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Pa. unit's cadets use simulator in preparation for orientation flights

September 04, 2008

2^nd Lt. Tracey Axelrod

Public Affairs Officer
Willow Grove Joint Reserve Base Squadron 902
Pennsylvania Wing

PENNSYLVANIA -- During a recent meeting, members of Willow Grove Joint Reserve Base Squadron 902  watched a plane in serious trouble. 

A Squadron 902 cadet at the controls of the flight simulator program

It was rapidly losing altitude, and its wings pitched up and down in an erratic fashion. 

Clearly, the plane was about to crash -- and sure enough, several seconds later a huge puff of smoke, obviously coming from a pile of plane wreckage, was visible to all assembled.   

Then everyone laughed.  

“Don’t worry about it,” a senior members said, “you’ll do better next time.”

The cadet who had just crashed the simulated plane looked up from the computer screen with a sheepish expression and slid out of the chair to relinquish the controls to the next cadet in line.  

The crash that the squadron observed was a simulation on a Microsoft Flight Simulator. Squadron 902 is the lucky recipient of that computer system, which Abacus Software donated to Civil Air Patrol.

Capt. Kevin Weaver entered the squadron into the drawing for the software held at the 2007 National Conference, and the unit won.

Capt. Evan Conley, the squadron’s pilot instructor, uses the flight simulator program to prepare cadets for their orientation flights.  

Capt. Evan Conley

“The simulation gives the cadets basic aircraft and instrument orientation,” Conley said. “During O-flights many of the maneuvers will be a review because they will have practiced stalls, slow flight, steep turns, etc. during the simulator sessions.”   

Conley said his personal goal is to “educate the cadets and assist them in pursuing an aviation career if they so choose,” and he is excited to share his knowledge, experience, and stories with the cadets.