The Australian Air League recently received a boost for its young student pilots with the donation of a Flight Simulator by Dr Dominique Estival from the MARCS Institute at the University of Western Sydney.

Not just a game, the Flight Simulator is a full cockpit simulator featuring realistic controls and instrumentation and will allow the cadets undergoing flight training to practise manoeuvres and procedures on the ground before taking to the air, helping to keep the cost of their flight training down.

The MARCS Institute at UWS is engaged in research into human-human and human-machine communication  in normal, heightened and degraded contexts and the simulator was used in research into human factors in aviation at UWS over a number of years. 

I was delighted to see the Flight Simulator used by cadets during their recent flying training camp in February and I hope it will help train many more young boys and girls who are interested in aviation

Most recently the flight simulator was used to conducts experiments in linguistics and aviation, in which 17 pilots of different levels of flight training and varying degrees of English language proficiency were asked to conduct a series of flights during which their radio communications in response to pre-recorded ATC communications were recorded along with the flight simulator data. This will be used to help determine the effect of various factors on the effectiveness of communication in aviation and the possible impact of aviation safety.

When it was decided that the flight simulator was no longer required at UWS, Dr Estival looked for a volunteer organisation that would benefit from the donation of the simulator. As a flight instructor at Camden Airport she had contact with a number of training organisations there and the Air League was an obvious choice.

“The Australian Air League is run by dedicated volunteers and trains young people in the Sydney area. I was delighted to see the Flight Simulator used by cadets during their recent flying training camp in February and I hope it will help train many more young boys and girls who are interested in aviation.”