Mission essential -- Mike Rich 71st Student Squadron

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Frank Casciotta
  • 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  Mike Rich is a T-1 Jawhawk simulator instructor for the 71st Student Squadron.

The flight simulators here are like advanced video games. Students sit in a cockpit facing a screen instead of a window with all the same controls as an actual aircraft. The simulators have the entire city of Enid, Okla., programmed into them.

Each week, Rich spends 20 to 25 hours in a T-1 simulator creating different weather patterns, engine failures and other complications for students to overcome during simulated flights.

Each student must complete 53.6 hours of training in T-1 simulators. Students spend five hours at a time in the simulators during undergraduate pilot training.

"The simulators allow us to prepare (students) for malfunctions and challenges without real risk," said Rich. "This approach still prepares and teaches them how to handle whatever they may face in real-world situations."

Student pilots take to the virtual skies to practice each mission before taking on the gusty Oklahoma skies.

"We preface actual missions with simulations to give students the greatest chance at success," said Rich. "There is no replacement for them actually flying. But, it does do a lot to prepare them."

When he's not in the simulator, Rich teaches the academic portion of T-1 training. Each student endures 142 hours of academics once they start T-1 training.

Simulator instructors enrich all three pillars of the Vance mission by training student pilots. They accomplish the mission by developing professional Airmen, delivering world class pilots and deploying combat ready warriors.