THE GLORIFIED LINK: FLIGHT SIMULATION AND REFORM IN AIR FORCE UNDERGRADUATE PILOT TRAINING, 1967-1980

Flying is the act of a human circumscribed by a technology. Training pilots thus poses both social and technical requirements. This study examines official correspondence, staff and technical reports, journal articles, and official histories, correlated with interviews, to determine the manner in which the Unites States Air Force confronted technical and social reform during the 1970s in its Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) program. The model for social reform was the Systems Approach to Training, while flight simulation emerged as its technical counterpart. Early in the decade commercial airlines had used both the systems approach and flight simulators to conduct a large portion of crew training synthetically on the ground, as opposed to the traditional method of using aircraft. Responding to a number of imperatives that included obsolescence of equipment, shortages in fuel, and a projected crisis in the number of available airframes, Air Force planners attempted to substitute simulator missions for nearly 20% of the aircraft sorties in the UPT syllabus. The scientific research applied to the selection of simulation hardware and its intended use in the training system was ill timed and informed by a strong bias toward proving the efficacy of substitution and the economy of computer image generators. Fascination with technology distracted both Air Force decision makers and their scientific research community from resolution of some of the more essential behavioral issues at stake in training pilots, while attempts to institute individualized training foundered on social conservatism. Planners gave considerable attention to technical factors but were largely insensitive to the psycho-social adaptation demanded by the new machines and the accompanying philosophy of training. As a result, the new technology forced inordinate concessions from the people engaged by the training system to ensure that graduating pilots would continue to appear imbued with the requisite skills.