Formerly | Link Aeronautical Corporation |
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Founded | 1929 |
Founder | Edwin Albert Link |
Headquarters | , United States |
Parent |
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Link Aviation Devices was a manufacturer of aircraft simulators. The company is most notable for inventing the Link Trainer, and is credited with starting the flight simulator industry. It is currently a subsidiary of CAE Incorporated.
Ed Link founded the company in 1929 in Binghamton, New York, after experimenting with the compressed air used in the products of his father's Link Piano and Organ Company. The company's Link Trainer saw widespread service as an aircraft simulator during and after World War II. As a result, Link Aviation became one of the leading manufacturers of aircraft simulators in the world.
In 1954, Link Aviation was purchased by the General Precision Equipment Corporation. It, in turn, was purchased by Singer Corporation in 1968 and Link became the Simulation Products Division and later the Link Flight Simulation Division. The reincorporated Link Military Simulation Corporation was sold in 1988 to CAE Industries, which became CAE-Link. CAE-Link was purchased by General Motors' Hughes Electronics Corporation in 1995. After only three years, it was bought by Raytheon. Then, in 2000, it was acquired by L-3 Communications and named L-3 Link Simulation & Training. [1] [2] [3] Finally, 26 years after it was sold by the company, it was repurchased by CAE in 2021. [4]
A flight simulator is a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies, for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of flight controls, the effects of other aircraft systems, and how the aircraft reacts to external factors such as air density, turbulence, wind shear, cloud, precipitation, etc. Flight simulation is used for a variety of reasons, including flight training, the design and development of the aircraft itself, and research into aircraft characteristics and control handling qualities.
Microsoft Flight Simulator is a series of flight simulator programs for MS-DOS, Classic Mac OS and Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was an early product in the Microsoft application portfolio and differed significantly from Microsoft's other software, which was largely business-oriented. As of November 2022, Microsoft Flight Simulator is the longest-running software product line for Microsoft, predating Windows by three years. Microsoft Flight Simulator is one of the longest-running PC video game series of all time.
L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, aerospace, and navigation products. Its customers included the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, United States Intelligence Community, NASA, aerospace contractors, and commercial telecommunications and wireless customers. In 2019, it merged with Harris Corporation to form L3Harris Technologies.
Related article: List of surviving Link Trainers
Greater Binghamton Airport is a county-owned American airport eight miles north of Binghamton, in Broome County, New York. It is in East Maine, New York and serves the Southern Tier of New York.
Edwin Albert Link was an American inventor, entrepreneur and pioneer in aviation, underwater archaeology, and submersibles. He invented the flight simulator, which was called the "Blue Box" or "Link Trainer". It was commercialized in 1929, starting a now multibillion-dollar industry. In total, he obtained more than 27 patents for aeronautics, navigation and oceanographic equipment.
CAE Inc. is a Canadian manufacturer of simulation technologies, modelling technologies and training services to airlines, aircraft manufacturers, healthcare specialists, and defence customers. CAE was founded in 1947, and has manufacturing operations and training facilities in 35 countries.
NATO Flight Training in Canada (NFTC) is a military flight training program for NATO and allied air forces provided by the Canadian Forces.
Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw, also known as 15 Wing Moose Jaw, is a Canadian Forces base located 4 nautical miles south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is home to RCAF Pilot training and 431 Squadron, the Snowbirds, which is the RCAF's air demonstration squadron.
A synthetic vision system (SVS) is a computer-mediated reality system for aerial vehicles, that uses 3D to provide pilots with clear and intuitive means of understanding their flying environment.
Falcon Field is in an airport located in Maricopa County, Arizona. It was originally built 6 miles northeast of Mesa, which owns it. However, it is now within city limits. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a reliever airport. Scheduled service to Bullhead City on Western Express Air ended in January 2007.
CAE Oxford, part of CAE Inc., is an ab initio flight training network. It provides integrated aviation training and resourcing services. Professional airline pilots have been trained at the Oxford Aviation Academy (OAA) flight school since 1961.
Nicholas Byron Cavadias was an Indian-born Greek-Canadian engineer and aeronautic administrator known for his contributions to flight simulation.
CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Brussels - Sabena Flight Academy is an aviation training organisation created in 1953, and located in Steenokkerzeel (Belgium). The school is now part of CAE Global Academy. The training is performed in Brussels, in Mesa at CAE Oxford Aviation Academy Phoenix . Sabena Flight Academy is one of the oldest airline transport pilot schools in Europe.
A flight simulation video game refers to the simulation of various aspects of flight or the flight environment for purposes other than flight training or aircraft development. A significant community of simulation enthusiasts is supported by several commercial software packages, as well as commercial and homebuilt hardware. Open-source software that is used by the aerospace industry like FlightGear, whose flight dynamics engine (JSBSim) is used in a 2015 NASA benchmark to judge new simulation code to space industry standards, is also available for private use. A popular type of flight simulators video games are combat flight simulators, which simulate combat air operations from the pilot and crew's point of view. Combat flight simulation titles are more numerous than civilian flight simulators due to variety of subject matter available and market demand.
GSE Systems, Inc. develops and markets software-based simulation and training products to nuclear, oil, and gas electricity generators, and the chemical process industries. It also sells software for monitoring and optimizing plant and signal analysis to the power industry.
Unmanned aircraft system simulation focuses on training pilots to control an unmanned aircraft or its payload from a control station. Flight simulation involves a device that artificially re-creates aircraft flight and the environment in which it flies for pilot training, design, or other purposes. It includes replicating the equations that govern how aircraft fly, how they react to applications of flight controls, the effects of other aircraft systems, and how the aircraft reacts to external factors such as air density, turbulence, wind shear, cloud, precipitation, etc.
L3Harris Commercial Aviation Solutions is a flight training provider and manufacturer of civil flight simulators based in Crawley, England. It is part of L3Harris, and was formed as L-3 Link Simulation & Training UK in 2012, when L3 acquired the civil fixed-wing simulation division of Thales Training & Simulation (TTS).
The International Flight Training School (IFTS) is an International school for military pilots, based in Italy, born from a collaboration project between the Italian Air Force and Leonardo S.p.A. supported by CAE.