Civilians enjoy F-16 simulator in Glilot
Opened just four months ago, Squadron Center has already attracted more than 4,000 visitors
Ever imagine you’re Tom Cruise in Top Gun taking to the wild blue yonder in a fighter jet? Now you can channel your inner “Maverick” with a few hours in the first civilian F-16 fighter jet simulator in Israel wearing a flight suit and flying in one of the IAF’s best aircraft.
“This is a two and a half hour adventure,” CEO and founder Col.(res.) Kobi Regev told The Jerusalem Post on Monday at the Squadron Center, located on the VIP floor of Cinema City Glilot near Herzliya.
A former F-16 fighter pilot, Regev told the Post he first thought up the idea of the center when he was a squadron commander and saw the excitement civilians had when they came to visit.
“This center is a dream come true,” he said, explaining that his “vision” was to bring the IAF’s organizational culture to everyone in Israel.
“It’s not just seeing the aircraft and the technology but mainly meeting the pilots and asking questions,” he explained.
The center has dressing rooms where visitors don a flight suit, 10 F-16 flight simulators, and briefing and debriefing rooms all named after strategic IAF operations.
It offers group and individual flight simulations, youth programs, and company and organizational “fun days,” as well as courses and workshops for organizations taught by IAF pilots and Dr. Alex Berber – a former IAF organizational consultant.
According to Regev, the center is not only a simulator hall but an “educational squadron” with reserve IAF pilots and F-16 simulator instructors who can not only instill a love of flying into youth but teach them and adults how to cope with challenging tasks.
The center’s youth programs are based on the methodology and organizational culture of the IAF, and offer a course on the basics of flying including “flights” in the simulators. The 20-session program targets Grade 8-10 students.
“This center will encourage youth to again love and experience the aerospace environment, to love flying planes... Everyone goes to cyber and computers today, and I believe that this center will encourage more to engage with aerospace,” Regev said of the youth programs.
“We are using simulators as a mean to demonstrate how you can improve your performance,” Regev said, explaining that the courses at the center target youth to learn “the importance of being accurate, professionalism, how to work as a team, how to encourage the learning mechanism, the debriefing sessions which will teach them how to learn from their mistakes.”
The center is open for tourists. Regev is negotiating to bring Birthright participants to the center.
“Imagine, you put on a flight suit, and get a personalized name tag for the flight suit. I give you a strategic assessment of the region, and then you can fly over Israel in an F-16. You can fly over Jerusalem, over Masada all in your own F-16. It’s an incredible experience,” he said.
Opened four months ago, the center has already had more than 4,000 visitors. The next two months are already fully booked. According to Regev, while the center is only in its infancy, there are plans to open similar centers in the United States and in Asia.
“We have big plans because what you see here is unique,” he said.
The IAF’s fleet of 300 F-16C/D Barak aircraft and the even more F-16I Soufa is the largest contingent of F-16s outside the United States. All the jets have been extensively upgraded with Israeli-made avionics, self-protection systems, radar and advanced weapons including the Python 4 and 5 air-to-air missiles and the Popeye and Spice AGM’s.
The first four F-16A/Bs landed in Israel in July of 1980 and achieved initial operational capability within a few weeks. Since then, the F-16A/Bs have been used extensively in combat, and of the 67 kills achieved by the F-16 world-wide, 47 are accredited to Israel.
According to a statement given to The Jerusalem Post, the F16A/Bs “changed the operational capacity of the Air Force. With agility, maneuverability and power, and with pilots who are among the highest recognized of all time, the jet changed the face of the Middle East.”
The fleet ushered in a new era for the IAF which continues to this day, the ability to carry out preemptive strikes at enemies far beyond the country’s borders.