CALSPAN: Falls company receives $1 million from feds

Niagara Gazette

November 14, 2007 05:50 pm

— The Niagara Falls wing of a national aeronautics company got a big boost Wednesday from the federal government.
Calspan’s Advanced Maneuver and Upset Recovery Training division which operates out of the company’s office building off Niagara Falls Boulevard near the Niagara Falls International Airport, received Congressional approval for $1 million in funding to support research on the training of military pilots using in-flight simulators.
“These federal dollars are going to help Calspan and the Buffalo area fly even higher,” said U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer.
Company president Louis H. Knotts said the funds will be used primarily to support Calspan’s research on pilots handling of planes during upset recovery events. According to Knotts, data from related Calspan research indicates that military trained pilots are unable to consistently recover during unanticipated, loss-of-control events. The unanticipated maneuvers, left unchecked, can lead to accidents, according to Knotts.
“Realistic training for the very dynamic and disorientating events that lead to loss of control accidents cannot be trained in currently fielded aircraft simulators because these devices do not reproduce the critical accelerations and disorientating motions of the actual events,” Knotts said.