DISCOVERY ’67

[Music] we're sitting inside a jet flight simulator for the 727 with the complete cockpit including all the instruments for three crew members and the instructors i'm in the seat of the co-pilot or first officer behind me here would be the flight engineer or second officer and here in the captain's seat is one of the flight instructors don mcgahn don the pilot gets all the sensations of a real flight here in the cockpit of this simulator doesn't he that's right bill let me show you what it feels like for instance this is a captain's flight instrument panel with such things as the airspeed indicator the compass and the altimeter on your side of the airplane you have an exact duplicate of my flight instruments right and in the center there's one set of instruments for engine readings to the right of that is the gear handle which controls raising and lowering of the gear here are the throttles for the three jet engines and on this pedestal between us are the radio controls on the overhead panel there are various lighting switches hydraulic switches and other electrical switches the hydraulic system on this airplane controls the landing gear the brakes the wing flaps and the flight controls we have two separate and distinct hydraulic systems just in case one should not function properly in addition to that we have a standby system which is powered electrically so by watching just a few of these instruments i can pretty well follow the basic maneuvers of the airplane that's right bill to go faster we'd advance the throttles like this and you'd see the engine thrust increasing on these instruments you can also observe our airspeed increase on the indicated airspeed that airspeed indicator is something like the uh speedometer in my car then that's right bill to slow down we decrease throttle position you can note the airspeed dk on your instrument also if we want to slow down more quickly we can extend our speed brakes which are on top of the wings by bringing this handle to the rear now notice how quickly your air speed is decaying oh yes what's this instrument here bill that's the gyro horizon it's probably the most important flight instrument on your panel it displays the true relationship of the airplane to the horizon at all times now if we want to climb we'd merely pull the nose up above the horizon like this to descend we'd ease the nose over slightly below the horizon like this i see now if we wanted to turn left we could roll into a 30 degree bank like this now we're in a left turn to make our flight more realistic here in the simulator bill we can talk to the tower and approach control to get navigational weather information and also to get radar vectors since this is a simulated flight the radio operator is sitting outside right in back of us that's right bill let me show you how it works i'm tuning denver approach control now denver approach control united trainer 7271 over the denver vor at 1 1000 requesting vectors for an ios approach to runway two six left at denver go ahead alrighty zero seven zero this animated seven thousand feet later vectors ios two six left approach roger select turn zero seven zero descend two maintain seven we're out of one one thousand and request your present weather please all right united sound two seven one local weather narrative one of the most important functions of the simulator is that the pilot can be trained to cope with any conceivable abnormal situation that might arise during an actual lesson with pilots in training the instructor uses a problem panel by pushing any of these buttons he can produce the actual conditions of any problem situation he wishes 40 flap card coming up cabin pressure controller set we have a firing engine number three silence the bell dawn has called for a simulated engine fire number three throttle idle start lever cut off essential power operating source fire switch pull discharge button push advise approach control request the equipment standing by number one for the approach and the latest denver weather engine fire checklist thrust lever idle start lever cut off cut off essential power selector and operating generator operating generator engine fire switch oh fire warning light remains on bottle discharge switch push light is out and a bottle is discharged checklist completed roger a pumps off if the instructor wants to discuss some of the details of a problem with the pilot right at that moment there's one thing he can do in the simulator that you could never do in an actual flight let me freeze the simulator for a moment we'll discuss this the flight is held right at that point until the problem is cleared up how are you going to get your landing gear down we'll crank it down manually are real good i'll unfreeze you now dan and we'll be on the way you can see why jet simulator training is so valuable in preparing pilots giving them the skills and confidence to handle an actual aircraft without ever leaving the ground we're going to see how this training is put to use when we take a flight on a real 727 jetliner in just a minute what's it like flying one of these huge jets we're going on board this big 727 to watch an actual flight lesson in the air the second officer is completing his ground check of the airplane and our instructor don mcgann is getting on board now with the pilot they've just come from a briefing session and the flight plan has been filed with the tower [Music] this is a regular 727 jetliner the only difference is no passengers are permitted on a training flight except for us today let's go forward [Music] watch [Music] you'll hear don say rotate when the pilot should begin to lift the nose [Music] [Music] we're now leaving the busy area of the denver airport for sure clearance from other aircraft were under radar control an area has been assigned to us where it'll be safe for us to practice our maneuvers in the air check flaps 15. watch the thing there's a warning device to let the pilot know that he may be flying too slowly and approaching a stall it's called the stick shaker because it actually vibrates or shakes the control stick in the pilot's hand checking the stick shaker stick shakers check thank you get a little more power now so she doesn't decelerate so rapidly gear down final descent check final 118 on the right 118 on the left landing gear down hydraulic fluid and pressure checked hydraulic pneumatic cranks normal auto pilot switches disengage checklist completed 25 i'd go right to 40 now flaps 40. what's 40 go backwards [Music] reference speed 110 we're coming back 100 knots take off mark the golf bar flaps 25 watch 25. he's very nice positive rate gear up notice that airspeed decreases the doors come up on this white card the second officer has given the pilot the correct air speed for a safe landing determined by the actual weight of the plane and the current weather conditions [Music] next don mcgahn is going to ask the pilot to fly an ils an instrument approach the hood the pilot has been wearing will be down for this practice approach to a landing so that he can't look out at the ground but can see only the instrument panel in front of us and uh as you cross your 257 you'll be six north so it's a pretty good place to tune your ils [Music] that tiny black line up ahead is the runway that we're going to land on i don't know very nice um 500 down [Music] stand mode your visual air speeds um 500 down slight check and roll roll roll [Music] [Music] okay the pilot was able to handle this 727 jet as skillfully as he did because of the extensive careful training methods we've seen today aviation has come a long way in the past 30 years but what about the next 30 years our modern jets of today which towered over that 1936 stearman biplane may look just as small an old-fashioned by comparison with aircraft now being planned for the future very soon now we'll be seeing the birth of the sst the supersonic jet transport able to fly at speeds faster than sound you can get an idea of the size of the plane by comparing it with the people for crowded airports and smaller cities this vertical takeoff jet transport may be one answer to the problem of congestion it'll be able to rise vertically like a helicopter and then tilt its engines to fly horizontally it's not as far off as you might think the first sst is supposed to be flying by 1970 then you'll be able to fly across the country in one hour coast to coast it promises to be an exciting future we'll be back in just a in minute when the wright brothers made their historic first flight people might have said you were crazy if you predicted jet liners like this flying today but there are no limits really the man's imagination even now the aviation planners are talking about intercontinental rocket transports that will fly at 15 000 miles an hour 10 minutes from new york to los angeles how'd you like to pilot one of those well who knows perhaps you will be sure to join us next week for another exciting discovery program see you then the discovery production units domestic transportation arrangements and production consideration provided by united airlines [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] this has been a jules power production in association with abc news and public [Music] affairs