WHEATFIELD, N.Y. (WIVB) - An aircraft that was part of many ventures into the final frontier is leaving western New York for it's spot in history.
It's a retirement party for Calspan's Total In-flight Simulator in Wheatfield. It's the oldest active Air Force plane.
This flight simulator has two cockpits, one on top for the real pilot, and one down below for the test pilot. Unlike ground-based flight simulators, this one gave test pilots an authentic airborne experience.
Calspan Corporation President Lou Knotts said, "The reason we do in flight simulation or airborne simulation is so you can get the full flight environment, the full accelerations, the real visual world, the real the real stresses associated with being airborne."
The Convair-580 turbo-prop aircraft was built in 1955 and has been used by Calspan since the late '60s. It simulated the movements of future aircraft that were still on the drawing boards and not even invented yet. In the past 40 years, it's flown more than 2500 research flights. It's been used to train pilots on the B-1 and B-2 bombers, and some of the original space shuttle astronauts.
First Program Manager Philip Reynolds said, "They didn't actually come to Buffalo, but we went to them at Edwards Air Force Base. So they could actually land this thing the same way as they did the space shuttle." Past and current employees and other aviation experts came out to say goodbye. Posing for a final picture, and recalling what this aircraft meant to aviation and aerospace history.
Max Bennett (Ira G. Ross Aerospace Museum) said, "It's a shame to lose it but I guess it's program is gone and it's day is passed."
Former Calspan employee Jack Beilman said, "Sad to see anything especially with the lifetime of memories and all of the people that have been involved with it all of its life."
NASA now has its own simulators. And many of the new planes on the drawing board are unmanned aircraft. So the plane is off again, heading to its permanent home in the museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio.
Link: http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/Aircraft_leaves_for_spot_in_h