let me recap what u said
Contrary to what u think, pilots normally start off in the Sims
first, get familiar with all the avionics before proceeding to
actual flight, to reduce the steep learning curve.
u said pilots, not fighter jet or helicopter, but pilots. so its
not wrong that i say the 'pilots' don't fly sim b4 going to the
real a/c. so its not wrong that i say that even student pilots
learing to fly the ct-4 are consider under the 'pilots' catergory u
mention.
its true that fighter pilots go thru sim training during their
conversion but its done concurrently with actual flying. and actual
flying outstripes sim flight. you can log sim hours in your log
book but the af requirement is for them to log actual flight hours
in order to claim flying allowance. u think our pilots want to go
fly sim whole day and cannot claim $. let's get back to the topic
of f-15 conversion. the usaf have a tough f-15 conversion for its
pilots. b4 911, there was a webpage by a usaf pilot who was going
thru his strike eagle conversion. he documented his flights and he
started off straight by flying the eagle. going solo on his 3rd
flight. he didn't spend alot of time on sims and its done
concurrently. rsaf is willing to spend billions to get these
planes, u think they never consider the cost of flying? they are
willing to pay in order for our fighter pilots to log actual flying
hours than in sims.
in the commercial world, sia pilots go thru sims b4 they fly the
actual a/c. the cost of setting aside a plane to instruct pilots is
too costly, they have to maximise the usage of the planes to earn
revenue not training. and for your info, the sia sim center is
operated 24hrs 7 days and even when you sleep there are pilots
flying it. if you say commercial pilots i agree wif you.
in future, its true that fighter conversions will start off with
alot of sims b4 flying the real thing cos those fighters F/A-22,
F-35 doesn't come with 2 seat trainer versions. for f-15, typhoo
and rafale, its still fly and sim together.
