European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Short subject two f/a-18 fighters return to the aircraft proving ground at Nas a Tuxen River. National geographic test to by Donaldj. Frederick National geographic avy test Pilot Lori Tanner says the russian Mig-21 fighter is a real Gas guzzler. She Speaks from personal experience. It. Tanner a graduate of the Navy s test Pilot school has put 40 different aircraft including the Mig through their paces at the a Tuxen River naval air station my As a student test Pilot and instructor. The two things i really love Are the academics and the versatile flying she said being Able to Combine them is a lot More challenging than just going but and operating an aircraft in the  the 70 pilots and flight engineers who graduate from the school each year endure a grueling regimen of study report writing and flying. After finishing they usually stay on for two or three years testing new aircraft and systems at the a Tuxen River. This hard working no nonsense approach typifies the attitude of most test pilots today. Cone Are the Days when partying go for broke pilots mane Vered winged cylinders around the sky in search of new Speed and Altitude records. We re getting away from the Guys that Light their hair on fire and go running around at the Speed of heat seeing where the edges of the envelope Are said it. Cmdr. Mike Landman an instructor. Just off the flight line Marine maj. Travis m. Allen a student was looking Forward to his coming two week break from a Tuxen s study grind. We were going really hard and i was working seven Days a week 18 hours a Day trying to get All the Classwork and reports done and still do the flying u said. All of Allen s classmates were he experienced pilots or flight engineers before they arrived. Many officers enter the Center with advanced engineering degrees. All Are comfortable with computers. Probably 85 percent of the testing around Here nowadays involves systems that is evaluation of the computer electronics and programming systems that the aircraft is carrying As opposed to the vehicle itself said Robertr. Richards the chief instructor. Changing a single sensor in a computerized flight control device can require extensive test flights to see How it affects a plane s performance. The explosion in airborne technology makes the ground based engineers who plan a flight almost As important As the pilots. Monitors on the ground show Pilot s and plane s every move even recording the position of switches in the cockpit. Sensors Send Back vital information such As which Way the plane is pointing during critical Maneu vers. The data is recorded on an optical disc similar to the compact disc that you play on your stereo at Home said capt. Joseph w. Dyer director of flight test and engineering at a Tuxen River. Engineers used to wait two weeks for important information from a test flight. Now they immediately have it at their  but the High tech tools available today Don t Awe pioneering test pilots such As the late Milt Thompson. After his flying Days he became chief Engineer at the National aeronautics and up acc administration Dryden National geographic flight research facility this russian Mig-21 is among the 40 different types of Thompson who evaluated the rocket powered x-15 experimental plane had lots of Freedom. We were Remote from Headquarters so we were Able to get away with things that they did t know about. I had More fun than the pilots do now he said shortly before his death last year. The machines in those Days exacted a Price. Pilot fatalities were common. With the x-15, we were exploring Thompson said. We really did t know quite what to expect so we got into some pretty hairy situations which you Don t see quite As much  still test pilots of All Ages agree that danger remains the one constant in their profession. Edward Schneider a a Tuxen graduate who eventually left the Navy to test aircraft at Dryden mused the six test pilots in this office realize every Day that we Are probably the Only people Here who can be killed doing their Job. That s always going to be with us no matter How sophisticated air planes  virtual reality May transform War games Byng Ccook Jane s defence weekly soldiers May soon be Able to train for combat by donning headsets goggles with tiny screens that display interactive graphics headphones with three dimensional Battle sounds and electronic gloves with sensors that transmit hand motions to a computer. Virtual reality already has a big stake in the commercial marketplace with video games High tech amusement Park rides and most recently personal dream Analysers. Its successes have attracted military officials who would like to update their training simulators. I  simulators used for teaching ship navigators fighter pilots and Battlefield commanders have been used for decades. But most of them derived from 1940s-Era technology Are based in a dome or pod that is decked out with real equipment for a cockpit ship s Bridge or military command in Edwards Calif. Aircraft Navy it Lori Tanner has flown. The user sits in front of a to screen or computer terminal and observe the action say enemy missiles approaching As if looking through a window. In the new virtual reality systems the cockpit or Battlefield exists strictly in the Headset and computer. " .-.". "today.,. We can do it at Low Cost and make it reconfigurable. And because it s in a Headset rather than a dome it s fully portable says Pierre Dupont director of marketing at a British firm called division. Founded less than five years ago division has already attracted research and development funds from Britain s ministry of defense and the Pentagon. For tank Crew training division has persuaded the . Military to examine a helmet system that immerses a Soldier in a combat zone. To be sure Early research has shown that the Headset does remove some of the realism. As yet Many of the head mounted displays have poor image Resolution and distorted sound Quality. But More sophisticated technology is Only a few years away Many engineers insist now the dutch to physics and electronics Laboratory is working yith division to make a prototype virtual environment Complete with moving targets for the stinger shoulder launched anti aircraft missile. One Likely client is the German ministry of defense Dupont says. Another program the defense simulation internet is being developed As a global integrated network for troops across Europe and the United states to participate in a virtual reality War. The . Air Force s virtual cockpit a More advanced system has raised challenges in the area of Man machine  How for instance do you Supply a sense of touch to a Pilot whose Only props Are a virtual reality helmet linked to an interactive Glove still analysts predict this cockpit device will come into widespread use for combat pilots bythe year 2025. Among other players in the virtual reality Market Are Sega enterprises Ltd and Paramount pictures As Well As tiny firms such As i video systems of Peekskill . Last july Sega agreed to License Martin Marietta corp s military combat imaging hardware and the training software that is used to run ground War and flight simulators. One of its goal is to produce a commercial multiplayer tank Battle game. 22 the stars and stripes wednesday april 20/1994