be taken all the way to their conclusion ("we crashed" or "we landed safely") whereas in the air we would normally end the practice emergency well before that point!

Redbird has six screens which generate an outside view and another two screens below these which display the aircraft instruments. All the main controls are provided, including throttle, flaps, electrical switches, etc... Here is a photo of Stuart flying the sim. By the way he's flying in heavy snow, which is why the screens all look white.

We had a visit from the local Fire Department this afternoon, and one of Nampa's finest wanted to have a go in Redbird. Here's a video of him landing, and you can see how cool the graphics are. Boys and their toys...