Air Refueling Part Task Trainer enhances training for flight crews
The ARPTT will enhance the training capability and flexibility of flight crews in both the Eagle and Liberty wings.
"Pilots can use the ARPTT to hone their air refueling skills and never leave the ground," said Col. Mark S. Solo, 436th Operations Group commander. "Normally a pilot would have to spend all day flying to gain currency, but with this device they can accomplish the same result in about 30 minutes."
"In the last 18 months, a lot of our training has moved out of the airplanes and into the full-motion simulators," said Maj. Carey McKinney, assistant chief aircrew training. "This has increased the workload of the two simulators we had. The ARPTT will help alleviate some of the workload and provide additional training for flight crews."
According to Ronald Destasio, 436th Operations Support Squadron simulator project officer, the two full-motion simulators currently in use at Dover AFB are usually scheduled for crews a month in advance.
"Of the 425 hours available each month, we run about 380 hours right now," said Destasio. "The two full-motion simulators get used by crew chiefs for mechanical engine run qualification, as well as pilots."
The ARPTT flight simulator will increase flexibility when scheduling the air-refueling training. With all the training flight crews must do, getting into the full motion simulators, which usually run 18 hours a day, can prove to be difficult.
The ARPTT will be divided into blocks of time for the different flying squadrons to train in five days a week, six hours a day.
"Two hours will be designated for the 3rd Airlift Squadron, two hours for the reserve airlift squadrons, and two hours for the 9th Airlift Squadron," said McKinney. "If no one is using the ARPTT, any flight crew member will be able to use it."
"With the ARPTT, a flight member can walk into the simulator unscheduled and train as long as it is during the squadron's designated time and provided no one is training already," said Destasio.
The ARPTT will also play a key role to flight crews when the upcoming Avionics Modernization Program upgrade goes into effect, which is currently slated for Jan. 26 - June 6, 2002.
"Within the next two years, in order for the C-5 to be compliant with the world air space, it will undergo what's known as the Avionics Modernization Program upgrade," said McKinney. "This means the C-5 will go to the 'glass cockpit' where all screens, dials and gauges will become glass.
"To properly train flight crews, the simulators will have to be upgraded as well. To do this, one simulator will be taken out of working order to receive the upgrade parts," said McKinney. "While one simulator is being upgraded, its air refueling training will be transitioned to the ARPTT."
The ARPTT offers a more cost-efficient alternative to training in C-5s. According to Destasio, training in the C-5 can cost approximately $15,000 an hour. Training in the ARPTT will cost approximately $300 an hour.
"The ARPTT coming to Dover will greatly enhance air refueling training for all our crews," said Solo. "This device offers realistic training at a great price."
Several bases competed for the ARPTT, which came from Charleston AFB, S.C., but the contract was awarded to Dover AFB.
"Since Charleston Air Force Base no longer flys C-141s, the ARPTT training simulator was no longer of use to them," said McKinney. "Also, one hundred percent of Dover's aircraft commanders are required to be air-refueling qualified and with the upcoming AMP upgrade, it was decided that the best place for the ARPTT would be here." (FROM DOVER AIR FORCE BASE PUBLIC AFFAIRS).
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