Test rides on the six-axis simulator are meant to simulate the flight of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in order to help NASA study turbulence on planned air taxi services in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and elsewhere in the U.S. The data will be shared with AAM industry partners to help them develop passenger-friendly designs.

The space agency is working with several major air taxi developers through its advanced air mobility (AAM) mission, including Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Boeing eVTOL arm Wisk Aero, to research the experience and safety of riders as well as onlookers on the ground.

“The experiments in the ride quality lab will inform the advanced air mobility community about the acceptability of the motions these aircraft could make, so the general public is more likely to adopt the new technology,” said NASA test pilot Wayne Ringelberg.

Ringelberg served as the passenger for the comfort experiment. The pilot recently flew a series of test rides on the new simulator at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, to help prepare it for trials with actual test subjects.

Ringelberg lifted off from a NASA-designed conceptual vertiport atop a downtown San Francisco parking garage, flying over the city to another virtual takeoff and landing site on top of a skyscraper. Sitting in a seat mounted on a six-axis platform that recreates the full range of motion of an air taxi ride, he wore headphones to simulate noise and VR goggles that gave him a view of the cockpit and the city below.

Following the flights, Ringelberg reported to NASA on how realistic and reliable the simulator’s movement and audiovisual cues were.

“This project is leveraging our research and test pilot aircrew with vertical lift experience to validate the safety and accuracy of the lab in preparation for test subject evaluations,” he said.

With Ringelberg’s work finished, the agency will soon begin testing with human subjects. They will similarly wear a VR headset and headphones, flying the same route as the NASA test pilot. During the flight, subjects will press a button to indicate discomfort.

The space agency will analyze those responses and try to match them to the user’s heart rate, breathing rate, and experience of motion or audiovisual stimulus. It will make that data available to air taxi manufacturers and other industry stakeholders to shape flight paths through cities, identify takeoff and landing spots, and guide air taxi design elements like window size and seat placement.

The air taxi simulator is the key component of NASA’s rider quality lab, but that project is itself only a tiny piece of the agency’s AAM mission.

It began using the term AAM in 2020 and has since worked with stakeholders across the industry on a wide range of projects. The initiative focuses on everything from air taxi safety and ride quality to travel time, automation, and infrastructure such as vertiports, preparing industries including healthcare, emergency response, and cargo delivery for the introduction of the novel aircraft.

Within the program is the Advanced Air Vehicles Program (AAVP), which focuses on innovative aircraft designs such as Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology (RVLT). In addition to passenger comfort, NASA under the RVLT umbrella has studied air taxi batteries, noise, and traffic, particularly around busy airports like Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (KDFW).

Urban air traffic management and the integration of eVTOL designs into air traffic control operations and the national airspace system is a major part of the space agency’s mission. It aims to complete its research in time for the U.S. to develop a robust air taxi industry by the end of the decade.

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The post NASA to Study Air Taxi Turbulence Using Human Test Subjects appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

It was a great place to attempt to simulate in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020)—a low-level, risky flight that barely cleared terrain. 

As I get older, my real-life flying is becoming more conservative. In a flight sim, however, I’ll take risks. 

I targeted three unique destinations in Washington state, starting at Ranger Creek Airport (21W) near Greenwater, then Tieton State Airport (4S6) in Rimrock, and Strom Field Airport (39P) in Morton. I downloaded freeware scenery for each field in order to enhance the small airport feel and theme. Custom scenery for all the airports is available to download free here. 

High Terrain

This route brings you over some pretty high terrain, so I chose the recently released Beechcraft 60 Duke by Just Flight. 

The Black Square Duke is a “study level” complete version of the real thing, an airplane you must take care of and maintain realistically. This airplane is powerful, with turbocharged engines and a healthy climb rate. It will have no trouble getting over the peaks, even on a warm day of 70 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Ranger Creek sits east of massive Mount Rainier and is perhaps the closest airport to that famous dormant volcano. I have always wanted to go there in person, because it sounded mysterious and backcountry-ish. 

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The scenery in these airports adds enough added objects to increase the immersion factor. I don’t believe it reduces any FPS performance to any noticeable effect over default, so most everyone should be able to use it well.

Choosing the recently released Beechcraft Duke was easy. The flight sim community has been awaiting this some time now, as beloved Black Square designer (famous for the redos of the default Bonanza, Baron, and TBM) had decided to design this entire airplane from scratch, modeling everything perfectly.

It doesn’t disappoint, and the couple of hours I spent on this article was not enough to begin to learn this fully detailed aircraft. It is a “living, breathing plane,” one of the new popular approaches designers have been employing lately to many releases on the commercial side. 

The route to Tieton State Airport took about 15 minutes as the direct line wasn’t easy with terrain, but I also enjoyed some relatively low-level, summit skimming and side swiping on such a perfect day. The live weather of MSFS2020 and sunshine will provide some thermals, updrafts and downdrafts, as well as proper shadowing of lift, such as lakes and ponds, having no updrafts, and fields providing the most thermal-induced results. The terrain is great practice to follow along with on a sectional chart, noting the accuracy and landmarks along the way, imitating the visual world almost perfectly in MSFS2020 default photo scenery. 

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The Duke has been completely retrofitted with the latest and greatest modern technology, as you can see. Engine analyzers and proper technique are required to maintain health. This really made me think back to my piston-twin days when I experienced the most complex flying of my career. I had nothing modern, sometimes no autopilot, flew in IFR alone, and often had to know how to perform holds and ADF approaches with passengers on a timely schedule.

The sectional via ForeFlight on iPad and the GNS750 doesn’t portray the huge, steep descent you’ll need to make to enter the pattern, losing many thousands of feet. It is one of the most breathtaking areas I’ve ever seen. (For Top Gun: Maverick fans, much of the recent movie’s high-speed chases were filmed here over Rimrock Lake. That is something to re-create using the F-18 available in Marketplace, coupled with the Top Gun: Maverick add-on for effect. 

An eerie pattern emerged with the mummification-style face rising from the terrain. It can get right in your way on a downwind. 

New Lessons Learned

The mummy face becomes much more of a huge rock as you maneuver a right downwind-style approach. You cannot do a left downwind at all due to the other mountain on the base at the final to that runway, so you must land over the lake—one way in and one way out.

Over the right base leg above Rimrock lake, it’s hard to not spend all the time rubbernecking the area. The calm winds made for a mirror of tranquil water below, perfect for a floatplane digression perhaps. But with terrain and uneven heating at work, I was not set up well for my first attempt, as I was clearly too high and unstable. That meant it was props full forward, power up, gear up, and get out for another try.

When writing about sim flights, I always learn a new thing or two. The sim behaves in many ways like real life with various parameters cropping up that you hadn’t planned for—which is fun. It’s also a valuable learning experience. You think pilots probably don’t go around in real life as much as they should, and this is really an issue in the sim world. I hardly ever go around on my PC, as it’s hard to be hurt in your computer chair. This is a bad habit to get used to. I am trying to go around more often now in my serious sim sessions as it’s so necessary to keep that real-life mental readiness in full swing. 

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Along with go-arounds, even flying simulated low passes across an unknown field is good practice too. 

The leg to Strom Airport was quite scenic as I detoured south a bit over the lower valley, along a road, river, and lush farmlands. I could see the Randle-Kiona Airpark (WN55) along the way to my south, although I didn’t land there. 

I felt a jolt going over the terrain with lift initially then a noticeable downdraft on the leeward side. All fabulous fun with live weather. 

There is an endless world to explore with almost perfect photorealistic scenery worldwide. The freeware and payware airport enhancements out there really do add some immersion to low-level, small backcountry airstrips that may be worth getting on a case-by-case basis. 

I am not a huge fan of add-on scenery, in general, as the default world seems almost perfect. But in MSFS2020, it is easy to add without any real performance degradation. The details of handmade airports are really cool and often match the real-life counterparts perfectly. 

The new Beechcraft Duke (and Turbine Duke) are lots of fun and will get you in and out of anywhere without concern. These three airports can be accessible by any lesser-powered single as well in the sim. It would be fun to redo these legs on hotter days in weaker aircraft as well to see what kind of trouble I could get into. 

The post Taking Risks at a Trio of Mount Rainier Airstrips, Virtually appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Last week, Kendall got in the cockpit of a self-flying fighter plane during a historic flight at Edwards Air Force Base (KEDW) in California. The aircraft—called the X-62A Variable In-flight Simulator Test Aircraft, or VISTA for short—is a modified F-16 testbed and represents the Air Force’s first foray into aircraft flown entirely by machine learning AI models.

As Kendall and a safety pilot observed, the X-62A completed “a variety of tactical maneuvers utilizing live agents” during a series of test runs. Incredibly, the aircraft was able to simulate aerial dogfighting in real time, without Kendall or the safety pilot ever touching the controls. According to the Associated Press, VISTA flew at more than 550 mph and within 1,000 feet of its opponent—a crewed F-16—during the hourlong simulated battle.

“Before the flight, there was no shortage of questions from teammates and family about flying in this aircraft,” Kendall said. “For me, there was no apprehension, even as the X-62 began to maneuver aggressively against the hostile fighter aircraft.”

It wasn’t VISTA’s first rodeo. In September, the Air Force for the first time flew the uncrewed aircraft in a simulated dogfight versus a piloted F-16 at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards. The department said autonomous demonstrations are continuing at the base through 2024. But Kendall’s decision to get into the cockpit himself represents a new vote of confidence from Air Force leadership.

“The potential for autonomous air-to-air combat has been imaginable for decades, but the reality has remained a distant dream up until now,” said Kendall. “In 2023, the X-62A broke one of the most significant barriers in combat aviation. This is a transformational moment, all made possible by breakthrough accomplishments of the ACE team.”

ACE stands for Air Combat Evolution, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program that seeks to team human pilots with AI and machine-learning systems. The Air Force, an ACE participant, believes the technology could complement or supplement pilots even in complex and potentially dangerous scenarios—such as close-quarters dogfighting.

“AI is really taking the most capable technology you have, putting it together, and using it on problems that previously had to be solved through human decision-making,” said Kendall. “It’s automation of those decisions and it’s very specific.”

ACE developed VISTA in 2020, imbuing it with the unique ability to simulate another aircraft’s flying characteristics. The aircraft received an upgrade in 2022, turning it into a test vehicle for the Air Force’s AI experiments. 

VISTA uses machine learning-based AI agents to test maneuvers and capabilities in real time. These contrast with the heuristic or rules-based AI systems seen on many commercial and military aircraft, which are designed to be predictable and repeatable. Machine learning AI systems, despite being less predictable, are more adept at analyzing complex scenarios on the fly.

“Think of a simulator laboratory that you would have at a research facility,” said Bill Gray, chief test pilot at the Test Pilot School, which leads program management for VISTA. “We have taken that entire simulator laboratory and crammed it into an F-16, and that is VISTA.”

Using machine learning, VISTA picks up on maneuvers in a simulator before applying them to the real world, repeating the process to train itself. DARPA called the aircraft’s first human-AI dogfight in September “a fundamental paradigm shift,” likening it to the inception of AI computers that can defeat human opponents in a game of chess.

Since that maiden voyage, VISTA has completed a few dozen similar demonstrations, advancing to the point that it can actually defeat human pilots in air combat. The technology is not quite ready for actual battle. But the Air Force-led Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) and Next Generation Air Dominance programs are developing thousands of uncrewed aircraft for that purpose, the first of which may be operational by 2028.

The goal of these initiatives is to reduce costs and take humans out of situations where AI could perform equally as well. Some aircraft may even be commanded by crewed fighter jets. The self-flying systems could serve hundreds of different purposes, according to Kendall.

Even within ACE, dogfighting is viewed as only one use case. The idea is that if AI can successfully operate in one of the most dangerous settings in combat, human pilots could trust it to handle other, less dangerous maneuvers. Related U.S. military projects, such as the recently announced Replicator initiative, are exploring AI applications in other aircraft, like drones.

However, autonomous weapons, such as AI-controlled combat aircraft, have raised concerns from various nations, scientists, and humanitarian groups. Even the U.S. Army itself acknowledged the risks of the technology in a 2017 report published in the Army University Press.

“Autonomous weapons systems will find it very hard to determine who is a civilian and who is a combatant, which is difficult even for humans,” researchers wrote. “Allowing AI to make decisions about targeting will most likely result in civilian casualties and unacceptable collateral damage.”

The report further raised concerns about accountability for AI-determined strikes, pointing out that it would be difficult for observers to assign blame to a single human.

The Air Force has countered that AI-controlled aircraft will always have at least some level of human oversight. It also argues that developing the technology is necessary to keep pace with rival militaries designing similar systems, which could be devastating to U.S. airmen.

Notably, China too is developing AI-controlled fighter jets. In March 2023, Chinese military researchers reportedly conducted their own human-AI dogfight, but the human-controlled aircraft was piloted remotely from the ground.

Leading U.S. defense officials in recent years have sounded the alarm on China’s People’s Liberation Army’s growing capabilities, characterizing it as the U.S. military’s biggest “pacing challenge.” The country’s AI flight capabilities are thought to be behind those of the U.S. But fears persist that it may soon catch up.

“In the not too distant future, there will be two types of Air Forces—those who incorporate this technology into their aircraft and those who do not and fall victim to those who do,” said Kendall. “We are in a race—we must keep running, and I am confident we will do so.”

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The post Air Force Secretary Gets in Cockpit of Self-Flying Fighter Plane appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The company introduced its latest flight simulator technology, AX-D Flex: a “roll-on, roll-off” solution designed to train pilots on multiple aircraft, from business jets to midsize airliners, within a single mothership. Each simulation bay can accommodate up to three different cockpits, which can be swapped out in two hours or less, the company says.

Roll-on, roll-off flight simulators—which allow pilots to train on a variety of aircraft within a single system—are uncommon, but not unheard of. CAE and GlobalSim, for example, sell systems billed as roll-on, roll-off.

However, Axis says its solution is the first such simulator with a front-loading mechanism, which makes it simpler to switch between cockpits. The nonsimulated area, where the instructor and observer sit, stays in the simulator.

“Training providers are typically required to install specific simulators for different aircraft types,” said Christian Theuermann, member of the Axis executive board. “The launch of AX-D Flex will redefine the landscape of flight simulation, offering a cost-effective solution that allows pilots to train a variety of different aircraft types.”

According to Axis, AX-D Flex enables software-based avionics simulation using commercial off-the-shelf components that are “OEM-quality” and is designed to reduce maintenance costs and pilot downtime.

The mothership houses AX-D Flex’s basic structures, including the core motion and visual display systems. Accompanying it are “swap units” comprising a cockpit module and base frame, which contains computers and other technical devices.

With the front-loading system—which uses a stationary forklift—the swap units, including larger cockpits, can be lifted from the mothership and replaced with new modules. A pilot could go from simulating a business jet like the Bombardier Challenger 300 to a midsize airliner such as the Boeing 737 Max within two hours.

The simulator interior’s track-mounted seats can be repositioned according to the cockpit being loaded in. The transition requires a maximum of two technicians, Axis says.

“Our hardware team has extensive experience in designing components that exceed industry standards,” said Helmut Haslberger, director of hardware development and production management for Axis. “Through our precision control and electrical systems, we’ve designed a seamless lifting mechanism to allow smooth transitions between cockpits.”

The U.S. military also has an interest in multipurpose simulators. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), for example, has modified an F-16 into an AI-controlled test aircraft that can simulate the conditions of other aircraft while flying. U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall earlier this month said he would get in the cockpit of the self-flying airplane. 

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The post Axis Unveils Three-in-One Flight Simulator appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The story of the F-117 begins in 1964, when Soviet mathematician Pyotr Ufimtsev published the paper, Method of Edge Waves in the Physical Theory of Diffraction. It demonstrated that the radar return from an object depended more on its shape than size. Given the technology at the time, Ufimtsev’s insight was dismissed as impractical in Russia. But by the 1970s, given friendly aircraft losses to SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) in Vietnam and the Middle East, engineers at Lockheed’s “Skunk Works”—famous for designing cutting edge military planes like the P-38 Lighting, U-2 spy plane, and F-104 Starfighter—began taking the idea seriously.

• READ MORE: Reaching Uncharted Corners of the Globe in a Fokker F.VII

One key to minimizing radar return was to replace conventional streamlined, rounded surfaces with flat, angled surfaces designed to scatter radar waves in different directions. The wings would be swept back at a steep angle, like an arrowhead, and the vertical stabilizer (tail fin) replaced by an angled V-tail, all to reduce its radar profile.

The two turbofan jet engines were placed above the wings to shield their heat signature from the ground. The flat, reflective surfaces of the turbofan itself were shielded by an intake grill (to the right).

The engines have special exhaust ports in the rear to shield and minimize the heat released. The F-117 has no afterburners to give it extra thrust, as this would defeat the purpose of nondetection.

Instead of slinging weapons and bombs outside the fuselage, they are stored in an interior bay, safe from radar detection. Even opening the bay doors dramatically increases the F-117’s radar profile, so it must only be done for a few seconds over a target. Additionally, the exterior surfaces of the F-117 are all covered in a special coating, designed to absorb and deflect radar waves. The fork-like prongs jutting from the front of the F-117 are sensors to detect airspeed, angle of attack, and other instrument readings. The F-117 has no radar, which would immediately give away its presence. The glass panel in front of the cockpit is an infrared “eye” that enables the pilot to see in the dark and guide bombs to their target.

The windows of the F-117’s cockpit are ingrained with gold, which allows radar waves in but not out. Examples of the F-117’s cockpit are now on display in museums, and the layout is fairly similar to other single-pilot combat airplanes.

• READ MORE: Exploring the Checkered History of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Initially a “black project” funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), starting in 1975, Lockheed cobbled together two prototypes under the code name “Hopeless Diamond,” which first flew in 1977. Although both prototypes crashed, the project was a sufficient enough success to proceed with a production model, which took its first flight from Area 51 in 1981. The first airplanes were delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 1982.

The radar-minimizing design features of the F-117 make it quite unstable to fly. In fact, it can really only be flown with computer assistance, using a fly-by-wire system derived from the F-16. Because of its difficult aerodynamics, the F-117 quickly gained the nickname “Frisbee” or “Wobblin’ Goblin.”

The shielding of its jet engines, and lack of afterburners, also means that the F-117 is subsonic (it cannot break the speed of sound), making it much slower than most conventional fighters. In fact, despite its designation, the F-117 is not a fighter meant to intercept and dogfight with enemy airplanes. It has no guns, and though in theory it could carry air-to-air missiles, its lack of radar would render them fairly useless.

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The “Stealth Fighter” is actually an attack aircraft or light bomber, intended to be used in covert missions or evade air defenses, mainly under the cover of night. Some say that the “fighter” designation was used to attract pilots to the program who would normally have preferred flying fighters over bombers.

After testing at Homey, the F-117 was assigned to a special secret unit at Tonopah Test Range, also in Nevada. A total of 64 combat-ready airplanes were eventually built. Throughout the 1980s, however, the F-117 was kept completely secret. While rumors and sightings of it abounded, the U.S. government refused to confirm that any such aircraft existed. The first acknowledged use of the F-117 in combat was during the U.S. invasion of Panama to topple dictator Manuel Noriega in 1989.

Before I elaborate on its combat history, I need to land this airplane. The F-117 doesn’t have any flaps or air brakes to slow it down. I pull the throttle back to nearly idle just to descend. The approach speed of the F-117 is really fast—around 250 knots—and it touches down at 180 knots. So on landing I pull a handle next to the landing gear to deploy a parachute, to slow me down in time.

Now let’s talk about the known combat record of the F-117. It’s 3 a.m.  on January 17, 1991. Just over a day since the coalition deadline for Saddam Hussein to withdraw his Iranian forces from Kuwait has expired. An F-117 flies over the desert just south of Baghdad.

F-117s are leading the first strike of the coalition air campaign in the first Gulf War, aimed at taking out key command and control installations in the Iraqi capital. With a radar reflection the size of a golf ball, the F-117 glides silent and unseen over the bends of the Tigris River toward its target. Meanwhile, Iraqi anti-aircraft guns fire blindly into the night sky—a scene I remember watching unfold live on TV as I sat in my college dorm room. Combat losses for the F-117 that first night were projected at 5 percent. In fact, every single one of them came back from their missions safely.

By the end of the first Gulf War, the F-117 had flown 1,300 sorties, hitting an estimated 1,600 high-value targets, with the loss of a single aircraft. Though some of its performance may have been exaggerated—initial estimates of 80 percent target accuracy were scaled back to 40-60 percent—the F-117 became a leading symbol of the U.S. technological edge that helped establish it as the world’s sole superpower going into the 1990s.

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Fast-forward to the evening of March 27, 1999. At Aviano Air Base in northern Italy, an F-117 prepares for another night of bombing Yugoslavia, as part of NATO’s intervention to compel Serbian forces to withdraw from Kosovo. The aircraft, call sign “Vega 31,” is flown by Lieutenant Colonel Darrell Patrick “Dale” Zelko, a Desert Storm veteran. His target is a command-and-control center in downtown Belgrade, the Serbian capital. Along with several other F-117s on similar missions, he will fly east across Slovenia and Hungary before refueling midair and turning south to enter Yugoslav airspace.

I’ve heard the story two ways. The first has Zelko approaching Belgrade from the northwest and being picked up by Serbian radar as he opened his bomb bay doors—presumably before he could hit his assigned target. The second version, which the pilot himself tells, has him skirting Romanian airspace and coming toward Belgrade from the east. He dropped his bombs on target then continued west to head back home. (From what I can gather, Zelko was actually quite a bit higher than I’m portraying here, and there was a cloud layer about 2,000 feet above the ground.)

Just south of the two in Ruma in the countryside west of Belgrade, a mobile S-125 Neva SAM unit detected the F-117, despite its stealth profile, and locked on. Two SAMs were fired. The first missed the cockpit by inches, and the proximity fuse somehow failed to trigger. The second hit one wing and sent the F-117 tumbling out of control. After an initial struggle, the pilot ejected, was able to evade Serbian ground forces, and was rescued by U.S. helicopters. Years later, Zelko met the man who commanded the SAM unit that shot him down, and the two became friends.

Interestingly, the U.S. did not take any steps to destroy the wreckage of the downed F-117. The official reason was that the technology was already out of date, and there was no rationale to fear it falling into enemy hands. While the F-117 Nighthawk was used in 2001 in Afghanistan, and again in 2003 over Iraq, it became increasingly clear that it was nearing the end of its useful days, soon to be replaced by newer aircraft like the F-22 and F-35 that incorporate further advances in stealth technology. In 2006, the U.S. Air Force announced that it was retiring the F-117 and began putting the fleet into storage. A few went to museums, and others began being scrapped.

However, in recent years, there have been a number of sightings of F-117s flying near Edwards Air Base near California’s Death Valley. Some were reportedly painted grayish white, earning them the nickname “ghosts.” It is widely suspected that these F-117s are taking part in exercises designed to train pilots to detect and intercept enemy stealth aircraft. For fans of the iconic “Stealth Fighter,” it’s gratifying to know that some of them still appear to be flying.

In its entire operational life, there was only one known F-117 shot down. Its time may have passed, but that’s a remarkable record.

If you’d like to see a version of this story with more historical photos and screenshots, you can check out my original post here. This story was told utilizing Aerial Simulations’ F-117 Nighthawk add-on to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, along with liveries and scenery downloaded for free from the flightsim.to community.

The post Reenacting Bombing Missions in an F-117 Nighthawk appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Anthony Fokker was Dutch, born in the colonial East Indies. In 1910, at age 20, he moved to Germany to pursue his interest in aviation. He soon founded his own airplane company there, and during World War I it designed a number of successful and famous fighter planes for the Germans. Fokker himself was an accomplished pilot. I wrote a previous article on the Fokker Dr.I triplane, which you can check out here.

• READ MORE: Recreating the Final Flight of the Red Baron

After losing WWI, Germany had to surrender all its warplanes and aircraft factories, including Fokker’s factory, under the Treaty of Versailles. Fokker, however, was able to bribe railway and border officials to smuggle some of his equipment back to his native Netherlands. That equipment allowed him to reestablish his company in Holland and design the Fokker F.VII, a single-engine transport for the fledgling postwar civilian market. I’m in one of those models here, in KLM colors, at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (EHAM).

The F.VII’s fuselage was fabric stretched over a steel-tube frame. Its wings were plywood-skinned. The original, single-engine version of the F.VII was powered by a variety of different models of radial engines, which ranged from 360 to 480 hp. Inside there was room for eight passengers, as well as a bathroom (the door to my right here).

The cabin was connected to the two-man cockpit by a little door under the fuel tank and starter switches. On the instrument panel, from left to right: oil pressure and temperature, altitude, another oil temperature gauge, air speed indicator (with a turn indicator below it), clock, and rpm tachometer. Around the cockpit you can see all the wires and pulleys connecting the controls to the flight surfaces outside. Turn or push the yoke and they quite clearly move. Fly by wire, indeed. The compass is basically a bowl with a magnet floating in it.

The designer of the initial F.VII was Walter Rethel, who was later hired by Willy Messerschmitt and went on to design the famous Bf 109, the main German fighter at the start of World War II.

With a single engine, even a fairly powerful one for its time, the Fokker F.VII didn’t exactly spring off the ground. It lumbers into the air and climbs gradually. Nevertheless, in the early 1920s, the F.VII became a successful early passenger transport for early airlines such as Dutch KLM and Belgian Sabena. Here I am flying over the historic center of Amsterdam.

In 1924, the F.VII even introduced flights from Amsterdam to the East Indies. Needless to say, it wasn’t nonstop and could take many days.

In 1925, automakers Henry Ford and his son Edsel began the Ford Reliability Tour, a challenge for aircraft to successfully complete a 1,900-mile course across the American Midwest with stops in 10 cities. To compete in Ford’s challenge, and make the airplane more reliable in general, Fokker had the F.VII redesigned to have three engines, adding two mounted on the side struts. The new F.VIIb/3m, decked out here in Sabena colors and flying over Brussels, became immediately popular, with 154 built. Each of the three engines was a 200 hp Wright J-4 Whirlwind.

• READ MORE: Exploring the Checkered History of the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter

Belgian tycoon Alfred Loewenstein, calculated to be the third-richest man in the world at his peak in the 1920s, even owned his own private Fokker F.VII. Flying over the English Channel in 1928, he had one of the most unfortunate bathroom breaks in history. You see, the door to the bathroom (left) is directly across from the door to the outside (right). It seems Loewenstein opened and walked through the wrong one and fell to his death in the water below. Though to this day, some still suspect it was murder. There’s even a book about this incident, The Man Who Fell from the Sky by William Norris.

If that were the sum of the F.VII’s history, it might be pretty uninspiring. But to tell the rest of it, I’m here at Spitsbergen in Norway’s Arctic archipelago of Svalbard for Byrd’s flight to the North Pole. Richard Byrd was a U.S. naval officer who commanded air patrols out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, during WWI. He played an active but supporting role in the first attempts to cross the Atlantic by air, and in 1926 had his big shot at fame. His Fokker F.VIIa/3m, mounted on snow skis, was named the Josephine Ford, after the daughter of Edsel Ford, who helped finance the expedition.

This was a two-man expedition, with Byrd accompanied by Navy Chief Aviation Pilot Floyd Bennett. The passenger seats were torn out and replaced with extra fuel tanks and emergency supplies.

The inside of the cockpit is quite similar to the one-engine version but with three separate throttles and tachometers (showing rpm). There was no airport in Svalbard at the time, so they had to take off from a snow-covered field—hence the skis. Byrd’s flight, from Svalbard and back, took 15 hours and 57 minutes, including 13 minutes spent circling at their farthest north point, which Byrd claimed, based on his sextant readings, to be the North Pole.

Did he really reach the North Pole and become the first to fly over it? This remains hotly disputed to this day, with some researchers claiming that he faked his sextant readings and fell short of his goal. In that case, the true prize would belong to Norwegian Roald Amundsen, already the first to reach the South Pole by land, in his airship Norge.

• READ MORE: The Story of the Schneider Trophy and the Supermarine S.5

A few observations about flying the Fokker F.VII, at least in the sim. First, it’s not very stable, in the sense of wanting to correct back to straight and level flight. It’s sensitive to being loaded either nose-heavy or tail-heavy and requires a lot of control input. Second, that big wing really likes to glide. To descend without overspeeding, I basically have to put all three throttles back to idle and glide down.

Last, there are no differential brakes and no tailwheel. That makes the F.VII extremely hard to control on the ground, even just to taxi. That’s especially true on snow skis.

Whether Byrd truly did reach the North Pole or not, he became a huge national hero when he returned to the U.S. Byrd and Bennett were both presented with the Medal of Honor by then-President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.

The following year in 1927, Byrd outfitted a new Fokker F.VII/3m, named America, to bid for the Orteig Prize, promising $25,000 for the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris (or vice versa). Anthony Fokker himself had recently moved to the United States and was part of the team preparing Byrd and his crew—the odds-on favorite—for the Atlantic crossing. During practices, however, America—piloted by Fokker himself—crashed, injuring both Byrd and Bennett and postponing their attempt. As a result, while America was being repaired, Charles Lindbergh—an unheard-of underdog—made the flight solo in the Spirit of St. Louis, becoming an aviation legend.

• READ MORE: Simulating a Bombing Raid in an F-16

The Fokker F.VII would still achieve fame, though, crossing a different ocean at the hands of Australian pilot Charles Kingsford Smith in 1928. If you’ve ever passed through Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport (YSSY) and wondered who it’s named after, you’re about to find out. (If you’re an Australian, you already know).

Movie star handsome Smith, known as “Smithy,” fought as a combat engineer at Gallipoli in WWI but soon joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot. He was shot down, injured, and returned to become a flying instructor in Australia. From that day, Smith had a dream to cross the Pacific Ocean by air from the U.S. to Australia. By 1928 he was ready to try to achieve that goal. That’s why I’m here at Oakland Municipal Airport (KOAK) in California, where he took off in his Fokker F.VIIb/3m Southern Cross. Not unlike Byrd’s airplane, the inside has been altered to make space for extra fuel tanks.

At 8:54 a.m. on May 31, 1928, Smith and his four-man crew lifted off from Oakland on the first leg of their journey to Hawaii. At the time, flying to Hawaii, much less Australia, was an extremely daunting prospect. While they had a radio with limited range, there were no radio beacons to guide them. They could only estimate a course based on the latest, often inaccurate, weather reports over the Pacific and hope that unexpected winds wouldn’t blow them off course and make them miss Hawaii entirely. As they flew over the Golden Gate— the bridge hadn’t been built yet—they knew that several aviators before them had estimated wrong and simply vanished into the vastness of the Pacific.

The first stage from Oakland to Hawaii covered 2,400 miles and took 27 hours and 25 minutes (87.54 mph). It was uneventful. But one can only imagine their joy as they arrived here over the northeast shore of Oahu.

They landed at Wheeler Army Airfield in the center of Oahu. The Southern Cross was the first foreign-registered airplane to arrive in Hawaii and was greeted at Wheeler by thousands, including Governor Wallace Rider Farrington. Smith and his crew were put up at Honolulu’s pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel to rest for the next stage.

• READ MORE: A Virtual History of the Piper Cub

The runway at Wheeler was too short for the Southern Cross to take off fully loaded, so they flew to Barking Sands on the west coast of Kauai, where a special runway had been constructed. They took off from Barking Sands at 5:20 a.m. on June 3, bound for Suva in Fiji.

The journey from Hawaii to Fiji was 3,155 miles—the longest flight yet over continuous seas. It lasted 34 hours and 30 minutes at an average speed of 91.45 mph.

Halfway across near the equator, the Southern Cross encountered a tropical thunderstorm. Keep in mind, the crew did not have the benefit of an artificial horizon. The only way it could keep level, flying blind, was keeping a close eye on airspeed, altitude, and the inclinometer (or turn indicator). Somehow, the crew weathered the storm and kept going.

The crew undoubtedly felt great relief when it spotted the green landscape of Fiji ahead. There was no airport at that time, so the Southern Cross landed on a cricket field. Once again, it was far too small to use to take off again, so after a few days’ rest, the crew relocated to a beach from which to depart for the next and final leg of the journey. Leaving Fiji on June 9, the aviators embarked on their final 1,683-mile stretch home to Australia.

Once more they encountered storms, which blew them nearly 150 miles off course. Even when the weather was clear, the unrelenting and trackless ocean must have been overwhelming.

The Southern Cross reached the Australian coastline near Ballina, well south of its intended target, and turned north toward Brisbane. As the crew reached Brisbane, it was greeted by an aerial escort. The goal was Eagle Farm Airport northeast of the city—now the location of Brisbane’s main international airport.

The Southern Cross had flown 7,187 miles (11,566 kilometers) in 83 hours and 72 minutes. The Pacific Ocean had been conquered by the air for the very first time. A crowd of 26,000 greeted Smith and his crew when they touched down at Eagle Farm.

Smith died in 1935 at 35 when his airplane disappeared over the Indian Ocean while attempting to break the England-Australia speed record. His career was filled with both triumph and scandal, but he is still considered Australia’s great aviation hero. If you visit Brisbane’s airport, you can still see the real Southern Cross on display in a dedicated hangar.

The Fokker F.VII continued as a popular airliner into the 1930s. However, the vulnerability of its fabric-and-wood construction became apparent following a 1931 TWA crash that resulted in the death of famed University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. As a result, the Fokker F.VII gave way to all-metal airliners such as the Boeing 247, Lockheed L-10 Electra, and eventually the DC-3.

One of the most popular early successors to the Fokker F.VII was the Ford Trimotor, basically an all-metal version of the F.VII. For all their sponsorship, the Fords seem to have gotten something out of it in the end. Anthony Fokker, nicknamed “The Flying Dutchman,” lived most of the rest of his life in the U.S. and died at  49 in New York in 1939 from pneumococcal meningitis.  

If you’d like to see a version of this story with more historical photos and screenshots, you can check out my original post here. This story was told utilizing the “Local Legend” Fokker F.VII add-on to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, along with liveries and scenery downloaded for free from the flightsim.to community.

The post Reaching Uncharted Corners of the Globe in a Fokker F.VII appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

If you are looking for something with considerably less space disruption and small enough to fit in a carry-on bag, check out the Yawman Arrow. The company notes the Yawman controller puts the yoke, throttle, and rudder pedals in your hands. The device went on the market as of Monday for $249, available for purchase at yawmanflight.com and Sporty’s Pilot Shop. The device was created by brothers Thomas and Dwight Nield, professional aviators, and John Ostrower, aviation media creator, and founder of The Air Current.

The company, based in Carmel, Indiana, calls it a “fully functional hand-held cockpit,” noting there are 21 buttons and seven axes available for programming the Yawman Arrow with added multipress capability “optimized for Microsoft Flight Simulator that makes the controller infinitely configurable for everything from basic aircraft function for flying and simulator commands to advanced autopilot interaction.” The goal is to radically reduce the need for both keyboard and mouse/trackpad when flying.

The Arrow was “designed for simmers by simmers.” It is built in the United States and can be a primary controller on simmers’ Windows or Apple laptop, desktop, or Android tablet. Its portability makes it different from other devices as it can be used on the road with a gaming laptop or Android tablet, or cast to a television from a laptop.

“This has been a methodical journey to bring together all the familiar pieces of flight simulation hardware into an ultra-mobile form factor without compromising the virtual flying experience,” said Yawman co-founder Thomas Nield. “We have achieved that, and we are excited to deliver it to the simming community. We’ve brought a deliberate precision to Yawman, making it a multifunction controller that requires no additional configuration software to maximize its plug-and-play utility.”

The Arrow is designed to work with virtual aircraft of all types, from smaller general aviation airplanes and helicopters to high-performance fighters and commercial jets. Company officials note the portable controller can be used for real-world flight familiarization, preparation, and training without complex hardware.

The Details

The Arrow features controls for pitch, yaw, and roll, and two vernier-style engine controls like those found on many piston-powered aircraft. When the player is flying a jet, these controls activate spoilers and thrust reversers.

The device has an integrated trim wheel, along with two shoulder bumper buttons, a five-button D-pad, and five-way hat switch for independent viewing angles and video recording. The user can access a multifunction six-pack of programmable buttons to customize their flight experience.

The Arrow is fully compatible with Microsoft Flight Simulator on PC, Laminar Research X-Plane on PC and macOS, Infinite Flight for Android, Lockheed Martin Prepar3D, DCS World—and more—as well as nonsimulation games that support HID joystick controls. However, it is not compatible with iOS devices or Xbox.

We Test It

FLYING had a chance to test fly the Arrow. I was assisted by Michael Puoci, one of my learners who is a professional aviation game designer. When Puoci, call sign “Puffin,” was training for his private pilot certificate, he utilized sim technology as an enrichment tool, flying every lesson at least twice before he got out to the airplane That’s the beauty of the syllabus; he knew what was coming next and was able to prepare.

Puoci builds games and test flies them on a regular basis. We met at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. He was armed with his laptop loaded with X-Plane 12 for the demonstration. We tried the Arrow in a Cessna 172 as that is the airframe we both have the most time in.

It was easy to set up the Arrow to interface with X-Plane—just a few clicks. No additional software configuration was required.

• READ MORE: Setting Up Your Sim

Full disclosure: I had never attempted to fly using a game controller before, so there was a learning curve.

During the takeoff from virtual King County International Airport/Boeing Field (KBFI), the left turning tendency got the better of me as I had to use my fingertips for what my feet usually do. It took me a few minutes to get the hang of using light touch adjustments, especially on the trim. I teach my learners pitch, power trim to level off, and it was a challenge to adjust the right lever for power and not to over trim.

It took me a few minutes to achieve coordinated flight, and I found myself physically tilting the Arrow, rather than activating the proper controls, until my hands figured what to do to achieve what I wanted. We had to try stalls too, which are a rudder-dependent maneuver. I did one, then Puochi did one. Learning took place.

If you want to take your aviation sim on the road, the Arrow was meant for you. The unit requires one available USB port (cable included) and weighs 7.83 ounces (222 grams) and does not require batteries or charging.

Shop the Setup

The post Yawman Arrow Hand-Held Cockpit Released appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The flight I’ll be taking will be from Miramar (KNKX), the former location of the Top Gun academy outside San Diego, to Joint Base Andrews (KADW) outside of Washington, D.C. If I do everything right, the 2,000-mile trip should take just 25 minutes.

The airplane in the movie was roughly based on the Lockheed SR-72, which is supposedly in development, though all the details about it—including whether it truly exists or not—are top secret. According to reports, at least, the SR-72 is meant to be the replacement for the SR-71 Blackbird, which was retired in 1998 and was the fastest operational airplane in the world.

• READ MORE: Crossing the English Channel in a Blériot XI

Lockheed’s famous “Skunk Works” actually worked with the filmmakers of Top Gun: Maverick to ensure the full-scale mock-up they constructed looked like a realistic hypersonic airplane, similar but not identical to the SR-72. There is a story—perhaps true, perhaps not— that when the filmmakers produced their version of the Darkstar, China repositioned a satellite to fly over and take a closer look, believing it was real.

Because of the wind, I’m taking off to the west and will need to turn around to head east. That will add some time to my flight. Rotating from Miramar’s runway at 180 knots, with afterburners on, I pitch up 10 degrees and raise my landing gear, accelerating toward Mach 0.9.

Once I reach Mach 0.9, I stay below the speed of sound by raising pitch to 20 degrees, while turning to the east. That’s San Diego Harbor below me.

To break the sound barrier and accelerate quickly, I invert the airplane to go into a dive. The reason I invert is to avoid excessive negative G-forces by pulling back instead of pushing forward on the stick to nose down. I’ve just broken Mach 1.0.

Now that I’m supersonic, I quickly roll back upright and resume my 10-degree climb, gradually accelerating to Mach 3.0. I’m already over the California desert, nearing the Salton Sea ahead. Until I reach Mach 3.0, I’m still using my conventional jets with afterburners.

A normal jet engine works by compressing air through a series of spinning blades then adding fuel to burn it and make it expand rapidly out the back. Before it exits, the hot air turns a turbine that powers the compressor in front. At extremely high speeds, a compressor isn’t needed because the ramming force of the oncoming air itself is sufficient to compress it. A ramjet dispenses with both the compressor and the turbine to drive it.

• READ MORE: Canada’s Rugged, All-Metal National Airplane

In a ramjet, however, the air is slowed inside the engine to below the speed of sound. In a scramjet—or supersonic ramjet—the air flowing through it remains at supersonic speed and can produce much higher speeds as a result. A scramjet, however, needs to be already moving at a very high speed to work. So once I reach Mach 3.0 (I’m at 2.81 and rising), I can flip the switch and ignite the scramjets.

The exhaust ports for my red-colored afterburners close, replaced by the white-hot heat of my scramjets. The airplane accelerates very rapidly now.

I’ve also climbed very rapidly. I level off at 135,000 feet, a little higher than I planned, but no matter. I’m nearing Mach 6.5 now, over 4,800 mph.  I think I’m over Arizona, but to tell you the truth, I’m not 100 percent sure. I’m just following the magenta navigation line on my screen. You can see the nose and edges of the airplane heating up from the friction of moving so fast.

I’ve leveled off again at 127,000 feet and reached Mach 9.1, my cruising altitude. It’s possible to reach Mach 10 by going higher, but I’ve got enough on my hands already.

The flight is going very quickly. I’m already over the Great Plains. You can easily see the curvature of the Earth.

The mission of the SR-72, like the SR-71 and the U-2 before it, would be to conduct reconnaissance at an altitude too high and speed too fast for anyone to catch or shoot down. While these missions are now mostly performed by satellites orbiting the Earth—or, more experimentally, by high-altitude balloons—some argue that a high-altitude, high-speed “spy plane” is still needed to fill gaps in coverage at a moment’s notice.

• READ MORE: A Fanciful Flight in the ‘Spruce Goose’

I haven’t been able to recognize very much along the way, but I’m pretty sure St. Louis is about 24 miles below me.

How hot does the airplane get? That’s classified. But the skin of the SR-71, traveling at a mere Mach 3.0, reached an average of 600 degrees Fahrenheit. The cockpit window of the SR-71 was made of quartz and 1.25 inches thick to survive these temperatures.

About 200 miles from my destination, I turn off the scramjet, pull the throttle back to idle, and begin my slowdown and descent. I’m dropping through 75,000 feet here and slowing to Mach 4.4, basically just gliding down with minimal power.

The first time I flew the Darkstar, I waited too long to begin decelerating. As I descended into the thicker atmosphere, I was going too fast and the airplane broke up from the stress (oops, sorry taxpayers). This time I overcompensated in the other direction and began my deceleration a bit too early. So I ended up skimming over the Appalachians at a slower speed, adding about 15 minutes to my flight time. Better than disintegrating, I suppose.

My approach speed should be between 150 and 200 knots. To fly level at these low speeds, the Darkstar has to keep its nose pitched up about 10 degrees. As I cross the Potomac River with Washington, D.C,. in the background, just to my north, I’ve lowered my wheels for landing at Andrews Air Force Base.

This is a little tricky. I have no forward view and can barely see out my side windows. I have to rely entirely on the digital image on my screen to land on the runway. The little airplane marker on the screen shows my current trajectory. I need to keep it pointed near the start of the runway, while keeping my speed around a steady 150 knots.

It wasn’t the softest landing, but I ended up safe and sound. My total time across the country by scramjet was about 50 minutes. Taking off to the west added about 10 minutes, and beginning my slowdown and descent too early cost me another 15. Still not bad from coast to coast.

Some hope that scramjets can someday be used for passenger transport, putting any destination in the world within a 90-minute flight. But for now the applications remain purely military. Hope you enjoyed the flight.

If you’d like to see a version of this story with more historical photos and screenshots, you can check out my original post here.

This story was told utilizing the official Top Gun Maverick Expansion Pack for MSFS2020, along with airports and sceneries produced by fellow users and shared on flightsim.to for free.

The post Taking a Transcontinental Flight in the Hypersonic Darkstar, Virtually appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The companies said the FAA has qualified the simulator, and initial training for customers is available this month. Recurrent training is scheduled to begin in October.

Embraer and FlightSafety also said another Praetor simulator, the fourth to be fielded, will be based in Europe at a location to be announced later. The companies plan to begin operating that simulator by the end of 2024.

“Offering additional training capacity is important for supporting our customers,” said Carlos Naufel, president and CEO of Embraer services and support. “These two new full-flight simulators bring us even closer to Praetor family pilots and operators in the United States and Europe and will provide us with the opportunity to share our latest technological updates and best-in-class support.,” said Carlos Naufel, president and CEO of Embraer services and support.

Said Nate Speiser, executive vice president of FlightSafety sales and marketing: “FlightSafety is committed to addressing the increasing demand for Embraer Praetor training. ,” said Nate Speiser, executive vice president of FlightSafety sales and marketing. “As Embraer’s training partner, we are proud to announce consecutive simulator deployments in two regions to support the worldwide training demand for this quickly growing fleet.”

The post Embraer, FlightSafety Announce New Praetor Simulators in Florida, Europe appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Introduced in 1940, the A6M was dubbed the Navy Type 0 carrier fighter or Reisen (零戦, “Zero Fighter”) for short, in reference to the Imperial Year 2600.

To set the scene here, I’ll be taking off from the Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi and flying over Midway Island, recreating the first wave attack in the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942.

The paint scheme on this particular airplane shows it belongs to a fighter squadron on the Akagi, as it would have looked during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and—very likely—during the Battle of Midway just six months later. While it may look white or light gray from a distance, the color is actually a kind of greenish-cream color. It’s not for naval camouflage—it just happens to be the color of the special coating used to protect the aluminum from corrosion, especially at sea.

• READ MORE: Channel James Bond, Fly the World’s Smallest Jet

Later in the war, camouflage from U.S. air attacks became more important and many land-based Zeros were painted green on top. The paint tended to flake off, however, and left the airplanes more vulnerable to corrosion. But that wasn’t their main priority anymore.

Inside the cockpit, the main instrument panel is topped by the breech and charging handles of twin 7.7 millimeter machine guns that fire over the nose. I’ve tried to find out, but I’m not sure what the characters, which seem to be numbers (736 and 245), signify and would love to know.

On the left side of the instrument panel, from left to right, are the heading indicator, clock, and airspeed indicator on top, and the vertical speed indicator, magneto switch, and altimeter on the bottom. On the right side of the panel are the engine gauges. The top left is rpm, and the bottom left is manifold pressure. (The Zero has an adjustable-pitch, constant-speed propeller). 

Typical of most World War II-era fighters, the power controls are to the pilot’s left-hand side. The black metal lever on the wooden throttle fires the airplane’s guns. The two red-knob levers below them are bomb releases.

On the pilot’s right-hand side are levers for the flaps and landing gear, operated by hydraulics. Unlike the American F3F and F4F fighters, the gear didn’t have to be cranked by hand, but the pilot did need to switch hands on the stick to operate them. The cockpit is a tight fit, designed for smaller-stature Japanese pilots, who at this early stage of the war were extremely well trained.

• READ MORE: Crossing the English Channel in a Blériot XI

Japanese aircraft carriers didn’t have catapults, so it’s just a straight run down the deck at max throttle to pick up enough speed.

The A6M Zero was designed in 1937 as a replacement for the A5M. Contrary to many movie portrayals, it was the A5M (aka Type 96) that participated in Japan’s initial invasion of China. It also was an all-metal monoplane but had fixed landing gear and an open cockpit.

When the design competition was announced, Japan’s navy set such high standards for climb, speed, size, and range that manufacturer Nakajima considered the task impossible and dropped out, leaving only Mitsubishi’s team.

Mitsubishi’s lead aircraft designer, Jiro Horikoshi, believed it was possible to meet the demanding performance specifications and set out to prove it. The key was to reduce weight to the absolute minimum. To do this, the Zero was constructed from a top-secret aluminum alloy, which was very strong but very thin.

As a result, the Zero had a range of more than 1,900 miles with a single drop tank, the longest range of any single-engine fighter of WWII and ideal for a carrier-based striker. It also had an astounding climb rate and was extremely maneuverable. This lightweight design also came with vulnerabilities: The Zero had no armor. In fact, that red square on its wings, above the flaps, is actually a no-stand zone because the skin is so thin that it can’t support the weight of a person.

• READ MORE: Canada’s Rugged, All-Metal National Airplane

Check out the Akagi below me. Originally designed as a battlecruiser, it was converted to an aircraft carrier after the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 with the help of Japan’s then naval allies, the British.

Akagi means “Red Castle” and was named after a mountain in Japan. Modernized in the 1930s, it could carry 66 airplanes, including 18 to 21 Zero fighters. The decks are slanted to a peak to slow aircraft on landing and help accelerate them on takeoff.

Nearby, I fly over the Kaga, the Akagi’s companion carrier at both Pearl Harbor and Midway.

The Kaga will be sunk by sundown, and my own carrier, the Akagi, will succumb to damage and slide beneath the waves the next morning. The attack fleet’s other two carriers, the Soryu and Hiryu, will also be sunk in this battle. But I get ahead of myself.

It’s time for me to head to Midway. The Japanese strike on Midway in June 1942 was an attempt to lure the U.S. carriers not destroyed at Pearl Harbor into a fight. However, the Americans were able to decode Japan messages that gave them prior warning of the plan, enabling them to position their three available carriers (USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown) for a surprise counterattack.

The Japanese opened with a carrier-based air attack on Midway itself, believing any U.S. aircraft carriers must still be far away. Time for me to drop my drop tank.

Midway consists of two islands. The larger Sand Island to the west hosted a naval base, seaplane harbor, and fuel depot.

The smaller East Island hosted an airfield with fighters and long-range bombers.

The Zero was armed with two 7.7 mm (approximately 30 caliber) machine guns in the nose, plus two 20 mm cannons in the wings. That was some pretty strong firepower, compared to comparable Allied fighters early in the war.

Now here’s an interesting tidbit: The Zero’s engine is basically a copy of the Wright Cyclone and Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp engines. The Japanese had licenses to produce the Douglas DC-3, including engines, before the war, and reengineered those R-1820/R-1830 engines for the A6M.  They produced 950 hp and were basically identical to the versions of those engines used in the B-17—so much so that restored Zeros that fly today typically use the Pratt & Whitney engine, which fits perfectly.

In early dogfights with the Zero, Allied aircraft were completely outclassed. In China, Zeros boasted a kill ratio of 12-to-1. However, in July 1942—a month after Midway—a Zero crashed in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and was recovered and brought to San Diego for study, revealing some of the airplane’s hidden vulnerabilities.

For one thing, to save weight, the Zero eschewed the heavy rubber, self-sealing fuel tanks that were becoming common in other fighters. This led to a tendency for it to catch fire and explode when hit. For another, the large ailerons that made the Zero extremely maneuverable at low speeds made it harder to turn at high speeds because of the airflow it had to deflect.

Engineers also learned the Zero had a poorly designed carburetor that caused the engine to sputter in a dive.

All of these secrets helped the Americans design tactics to exploit the Zero’s weaknesses (diving, high-speed turns, no armor) and overcome its strengths (climbing, low-speed maneuvers).

In another sense, the Zero was a victim of its own success. Because its designers had so creatively pushed it to its limits, there was little room for improvement in future models to keep pace with new developments. It was as good as it would ever be. While U.S. aircraft—notably the P-38 Lightning, F6F Hellcat, and P-51 Mustang—either made or represented major improvements on previous designs, the Zero remained unchanged and continued in production through 1945.

The initial Japanese attack on Midway was largely successful, seriously damaging the U.S. facilities on the two islands and setting the oil depot ablaze. However, it wasn’t enough. The raid leader reported back that a second wave would be needed to finish the job.

This news led to a series of delays at the Japanese carriers that made them easy prey for the surprise counterattack that was coming from the American carriers quietly lurking nearby. While all but one of the U.S. torpedo bombers were shot down, and every one of them missed their targets, the Americans’  dive bombers caught the Japanese carriers with fully fueled and loaded aircraft on their decks, setting off a chain of devastating explosions. By the next day, all four Japanese carriers had been sunk.

• READ MORE: A Fanciful Flight in the ‘Spruce Goose’

Right now, I’m ready to land back at the Akagi, not knowing what fate has in store.

The destruction of the Akagi and three other Japanese carriers dealt a severe blow to the Japanese Imperial Navy, mainly because so many experienced pilots were lost. It’s one of the reasons that many consider the Battle of Midway to be the turning point in the Pacific war.

Here I am coming in at around 70 to 80 knots to hit the arresting wires on the Akagi.

Even though it was outclassed by later U.S. airplanes, the Zero could hold its own in a dogfight—so long as it was flown by a capable pilot. The problem was most of those pilots had been killed at Midway. By war’s end, the mighty Zero was relegated to serving as a flying bomb in the hands of relatively untrained pilots, as kamikazes on a one-way trip to take out U.S. ships. Out of the nearly 11,000 Zeros produced, only two are still flying, along with a handful of airframes on display in various museums.

Thanks for joining me on this flight. If you’d like to see a version of this story with more historical photos and screenshots, you can check out my original post here.

This story was told utilizing the A6M5 Zero add-on to MSFS2020 from Romantic Wings, along with sceneries produced by fellow users and shared on flightsim.to for free.

The post Flying Over the Pacific in a Japanese ‘Zero’ appeared first on FLYING Magazine.