>>Flashing across California desert skies, the airplanes you see
here are writing new chapters in the story of man made flight....there she goes!
>>This is my first opportunity to greet you as deputy administrator
of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
>>Together, you and I must make our new agency
>>A most unusual place
>>An organization that can challenge conventional wisdom.
>>We can engineer anything we can write the requirements for.
>>We're going to make your idea work.
This particular idea is quite disruptive.
>>A typical flight, of course, starts under the wing of the B-52 mothership.
>>This sleek, high speed machine would have made Rube Goldberg proud.
>>The manner in which we fly reentry from space,
on the space shuttle was pioneered on the X-15.
>>The X-31 pretty much wrote the book on thurst vectoring, along with its sister program, the F-18 HARV.
>>An observation of an occulation is
one of the more challenging missions that SOFIA can do.
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>>Right now, we are looking at the dawn of a new era of aviation.
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>>The secret to our business is to be as prepared as possible,
and we find simulators a very useful tool.
>>Flight simulators have been used at Dryden since the X series.
They allow researchers to investigate hundreds of variations
before committing an airplane to flight.
...program actual missions and simulate every conceivable in-flight problem
the pilot might expect to face.
>>The largest and most complex analog simulation
ever constructed at the time; it was used in the design of the research programs,
flight planning, system development,
and of course, as a pilot training aide.
>>I think almost every flight had something happened to it
that maybe was not according to the flight plan, but had been practiced
because the pilot spent anywhere from 10 to 50 hours in the simulator for a flight.
>>...3 or 4 hours in the simulator a week.
>>...200 to 250 hours of simulator time flying this exact mission.
So I was extremely well prepared.
>>...by the time of first flight,
many potential problems have been identified and solutions
developed.
>>In the case of the space shuttle, the flight simulator
is more important than ever before because the shuttle is such a complex
machine- flies in such a wide range of atmospheric conditions
and at Mach 25 travels much faster than any plane has done before.
>>Simulation is essential to developing the X-29 flight control system.
This fixed base simulator is wired directly to the aircraft's
three flight control computers.
These in turn are wired to attitude sensors
and to a simulated X-29 hydraulic system.
>>This is the X-59 simulator...
...we did a lot of design trade studies on features
that we think we'd want in the airplane or not want in the airplane...
>>This is going to be exactly like the inside of the actual aircraft.
Instead of having to read all the labels, or read all the switches,
they will have their muscle memory trained.
>>We're using it to do some development and analyze
some of the new flight control software that's come down...
Eventually we'll also use it for training.
>>We provide projects,
the ability to make informed decisions and the ability to manage risk.
>>Those who own the simulation own the program.
>>In '54, there were a number of engineers out here who took advantage of the first
electronic ground simulator...
...to mimic
a reaction control system and mimic an airplane,
leaving the Earth's atmosphere.
>>Practice landings using predetermined
settings that can simulate the low lift/drag ratio of the X-15...
...nothing is left to chance.
>>The Lunar Landing Research Vehicle was the only free-flying
airborne simulator for the final seconds of the lunar descent.
This simulator provided
the early Apollo astronauts with a calibration of time and distance.
>>In fact, Neil Armstrong came back a year or so after he landed on the moon and said
because of the training that he received on the LLTVs and the LLRV
he was able to make his maneuver the last 20 or 30 feet.
>>We also had the shuttle training aircraft. Thrust reversers were used to hold
the airplane back so we could dive
at the steep angles that we were planning to fly the orbiter at.
>>The Calspan TIFS in flight simulator...
>>...a modified Convair aircraft configured with two different cockpits,
and it's kind of a dial of plane aircraft, a variable stability
aircraft that can be made to simulate the characteristics of any other airplane.
We also utilized our F-8 Fly-By-Wire aircraft to simulate
some of the characteristics of the shuttle flight control system.
>>GPAS, General Purpose Airborne Simulator...
>>...which was a JetStar that was modified
to do variable stability.
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>>In addition
to simulating the aircraft flying here in our airspace,
we also have the ability to take our sim lab and connect it
as a component of a larger live, virtual, constructive environment
like we do with flying unmanned vehicles.
UAS in the NAS type projects.
>>...both simulated aircraft and then a live intruder aircraft...
...virtual or simulated encounters...
>>Fused Reality is a new technology
for simulation.
>>Things that simulators aren't good at modeling is real air.
What you gain here is taking a simulator into the air
and you're actually exposed to the flying environment;
taking that simulator and visually kind of superimposing
that on top of...
>>...being able to put other aircraft that aren't
actually there in your field of view and make you feel like you're actually
flying in formation.
>>That's a new thing. That's good