Furthermore, the environment is not limited to the aircraft alone but also include other aircraft and surface ships with which the navigator will be communicating with via UHF, VHF and HF radios and tracking on radar. Using various navigation aids, the navigator is expected to maintain an accurate air picture at all times of his position in time and space while effectively leading a crew in the accomplishment of their mission. This low risk approach of reuse has the advantage of providing proven major building blocks to the solution while at the same time minimizing development cost and schedule. The airborne environment is very accurately simulated by using a combination of real terrain data, atmospheric models, aircraft performance models, surface nav-aids, radar returns, and communication systems. Serials can be conducted anywhere in North America as the TMT software uses latitude and longitude to represent aircraft, nav-aid, and terrain locations.
All stations are identical and a startup menu designates it as a student or instructor station.
Each station is equipped with a flat work surface clear of obstructions, with individually controlled lighting and a drawer for temporary storage of books, equipment and material. The physical arrangement of the TMT can be easily reconfigured based on mission requirements. One configuration allows linked stations to be placed adjacent to each other for crew development. Another configuration allows stations operating in an independent mode to be separated, thus minimizing direct interaction between students. The altitude and airspeed are relatively constant with no other contacts or weather related inputs.