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Vance unveils Spatial Disorientation Simulator

By Senior Airman Frank Casciotta, 71st Flying Training Wing Public Affairs / Published July 01, 2015

From the left, Chief Master Sgt. Joseph Powell, the 71st Medical Group superintendent, Col. John Cinnamon, the 71st Operations Group commander, Col. Kirsten Benford, the 71st MDG commander, and Lt. Col. Daniel Loveless, the 71st Medical Operations Squadron commander, cut the ribbon for the Spatial Disorientation Trainer during a ceremony July 1 at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nancy Falcon)

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From the left, Chief Master Sgt. Joseph Powell, the 71st Medical Group superintendent, Col. John Cinnamon, the 71st Operations Group commander, Col. Kirsten Benford, the 71st MDG commander, and Lt. Col. Daniel Loveless, the 71st Medical Operations Squadron commander, cut the ribbon for the Spatial Disorientation Trainer during a ceremony July 1 at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nancy Falcon)

Col. John Cinnamon, the 71st Operations Group commander, visible on the screen to the right, tests Vance’s newest pilot training tool, a Spatial Disorientation Trainer, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 1 in Building 826, Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The simulator costs $1.2 million and mimics the feeling of flying a T-6A Texan II. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nancy Falcon)

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Col. John Cinnamon, the 71st Operations Group commander, visible on the screen to the right, tests Vance’s newest pilot training tool, a Spatial Disorientation Trainer, after a ribbon-cutting ceremony July 1 in Building 826, Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. The simulator costs $1.2 million and mimics the feeling of flying a T-6A Texan II. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Nancy Falcon)

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VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- A new $1.2 million pilot-training tool was revealed during a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Aerospace Physiology July 1.

The Spatial Disorientation Trainer is designed to mimic what it feels like to fly in a T-6A Texan II, which every student pilot will do here.

Students will be able to practice 22 maneuvers that are programed into the system to help prepare them for the real-world spatial disorientation that they will face when taking to the skies.