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View Full Version : Did Ansett or TAA have an F27 simulator


A37575
31st Mar 2017, 12:50
Historical Aviation Question: Does anyone know if TAA or Ansett operated a F27 Fokker Friendship flight simulator in the 1970's?

angry ant
31st Mar 2017, 14:10
I can only comment on Ansett, No we did not have ,"Twenty Ton Dog Whistle" Simulator.

We had a Flight Deck Mock Up, used for check list & scan procedures.

I am fairly sure TAA didn't have one.

Apinun,

Angry Ant

megan
31st Mar 2017, 14:41
Keith Hants had a fixed base simulator at Essendon which he said was an old Constellation sim converted to F-27 (about 1978). Don't know its source.

ZFT
31st Mar 2017, 17:19
Was it ANZ that sold an F27 FFS on to Merpati around this time?

dhavillandpilot
31st Mar 2017, 21:22
Ansett had a procedures one at Mascot run by a redline gentleman called Jacques d' Stephanie

I remember I got to use it on the QT around 1975 thru to 76

john_tullamarine
31st Mar 2017, 22:23
There was a Redifon (?) unit rigged up a bit like an F27 at MEL. Never liked it .. preferred the Link.

Stationair8
31st Mar 2017, 22:33
Didn't TAA use the night freighter out of Tulla for asymmetric practice back in the day?

john_tullamarine
1st Apr 2017, 04:20
use the night freighter out of Tulla for asymmetric practice back in the day?

In the olden days, external pressures led to the odd pragmatic, if somewhat naughty, work around.

My last airline propjet endorsement, for instance, was ALL done at night as there were no aircraft available during the day over the week or so involved ...

I shudder to think what the investigation would have had to say about all the chaps who were waiting their turn in the seat .. hanging on to the available cockpit seats to observe the first up bunnies doing their bit ...

zlin77
1st Apr 2017, 04:46
I did my F27 conversion in 1984, East-West Airlines used the Air New Zealand facilities in Auckland at that time, no FFS in OZ..

Three Wire
1st Apr 2017, 05:23
TAA had a home made fixed base F27 sim. I did an assessment in it in 1980.

bolthead
1st Apr 2017, 05:47
Did some simulator time with Ken Felton ( spelling?? - great guy ) at Essendon Airport about 10 to 15 years ago. It was like one of those old Link trainers where you sat in the little capsule. I'm pretty sure he said it was an old F27 trainer.

john_tullamarine
1st Apr 2017, 06:28
Ken Fenton .. lovely bloke .. lived up the road from where I lived at the time ..

Ken, post loss of medical in the UK, got a job as a link instructor with AN. I learned all my initial instructional distraction techniques from him when I joined AN. Took a while to work out why he ALWAYS engaged the student in conversation or proffered a coffee .. just as a radial needed to be intercepted, height captured, whatever ... in fact, all the AN link chaps were superb instructors and the learning curve always was kept fairly steep to maximise benefit for time. Pre-deregulation, both AN and TN overtrained and the line results showed.

Scratching the memory cells a bit, as I recall, Ken did set up at EN after his stint with AN and used an ex-AN box. They were never setup to resemble the Mouse, rather a basic I/F trainer and great value to the student. As they were the basic induction training for the Mouse, he would, no doubt, have referred to his box as the F27 trainer.

Lost touch with Ken when I was working O/S and have no idea where he retired to, but guess northern Victoria. His daughter flew for AN for some years during its latter period.

There was a tie up with Keith Hants at EN although I can't recall any details for the life of me.

KeepItRolling
1st Apr 2017, 06:37
I could never trim the Link to fly straight and level, mentioned this to Father (an AN captain at the time) who scoffed at the very idea of being able to do so.

" Forced you to scan more didn't it"

To Ken Fenton and the other sim instructors in the sim centre at tge time I owe more than I can ever possibly repay.

john_tullamarine
1st Apr 2017, 06:40
I could never trim the Link to fly straight and level,

I can't recall if the link had any trims ... if it did, one certainly didn't waste time using them. The idea of the box was to make the student work .. and a solid session was measured in how sweaty the shirt was when one got out of the box at the end ..

KeepItRolling
1st Apr 2017, 06:55
I could never trim the Link to fly straight and level,

I can't recall if the link had any trims ... if it did, one certainly didn't waste time using them. The idea of the box was to make the student work .. and a solid session was measured in how sweaty the shirt was when one got out of the box at the end ..

Mission accomplished.

megan
1st Apr 2017, 15:09
a solid session was measured in how sweaty the shirt was when one got out of the boxNot at all helped by Keith banging on the side of the link (thunderstorm?) and blowing cigarette smoke in through the vent (fire?).

john_tullamarine
1st Apr 2017, 23:18
Keith was a top bloke ... the epitome of the laid back, eyes over the glasses' rim, Commander. I guess it all goes back to the matches trick in "Fate is the Hunter".

megan
2nd Apr 2017, 03:35
Keith was a top blokeThat he was JT, and a good yarn spinner to we young blokes. A gentlemans Gentleman.

Exaviator
3rd Apr 2017, 22:03
I joined TAA in 1963 and the F.27 was my first aircraft type. They did not have a F.27 simulator. The type rating course consisted of three weeks of classroom instruction, suplimented by manuals and poster size cockpit pictures and diagrams. All flight training was done in the aircraft.

They did have an ex Qantas Super Connie procedures trainer which was used soley for I.F. training and checks.

LeadSled
6th Apr 2017, 08:35
Folks,
In the '60s, Qantas had one Link D4 with an F-27 panel at SKSA, it was set up for and used by the Airlines of NSW folks, really "sophisticated" compared to the other three (2? -it's a long time ago) D-4s in the same room.
Tootle pip!!

Givelda
7th Apr 2017, 03:53
When I started in 1980, TAA had a "live" procedures trainer at the aircraft type engineering building at Tullamarine that comprised the cockpit instrument panels for practicing drills and engine starts.
Probably not true, but it was rumoured that some of it and other various air-frame bits and pieces used for demonstration during the course, came from the unfortunate crash at Mackay.
We were then given "synthetic flight training" in the "Constellation" procedures trainer at Essendon as mentioned above. I remember that the left side was set up with a panel similar to that on the jets - the old Colins Flight Director, etc., while the right side was set up as per the Mark 1 F-27, including the dreaded C2 compass.
In addition, in Brisbane, we had a Link Trainer ran by George, a charming guy who use to watch us make crazy patterns on his big plot board every six months. I think it was initially some sort of a military link trainer based on the Vampire or suchlike because, George made us fly it with the speed brake out to keep the speed down to F-27 numbers. Usually, he fell asleep during our IR Test, so we would slip the speed brake in, accelerate to 360 kts or any other number divisible by 6 and do our DME homings and the NDB to save a bit of time.
I guess when the F-27 left the fleet a few years later they were disposed of.