Roger A. Mola

The U.S. Army Flight School at Fort Rucker, Ala., accepted two OH-58D operational flight trainers (OFT) early this month from L-3 Communications’ Link Simulation division in Arlington, Texas, which is exhibiting its line of flight-training devices at Heli-Expo Booth No. 2647. Army trainees preparing to serve as aircrew for the Bell OH-58D Kiowa Warrior and enrolled in the Army Flight School XXI program will fine tune their skills in the full-motion simulator.
Lenny Genna, v-p of Army programs at L-3 Link Simulation &amp; Training, said the OFT supports the objective of Flight School XXI to improve the “battle readiness” of Army aviators. An OFT cockpit can move electrically in six degrees of freedom, while its secondary motion system simulates the vibration associated with helicopter flight.
Aircrews training to fly the Kiowa Warrior see computer-generated imagery outside in a wide field of view and through a chin window display, both of which are produced by an image generator based in a PC. Genna said the L-3 high-fidelity software can faithfully reproduce the OH-58D systems from the engine to the electrical to the hydraulics, along with navigation and communications, weapons, sensors and equipment for aircraft survivability. 
L-3 Link Simulation &amp; Training has delivered 29 training devices to the Army Flight School XXI program, including units used for instrument flight and “reconfigurable collective training” for platforms spanning the Boeing AH-64D Longbow Apache, Sikorsky UH-60A/L Black Hawk and Boeing CH-47D Chinook.

L-3 delivers Kiowa Warrior operational flight trainers

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