The very short version, pilots will utilise simulators a LOT more than with previous aircraft such as Tornado.

Yep, hardly a new concept and it must have been an interesting exercise on an aircraft as demanding as an F-8, especially against a carrier. In the wartime environment the first Spitfire sortie could not have been easy either.

Time and technology have made the absence of a trainer variant a bit of a non-event but the F-35B in UK service will have its own challenges beyond initial conversion. The plan is for a serious percentage of day-to-day training will be conducted in the simulator rather than an aircraft. There are some technical and operational security reasons for extra sim time but the UK is also looking to save money by flying the aircraft as infrequently as possible.

There are risks with this, especially on the engineering and logistics side, as it is easy to call an aircraft serviceable when it does not do a trip. We may find that our first stressing of a fleet will come during war fighting and the true answer to our latent capability may be vapourware. It also makes nonsense of on-the-job training for frontline technicians and we have examples from other fleets where trade groups could do multiple tours without ever doing their primary role (eg sooties that have never attempted an engine change). It also makes keeping manning levels at the correct level for ops challenging when workload is so low in peacetime.

On the pilot side the long-term effect on air skills with so little non-synthetic flying is not fully understood. Some of us question the potential skill-fade several years down the line from flying training. Quite a few more of us have questioned the retention factor if we only give pilots single-digit hours per month whilst drowning them in sims and assorted ground trivia.

I hear everything you’re saying. My honestly held belief is that F35 would make a much better second tour than a first.

As a JP straight out of training I would be very excited to get my hands on a brand new F35. However, for various reasons (airmanship, experience and knowledge amongst others) I think guys would be much better placed to have a tour under their belt before they transition to the limited flying on offer on an F35 squadron.

This is not a policy I have heard of, but simply the educated opinion of a QFI.

BV

Quite a few good, accurate points made here by JTO et al. Perhaps I can add a bit more. If the recently graduated first UK ab initio course are anything to go by, they completed it to a very high standard and weren’t phased at all by the (almost) equal ratio of live and synthetic flying. The F35 simulator is very immersive and, to quote one student pilot: “first solo was fantastic and a bit of a non-event as it felt exactly like this simulator I did beforehand!” It’s a low risk and low cost way of getting people trained to a high standard.

Yes people joined to fly jets - and they absolutely will fly a good amount in F35 too - but much of the tactical sharpening of pilots is best served in the Sim where serious threat systems can be pitched against our tactics, techniques and procedures. It also allows pilots to gain confidence in the whole system’s capability.

It’s a different approach, that’s all. So far the feedback is wholly positive but we can veer and haul with learned experience.

Perhaps someone in the know can tighten me up - but when we did a study into the hours, both in the simulator and aircraft, for which we had budgeted for the F-35 pilots - it was borderline whether they’d actually be able to use them all if each and every trip benefited from a decent mission planning cycle.

Of course, some will contend that some hours should fall into the ‘simply slip the surly bonds’ category or indeed the ‘pitch up at sim with no AEA and run through some emergencies’ bucket...FWIW I disagree!

Orca,
I agree. The manufacturers can build the most capable sims in the world but the hours in them are only any use if the aircrew put the same effort into the plan / brief / fly / debrief cycle that they would with live flying. My experience in the sim world was that this was not always the case. Good luck to the F35 people in using sims differently.

Maybe a wondeful old cloth bomber was too tricky for a VForce Skygod

Orca, you’re right. However, there is a simple issue with taking all your AEA to the sim. The helmet/visual implementation is different so you wouldn’t take the bone dome. I pretty much agree with the rest though: Mission plan, brief , execute and debrief as-real time.

or maybe an Anson.