(Image: John Bezosky Jr. – Twitter @jbezosky)
F-117A Nighthawk (or Stinkbug to some) training was unlike normal military fast jet training for a variety of reasons. For one thing, the Stealth Fighter originated as a black project and even its pilots had no idea what they would be flying until several months into the training program.
Pilots selected for ‘Bandit training‘ were already experienced aircrew, which was critical because the F-117 had only one seat and no trainer version of the aircraft was ever built. Future Bandits joining the 4450th Tactical Group first qualified on the ageing A-7 Corsair (and later the AT-38), before graduating to F-117 ground school at the Tonopah Test Range Airport or Holloman AFB in New Mexico.
It was during this phase that pilots underwent rigorous academic and procedural training, part of which was carried out in the cockpit procedures trainer (CPT), shown above.
A significant amount of time was spent in the F-117 cockpit procedures trainer, learning where the different switches were housed and the sequence in which they should be operated. If all went well, student pilots could then advance to the Nighthawk simulator – a high tech, highly classified piece of equipment built by CAE-Link Corp. in Binghamton, NY – before even being permitted to taxi a real Black Jet for the first time.
(Image: USAF, public domain)
This cockpit procedures trainer was housed at Holloman AFB for many years. It is now on display at the nearby New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo, a town that was home to a number of F-117 crew over the years. It’s interesting to note that the CPT is fitted with a stealthy, saw-tooth canopy – a minor detail for a ground trainer, perhaps, but nevertheless one that was absent from the early YF-117 full scale development aircraft (like the one above), when they first took to the air.
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