The Marine Corps’ top general for aviation said he expects pilots learning to fly the F-35 will spend an increased amount of time in simulators to master its complicated systems and weapons, while time spent in the air won’t be much different than it has for other aircraft.
Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle, the deputy commandant for aviation, told a gathering yesterday that pilots are increasingly having to focus more on weapons and other systems employed by the aircraft as technology has made actual flying easier.
“Pilots spend more time heads down in the airplane than we ever have before,” Schmidle said at a speaking engagement hosted by Center for Strategic & International Studies.
He said he anticipates monthly flight training hours will remain around where they currently are –in the mid-teens–but there will be an increase in simulators so when pilots are on sorties they will already know how to operate the systems. The Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-35B, features a short take-off and vertical landing capability so it can operate off amphibious ships.
Schmidle said simulators will play a critical role also because some of the F-35 weapons are classified and shouldn’t be seen at testing grounds, and their ranges are too distant to be accommodated by some testing ranges.