The Link Trainer: An Uncommanded Roll Gets Our Author's Attention

The Link Trainer: An Uncommanded Roll Gets Our Author’s Attention

Meg Godlewski

Friday, September 16, 2022 at 05:38 PM ET

Verified

The 1940s-era Link Trainer was used by thousands of pilot trainees. [Photo: Meg Godlewski]

Key Takeaways:

The article details the author's experience flying a recently restored Link Trainer, an iconic WWII-era mechanical flight simulator providing pitch, yaw, and roll.
The Link Trainer's primitive instrument layout and mechanical controls presented a challenging and unfamiliar instrument scan, even for an experienced pilot used to modern simulators.
Unlike contemporary digital flight simulators, the Link operates on vacuum tubes and mechanical systems, offering a distinct and historically accurate simulation experience.
The author's session in the restored trainer was cut short due to a mechanical failure (a broken yaw belt), highlighting the unique maintenance challenges of vintage aviation equipment.

See a mistake? Contact us.

I have logged in excess of 3,000 hours in a Redbird FMX Advanced Aviation Training Device. These are the devices that are mounted on cradles that provide the unit with pitch, yaw, and roll. One of the biggest surprises for the trainees who have been “flying” using the Microsoft Flight Simulator program and then try to fly the FMX is how quickly their instrument scan and aircraft control goes askance when the dimension of movement is added to the equation.

I was thinking about this yesterday when I climbed into a Link Trainer at the Museum of Flight Restoration Center at Snohomish County Airport/Paine Field (KPAE). For the unfamiliar, the Link Trainer was designed in the 1920s by Edwin Link of Binghamton, New York. During World War II, Link trainers were used extensively to train pilots to fly by instruments.