The Link Trainer part of our course, some 25 years after Cliff, consisted mainly of waiting until the so-called instructor (usually another course mate) either fell asleep or got too engrossed in his comic book to notice, and then attempting to 'walk' the 'crab' off the edge of the table, which could be a spectcularly noisy affair.
I can still hear the wheeze of the pneumatics as the beast manoeuvred and recall that first wobble 'n' wheeze as the locks were released.
Ansett was still using them for DME homing training etc into the 80's.