NOVEMBER 2015 29 the ground Photo: In 2014, Boeing’s Airplane-On- Ground Operations team disassembled this 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, moved it across Houston, and reassembled it for display at Space Center Houston. FRANK LEYVA customer employs Boeing personnel to provide a post-delivery support system for the militarization of the 737 flight simulator that it can’t find anywhere else, said Derek Bernett, Boeing P-8A pilot-training devices manager. “One of the best compliments we’ve received, when one of the first airplanes was delivered to Jacksonville, was the airplane flies just like the simulator,” he said. “Usually it’s the other way around.” Boeing has delivered 30 P-8As to the Navy. At some point, NAS Jacksonville will operate 60 P-8A aircraft and put as many as 200 people in its 20 classrooms at once, Bernett said. The Navy’s P-8A crews receive 70 percent of their training on the ground, which is a huge cost savings, said Tom Shadrach, Boeing P-8A program manager. “It is great that this much is being learned in the simulators,” Shadrach said. The realism provided by the software is a big reason that so much of the P-8A training is simulator-based. Safety is another factor, with flight personnel able to push limits with the trainers in ways that can’t be practiced with the actual aircraft, according to Shadrach.
Frontiers November 2015 Issue
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