Simulators re-create crash on desktop

By DAVE GUSSOW Times Technology Editor

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 22, 1999

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After John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane crashed off Martha's Vineyard, some people who shared his passion for flying turned to their computers to try to understand what went wrong.

Assisting them in their quest was flight simulation software sophisticated enough to be used in pilot training classes and available in retail stores for home use.

"They learn all about the instruments and elements of flight before getting in a plane," said Robert MacKay, president of MicroWINGS, the International Association of Aerospace Simulators (http://www.microwings.com). "They know even before they get into a plane what happens in flight."

MacKay and others say the image of flight simulator software as just games is wrong. MacKay's Dallas-based group claims 5,000 members, about a third of them licensed pilots.

"I used to use them to teach," said St. Petersburg police Lt. Wes Kenly, a former flight instructor and a part-time commercial pilot. "They cut learning time in half because they're that accurate."

The Kennedy tragedy had some software users re-creating the flight path from New Jersey to Martha's Vineyard, down to the weather conditions and time of day. One of those was Bill Doniel, public information officer for the St. Petersburg police and a crew chief who flew in Vietnam. He's still an aviation enthusiast and uses Pro Pilot by Dynamix on his home computer.

"I have a much greater appreciation for what professional pilots do," said Doniel, who said the software gave him a better idea of how Kennedy could have become disoriented over the water.

While the software can't duplicate the actual feeling of flying, everything else, including instrument panels with needles moving on the gauges, is accurate. Some people shared their virtual experiences of re-creating the Kennedy flight online.

One writer whose plane "crashed" thought it might have been an incorrect autopilot setting, piquing the interest of another to try it on his software.

Sarita Churchill, public relations manager for Dynamix (http://www.sierra.com/dynamix), which makes Pro Pilot, emphasized its use as a teaching tool and pointed out that the National Association of Flight Instructors worked with the company on the software.

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