Steve Nichols
Capt Rod Lekey must be the busiest pilot at the air show. Every 10 minutes he takes off in his Boeing F/A-18, shoots down four enemy planes, destroys two ships, completes two victory rolls and lands - on the deck of the USS Eisenhower.
But he takes it all in his stride. As the Boeing F/A-18 Simulator Demonstrator he is used to such a hectic schedule.
"The simulator is excellent for training and very good for visitors to watch," he says.
"But I have to compress a 2h flight into a five minute demonstration so it does get a bit hectic. I also have to give a running commentary and highlight objects with a laser pointer so it's not exactly a typical flight."
The simulator is not your usual PC-based toy. It needs at least three Silicon Graphics Workstations to run and was programmed and built at Boeing.
"One minute it can be an F/A-18 and after a few changes it can be an F-15, so it is very flexible.
The digitised scenery is actually the Californian coast and is quite realistic, but the rest of the Head-Up Display and cockpit is all true F/A-18.
But is it as good as the real thing?
"It gets real close," says Rod, "and it's dead on for procedural training."
Rod should know. He was a lieutenant in the US Navy and flew 28 combat missions in Desert Storm before joining Boeing in 1995. But does he prefer the simulator?
"On a fine day, with plenty of sunshine, I would prefer the real thing," he says. "But with this you get whatever weather you want, and fly when you want!"
You can see Rod demonstrate his skills at Boeing's stand in Hall A, stand 1417. And let us know if he crashes - he hasn't so far.
Source: Flight Daily News
