"Merlin 521 contact departure, you're cleared on route. Have a nice day!"
The University of Dayton has recently taken delivery of a Merlin Flight Simulation Group 'Air Traffic Control Simulation'. This is linked to their current MP521 and MP500 simulators.
Dayton aeronautical students are flying high! They have made excellent use of their MP521 Engineering Flight Simulator, and have been successfully designing aircraft models - so much so that UD teams won Merlin's IT FLIES Aircraft Design and Handling Competition in the UK in June 2011 following their podium topping performance in the inaugural US version in April at Dayton.
This latest addition to their simulation laboratory will enable students to appreciate not only the vital position of the Air Traffic Controller, but the need to design aircraft which have good handling qualities on critical phases of flight.
During take off, approach and landing the pilots' workload increases dramatically, and using the Air Traffic Control equipment, students can more easily empathize with these situations, and form opinions on their designs in direct relation to their collated data.