By Lindsay Hughes | July 27, 2012 Estimated reading time 4 minutes, 16 seconds.
The 2012 Webster Memorial Trophy Competition is fast approaching, with only a few weeks to go until finalists from across Canada arrive in Ottawa at the Rockcliffe Flying Club. This year, the competition has undergone a transformation. Finalists will be treated to a new flight test program, incorporating the introduction of Redbird flight simulators.
“We’ve been talking about doing this for many years. One of our primary concerns is weather; it can spoil flying capabilities for two or three days,” said Wayne Foy, Webster Memorial Trophy Competition director. “This often leaves us with a very small opportunity to do the majority of the exercises we’d like to perform in the flying portion of the competition.”
In previous years, competition representatives and inspectors from Transport Canada have implemented a bad weather flight test when a standard flight test was deemed unsafe due to weather. The modified test, however, does not allow finalists to leave the circuit and therefore does not deliver an adequate representation of their abilities. The introduction of simulators to the competition will address that problem. All competitors will now be able to demonstrate their flying skills, whether there is a thunderstorm overhead or not.
Redbird Flight Simulations, based in Austin, Texas, has signed on to support the Webster Competition. The American company will send a simulator to the competition every year, if one of their own is not available at the host school. The partnership will provide consistency from year to year in the simulator portion of the testing program. This year, the finalists will be using a sim located at the Canadian Aviation Space Museum, with a backup available at the Rockcliffe Flying Club.
“Redbird is designing a specific program for this year’s competition. Taking into consideration the exercises we want to do on the simulator, they’re setting up the program so they can fit in all the different aircraft types that our competitors wish to fly,” said Foy. “It’ll be just like a disc you put in your computer; you pop it into the simulator and it sets up the program, and will co-ordinate with the type of aircraft the finalist wishes to fly. It’s a very sophisticated and unique opportunity to use the simulator in the competition.”
The introduction of simulators plays into a broader objective to modernize the competition, and aligns with industry teaching standards that often include simulator training and testing. Changes will also be made this year to the flying portion, which until now was essentially a repeat of a private pilot flight test.
“Since 1932 the flight test has basically been the same and it’s been understood by us for quite a number of years now that we’re going to have to update or modernize the national level of the competition,” said Foy. “We’re not only doing this by bringing in the simulators, but we’re getting away from the typical flying exercises that we’d do in a private or commercial flight test, and we’re now starting to bring in new, innovative challenges.”
Finalists are now studying two flight test guides that outline the exercises they will perform in Ottawa. The guides provide detailed descriptions of both simulator and flight testing. New challenges include a spotlighting contest and precision flying exercises.
Finalists will meet in Ottawa from August 15-18, where one will be named the Top Amateur Pilot in Canada.
