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American Morning

Interview with Capt. Andy Mohler

Aired December 03, 2002 - 09:35   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The military is increasing, and this is neat stuff. We are going to go back to Miles O'Brien. As the military increases its use of simulation to train its forces for war, our Miles O'Brien is in Orlando. He gets a chance to hop on board a Navy helicopter as it flies a fully mocked up mission.
Miles, this is an assignment after your own pilot's heart.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, I'm kind of busy right now, so I don't want to talk to you much. I'm trying to land an H-60 helicopter, which is the work horse of the Navy on an aircraft carrier sitting in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This is number 63. I don't know what aircraft carrier that is. You probably know. Captain Andy Mohler, I'll put him on the spot. He doesn't know which one it is.

CAPT. ANDY MOHLER: I don't.

O'BRIEN: Anyway, as we slide (ph) -- I'm not going to try to land it now because that will probably be the end of the game, if you will. Andy, good to see you with us. He is the commanding officer of NAVIR (ph) here in Orlando where they do a lot of this technology and give these simulations some life in the middle of the world's largest military simulator convention right now. This thing is based on Microsoft's "Flight Simulator." Tell us how Microsoft "Flight Simulator" kind of -- almost like the tail wagging the dog here a little bit, isn't it?

MOHLER: Well, this is a great collaboration, if you will, between the gaming industry that we have in the United States and the needs of the military to train our war fighters. The gaming industry spends, of course, billions of dollars to provide a product like this. We can take it, in collaboration and with their approval and modify it. In this case, put on a shell of a real military helicopter, an SH-60, which is the work horse of the Navy. And in this case, we are using a part-task (ph) trainer to familiarize the pilot with the Pearl Harbor Air Station, maybe for homeland defense scenario.

O'BRIEN: Tell us -- the simulation, not just this one, if we can talk a little bit more about this specifically. But this reflects a lot about the U.S. strategy as it considers possible military actions, doesn't it?

MOHLER: Yes, it really does. One of the things that we are facing right now in the conflict in Afghanistan is an agile enemy. He can adapt very quickly to changing situations, and these types of simulators are very flexible and adaptable themselves, and can be used to train on the fly as the situation changes in the world. That's one of the very powerful things about them.

O'BRIEN: It is to the point where a pilot could almost learn without getting in the real thing, or is that an overstatement?

MOHLER: No. It's a good statement. We are not ready to abandon live training. I don't think we ever will be, but we can fundamentally augment airplane flying, or any complex human task with simulators, and therefore get much more bang for the buck out of every live flight hour, or live tank hour that people go to practice in the field. It's also a huge environmental savings on the environment and tactical considerations. The enemy can't see you practice this kind of stuff.

Many, many advantages. The best one being cost and safety. That is why we have simulators. And they're getting much better, much faster -- look at him already Playboying (ph). You need more training.

O'BRIEN: And it's now a submarine. That just pretty much sums that. This is a good helicopter, Daryn. It actually goes underwater, as I've just proven, and I'm still flying, but let me ask you this, what's next in all of this? Can you put this on a ship, for example, and have people...

MOHLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: ... have some experience as they're waiting for a deployment or an activity?

MOHLER: This is one of the most exciting things about the simulators is that they're becoming less expensive and more deployable, and we're able to network them together. You can see this at the INSIC (ph) show. This helicopter is back. One of the ships that you were out flying on is generated on a far corner of this display by the BFIT (ph) technology. So we're linking all of these simulators together. They're much more deployable. This one could, in fact, deploy on a ship or to any station around the world, as opposed to ones years ago.

O'BRIEN: Andy, I think I lost my wings here. I'm trying...

MOHLER: You got it. Pull, pull...

O'BRIEN: I am pulling on the stick.

(CROSSTALK)

MOHLER: There you go.

KAGAN: Miles...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: I think he just fell off the ship, but we were kind of hoping...

MOHLER: You got to see a view of the carrier few people ever see and live to tell about it. And now the SH-60 is coming in to get you.

O'BRIEN: Please come save me, will you?

KAGAN: I was hoping we could...

(CROSSTALK)

MOHLER: ... simulator, and this is where you'll want learn these things, take it where you will never take the airplane.

O'BRIEN: You should have seen what I did right before you went on the air. You should have seen that landing.

MOHLER: Greased it right in.

KAGAN: I bet it was amazing. I bet. I was just hoping that you could kind of land safely. I was going to feel better about leaving you safely on the ship. Apparently not. You keep practicing out there.

O'BRIEN: I'm working on it, I'm working working on it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 3, 2002 - 09:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: The military is increasing, and this is neat stuff. We are going to go back to Miles O'Brien. As the military increases its use of simulation to train its forces for war, our Miles O'Brien is in Orlando. He gets a chance to hop on board a Navy helicopter as it flies a fully mocked up mission.
Miles, this is an assignment after your own pilot's heart.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Daryn, I'm kind of busy right now, so I don't want to talk to you much. I'm trying to land an H-60 helicopter, which is the work horse of the Navy on an aircraft carrier sitting in Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. This is number 63. I don't know what aircraft carrier that is. You probably know. Captain Andy Mohler, I'll put him on the spot. He doesn't know which one it is.

CAPT. ANDY MOHLER: I don't.

O'BRIEN: Anyway, as we slide (ph) -- I'm not going to try to land it now because that will probably be the end of the game, if you will. Andy, good to see you with us. He is the commanding officer of NAVIR (ph) here in Orlando where they do a lot of this technology and give these simulations some life in the middle of the world's largest military simulator convention right now. This thing is based on Microsoft's "Flight Simulator." Tell us how Microsoft "Flight Simulator" kind of -- almost like the tail wagging the dog here a little bit, isn't it?

MOHLER: Well, this is a great collaboration, if you will, between the gaming industry that we have in the United States and the needs of the military to train our war fighters. The gaming industry spends, of course, billions of dollars to provide a product like this. We can take it, in collaboration and with their approval and modify it. In this case, put on a shell of a real military helicopter, an SH-60, which is the work horse of the Navy. And in this case, we are using a part-task (ph) trainer to familiarize the pilot with the Pearl Harbor Air Station, maybe for homeland defense scenario.

O'BRIEN: Tell us -- the simulation, not just this one, if we can talk a little bit more about this specifically. But this reflects a lot about the U.S. strategy as it considers possible military actions, doesn't it?

MOHLER: Yes, it really does. One of the things that we are facing right now in the conflict in Afghanistan is an agile enemy. He can adapt very quickly to changing situations, and these types of simulators are very flexible and adaptable themselves, and can be used to train on the fly as the situation changes in the world. That's one of the very powerful things about them.

O'BRIEN: It is to the point where a pilot could almost learn without getting in the real thing, or is that an overstatement?

MOHLER: No. It's a good statement. We are not ready to abandon live training. I don't think we ever will be, but we can fundamentally augment airplane flying, or any complex human task with simulators, and therefore get much more bang for the buck out of every live flight hour, or live tank hour that people go to practice in the field. It's also a huge environmental savings on the environment and tactical considerations. The enemy can't see you practice this kind of stuff.

Many, many advantages. The best one being cost and safety. That is why we have simulators. And they're getting much better, much faster -- look at him already Playboying (ph). You need more training.

O'BRIEN: And it's now a submarine. That just pretty much sums that. This is a good helicopter, Daryn. It actually goes underwater, as I've just proven, and I'm still flying, but let me ask you this, what's next in all of this? Can you put this on a ship, for example, and have people...

MOHLER: Absolutely. Absolutely.

O'BRIEN: ... have some experience as they're waiting for a deployment or an activity?

MOHLER: This is one of the most exciting things about the simulators is that they're becoming less expensive and more deployable, and we're able to network them together. You can see this at the INSIC (ph) show. This helicopter is back. One of the ships that you were out flying on is generated on a far corner of this display by the BFIT (ph) technology. So we're linking all of these simulators together. They're much more deployable. This one could, in fact, deploy on a ship or to any station around the world, as opposed to ones years ago.

O'BRIEN: Andy, I think I lost my wings here. I'm trying...

MOHLER: You got it. Pull, pull...

O'BRIEN: I am pulling on the stick.

(CROSSTALK)

MOHLER: There you go.

KAGAN: Miles...

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: I think he just fell off the ship, but we were kind of hoping...

MOHLER: You got to see a view of the carrier few people ever see and live to tell about it. And now the SH-60 is coming in to get you.

O'BRIEN: Please come save me, will you?

KAGAN: I was hoping we could...

(CROSSTALK)

MOHLER: ... simulator, and this is where you'll want learn these things, take it where you will never take the airplane.

O'BRIEN: You should have seen what I did right before you went on the air. You should have seen that landing.

MOHLER: Greased it right in.

KAGAN: I bet it was amazing. I bet. I was just hoping that you could kind of land safely. I was going to feel better about leaving you safely on the ship. Apparently not. You keep practicing out there.

O'BRIEN: I'm working on it, I'm working working on it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com