Presentations from both La Rosa and the JV’s global head of training, instructor pilot Domenic Di Iorio, followed a safety briefing from training manager Colin Davidson that would not have been out of place in a flight department.
Global head of training and instructor pilot Domenic Di Iorio has been with CAE for 42 years. “We were 700 people when I joined, and now we are around 14,000,” he said.
The CAE7000XR simulator is accessed via drawbridge from a balcony; the irony of entering an extraordinary piece of 21st-century technology via a Medieval device was not lost on me. Inside is a small, dark room equipped with an instructor station and two seats. There is a jump seat on the back wall and, when the motion is off, space for perhaps five people to stand. The room narrows towards a perfect replica Phenom 300 cockpit.
With everyone strapped in and motion activated, the experience is immediately immersive, especially in the cockpit. An experienced private pilot, the media colleague who ‘flew’ before me became ‘quite sweaty’ after Di Iorio simulated an engine fire at low level in an Alpine valley. La Rosa took control quickly and smoothly, and his description of the emergency drills as he performed them, along with calm communication with air traffic control (also Di Iorio), was deeply impressive.
La Rosa reconfirmed my lack of piloting experience as I settled in for my turn in the right-hand seat, then declared: “We’re going to recreate the scene where Maverick flies the F-14 onto the carrier so Domenic, reset us to Long Beach.”
The Phenom 300 leapt off the runway; then we were over the ocean, banking left while La Rosa pointed out the aircraft carrier through his cockpit window. “First thing I did for real was a pass over the bow,” he explained as the tiny ship inched closer.
“There’s a tall antenna about two-thirds of the way along the deck. You need to watch that left wingtip doesn’t hit it,” he added as the ship suddenly filled the windshield and we flashed across its bow at 250 knots. “We’re gonna line up for an approach next. I’ll fly one and I want you to fly next.”
The simulator perfectly replicated turbulence caused by its superstructure's wake. “Naval aviators call it ‘burble’,” La Rosa explained as we approached again.
Back on a reciprocal heading, La Rosa handed me controls. With no spare mental capacity for anything professional like confirming control transfer verbally, I managed only grunts while maneuvering through a 180° turn. The controls were surprisingly heavy but responsive like their real counterpart. “You really fly this jet. I like it,” La Rosa enthused.
As USS Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘island’ shot past our window again, La Rosa had me pull into a steep climb to gain altitude before playing on controls to feel how accurately and quickly it responded.
Then Di Iorio set our starboard engine on fire. “I have control!” commanded La Rosa. In my head I confirmed "You have control," but something like 'absolutely' came out instead.
Di Iorio and La Rosa say that simulator faithfully reproduces jet behavior; having experienced it at Burgess Hill facility myself explains why Phenom 300 device bookings are heavy already.
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