29/05/2026
T-7 Simulator Blurs the Lines Between Live and Virtual Flying (*feature story).
When the first T-7A Red Hawk touched down here in late December, senior leaders celebrated a major step forward in the future of United States Air Force pilot training. Sleek, and eye-catching with their red tails, the first two jets look the part.
Not far away, in a nondescript building with antennas rising above, a key part of that future is taking shape: The T-7’s Ground-Based System is taking shape. Designed to bridge the gap between simulators and true flying, the opens a whole new chapter in simulation.
Air & Space Forces Magazine visited as the first few systems were being tested by the 99th Flying Training Squadron, assisted by contractor Boeing.
“The quality of the simulator, between the hardware and the operational flight program, is leaps and bounds better in the T-7,” said Lt. Col. Michael “Hyde” Trott, commander of the 99th, comparing it to the existing T-38 program. “I’ve had the privilege of being able to see the sim and then also fly the jet. It’s a much smaller gap and leap from sim to jet in the T-7 than the T-38.”
GBTS isn’t a single , but a system including several “flavors,” said Steven “Stein” Dobrinski, a Boeing flight simulator design engineer. The most basic is a simple “Part Task Trainer,” which amounts to a desktop computer fitted with a stick and throttle. New pilots use it to acclimate themselves to the T-7’s central Large Area Display.
“What menus do what? How do I move things around? How do I program stuff so that you can learn the really basic stuff at a really insignificant price,” said Dobrinski.
The T-7’s Large Area Display centralizes all the screens and controls in the T-38 into a single screen that can show as much or as little as an individual pilot needs—or can handle—for a given mission or training event. One basic option is dubbed the “snowman”—an Attitude Director Indicator over a Horizontal Situation Indicator; another divides the screen into four “portals,” Trott explained, each with up to two smaller “insets,” for a potential total of 12 functions that can be monitored at once.
For full story, or to learn more, visit: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/inside-t-7-simulator-live-virtual-flying/
* Note: This is the second in a two-part series on Air Education & Training Command’s new aircraft simulators. Part 1, on Detachment 24, is available at: https://www.airandspaceforces.com/enhanced-advanced-aetc-air-force-next-gen-training-simulators/
Air Force Agency for Modeling & Simulation ( )
Team Orlando
The T-7 Red Hawk’s Ground-Based Training System promises to blend the gap between simulators and live flying.
