Down in the main atrium at SimuFlite you’ll see a beautiful fountain, which interestingly doubles as an equipment cooling device for the simulators! Pipes run behind the copper sheathing and coolant is piped through it and back into the simulator bays to cool the systems that run the simulators. That is one large heat sink!
Also on display in the lobby is an ancient Link Trainer, one of the first flight simulators developed. We’ve come pretty far since then. Recent developments in the simulator world include some very cool electrically driven simulators (as opposed to hydraulic) which reportedly are smoother, more accurate, and less costly to maintain.
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The culmination of the training occurs on the 5th and final day: checkride day. Most corporate clients get to come to SimuFlite and do training and ground school with no jeopardy; there is no checkride or consequences for poor performance. Since we are charter operators, we (unfortunately) are under the gun for our final simulator session. The tolerances on the checkride are just as stringent as those that exist to attain your certificate or type rating (i.e.: heading +/- 10 degrees, altitude +/- 100’, airspeed +/- 10 knots, etc.). The checkride is a more formal sim session in that the tasks to be accomplished are set in stone and the “script” is very important. The day starts early with a 0630 briefing session prior to heading into the simulator.
