Royal Aircraft Establishment and Harrier Test pilot John Farley first got into a flight simulator in 1958. In this entertaining lecture, he draws on stories throughout his career to share his view on the ways simulators should be used for both research and pilot training and the qualities that make a good simulator. In the context of research, he suggests there are parallels between the raw data produced from simulation and the raw data measured in wind tunnels and why, in his view, there are two types of simulator pilots which researchers need to bear in mind when considering the data they obtain from piloted experiments.

To illustrate his points, Farley draws on stories from the early development of V/STOL simulators, the use of flight simulators at the Empire Test Pilots School and RAE Bedford, including Bedford’s simulations that prepared them for the delivery of Handley Page HP.115 and a memorable experience of flying an A380 simulator at Toulouse.

John Farley gave the Royal Aeronautical Society’s 2011 Edwin A. Link Memorial Lecture, organised by the RAeS Flight Simulation Group, on 8 June 2011. The lecture was introduced by Gordon Woolley FRAeS and the podcast was edited by Eur Ing Mike Stanberry FRAeS.