German pilots prepare for CH‑47F fleet with US Army flight simulator

A U.S. Army flight simulator at a barracks in Germany stands as a center of critical training for NATO’s aviation community. The U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach’s Stock Barracks in Illesheim houses the Illesheim Flight Simulator Complex, or IFSC, providing one-of-a-kind training opportunities ahead of the German Armed Forces preparing to field CH‑47F Block II Chinook helicopters next fall, according to an Army release . The IFSC, which is operated by U.S. Army Europe and Africa, provides the necessary training needed to prepare German forces to receive 60 of the heavy-lift, tandem-rotor helicopters, the release says. Two German Air Force pilots who will be part of the first cohort to fly the new aircraft once they arrive in fall 2027 recently trained at the IFSC. “In the simulator you can train all the scenarios you do not want to experience while flying a real aircraft,” said Lt. Col. L, a visiting pilot whose name was withheld, as is standard in the German Air Force, or Bundeswehr Luftwaffe. “Emergency procedures, challenging landings and extreme weather operations can all be practiced safely.” “Everything you can do in a real flight, you can also do in a simulator,” the other visiting pilot, Maj. H, said. The fleet will be stationed at two Bundeswehr installations and is meant to boost Germany’s heavy-lift and transport abilities, per the statement. The two German pilots also trained in the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama. Fort Rucker is the Army…