The NASA 747-400 Flight Simulator: A National Resource for Aviation Safety

This paper describes the NASA Ames Research Center's Current Technology Glass Cockpit Flight Training Simulator located at Moffett Field, California. This unique simulator is used to conduct aviation human factors and airspace operations research. The simulator is an exact replica of a cockpit of one of the most sophisticated and advanced airplanes flying in the world today. Although the simulator replicates a typical flight training simulator, it has unique research capabilities above and beyond the normal training simulator that is used to train today's airline pilots. This paper will describe the NASA simulator and it's advanced features, including it's unique research capabilities. It will also describe some of the research that has been conducted in the cab since its installation, and will also review some of the upgrades that are currently in progress, or will be conducted in the not