Monday, February 26, 2001
The aerospace department is enjoying the return of its cockpit procedure trainer back from nearly two years of updates.
The work, performed by ALH Systems, included replacing the old switchboard, full of knobs and switches, with a computer that simulates emergency situations. It is a replica of a Boeing 727 cockpit, with two pilot seats and a flight engineer’s position.
According to Gail Zlotky, aerospace professor, the update was feasible because of a grant and a donation of almost $100,000 from a private donor, to help with the total cost of just over $400,000.
“It’s a really valuable tool for us now, and it specifically targets the flight engineer’s position,” said Paul Craig, interim chair of the aerospace department.
“We brought that old airplane’s cockpit and instrumentation up to at least the ‘90s,” Craig said.
Craig said the CPT will soon allow aerospace students to receive their flight engineer rating while in school. He said that allowing students to have this training gives them an advantage over other applicants for a flight engineer’s position because the airline would not have to incur the additional cost of training for the position.
Craig said the CPT is not in full use yet and will have to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration before it can be used to certify students.
“It is our hope that in less than a year [we’ll] be able to [offer] those ratings in addition to what we [already] offer in the aerospace department,” Craig said.
Craig noted that the university does not have any flight simulators because they are able to do actual in-the-air training, but that a CPT allows for training that cannot be performed in the air.
“While they’re here in school, there are other things that you can do with simulation that’s even more important to us, which is to simulate emergencies,” Craig said.
Zlotky coordinated this project and was responsible for initially bringing the CPT to MTSU. It was donated to the university by American Airlines in 1997.
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