Archived News |

Sept. 27, 2002

Three New State-Of-The-Art Flight Simulators Now Part Of ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù's Aviation Department

The University of Louisiana at Monroe now houses three new Motusâ„¢ full-motion flight simulators in the Department of Aviation. The equipment includes a single-engine piston, twin-engine piston and twin-engine turboprop flight simulator, located in the newly constructed William T. Hemphill Airway and Computer Science Building on the ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù campus.

²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù is the first university flight program in the nation to be based predominately on motion-based simulators. These simulators are part of a Federal Grant for the Airways and Computer Sciences Building, with half of the grant from Federal and half from state matching funds. This grant funded building, furniture, an agriculture simulator and these three new simulators.

"We are delighted to be getting three of Fidelity's Motusâ„¢ simulators. I'm stunned by how wonderful they are. A full motion simulator provides motion cues to a training environment that can only be improved upon by actually flying in the airplane. These new simulators will give us the tools to grow our department not only for ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù students, but for continuing education students as well," says Paul Karlowitz, Interim Head, Department of Aviation at ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù. "It's my hope that prospective students will see the commitment we have in providing them a top quality aviation education utilizing our new facilities and these state-of-the-art simulators. We will turn out not only well trained pilots, but safer pilots thanks to these new simulators."

As with all Motusâ„¢ flight simulators, Fidelity will also provide the Laminar Research aerodynamic modeling software. This software allows ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù students and faculty to perform aerodynamic engineering in Laminar's Virtual Wind Tunnel, providing almost infinite control of fuselage, power plant, airfoil, appendage, and panel specifications. These designs can then be loaded into the Motusâ„¢ flight simulator to experience, first hand, the changes in flight characteristics. This Virtual Wind Tunnel capability is an important added value for ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù.

There are other additions ahead for the Department of Aviation at ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù. The department is in the process of ordering nearly $200,000.worth of multi-media equipment for their classrooms. The equipment will consist of overhead mounted multimedia projectors for Power Point, DVD, VHS, Internet, and other related presentations. These will be projected to a large electrically operated movie screen. Also, the aviation auditorium will be receiving a similar system, but will be "theater quality" in presentation. Each classroom will be equipped with speakers as required. The department is also acquiring three portable multi-media systems that will interface with a 72" "white board", which will allow instructors to draw directly onto the board and save to computer or send to students. There are many other features as well. Aviation will also boast a portable 50" flat High Resolution Plasma Screen and other equipment that will show DVD and VHS.

The University of Louisiana at Monroe offers a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aviation, including Airline Flight officer, Aviation Administrator, and Airway Science Management specialty programs, as well as a non-specialty program which can be customized to fit the student's needs.

For more information, call Paul Karlowitz, Interim Head, Department of Aviation at 318-342-1780 or at karlowitz@ulm.edu.

PLEASE NOTE: Some links and e-mail addresses in these archived news stories may no longer work, and some content may include events which are no longer relevent, or reference individuals and/or organizations no longer associated with ²»Á¼Ñо¿Ëù.