As a member of the elite team of test pilots who will complete the first F-35 flight trials with HMS Queen Elizabeth, Commander Nath Gray is one of a number of pilots who has used the facility and this month completed the latest set of simulator trials at the Company’s site in Warton, Lancashire.

The F-35/QEC Integration Simulator facility replicates both the cockpit of the F-35 and the flying control tower (FLYCO) on board HMS Queen Elizabeth. Providing a complete 360-degree immersive experience for pilots, it has been used to simulate thousands of take offs and landings, ahead of HMS Queen Elizabeth crossing the Atlantic to the US, to ensure that the real-life flight trials are as safe and effective as possible.

The simulator applies highly specialised computational engineering to model the air wake of the ship, which is the way air moves around and behind the carrier and flight deck, to replicate the motions that F-35 pilots will feel in real life.

Commander Gray said: “The facility is unique in providing the most realistic environment and conditions that I’ve ever experienced in a simulator. The flying qualities, aircraft handling, air wakes and way the ship rolls are as real as it gets.

“Being able to experience both the F-35 and Queen Elizabeth Class FLYCO together is crucial in allowing us to successfully take that next step in bringing together a brand new aircraft carrier with a brand new aircraft in First of Class Flight Trials.”

Over the past 18 months, pilots and Landing Signal Officers have used the simulator to develop the way the future Royal Navy will operate for generations to come.

BAE Systems engineers will be among those conducting the flight trials, which will be undertaken by a team of UK pilots including Commander Gray and Peter ‘Wizzer’ Wilson, BAE Systems test pilot and Short Take-Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) lead for the F-35 programme.

Release BAE Systems
Photo Marcel van Leeuwen