CHARLESTON AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. –
A construction contract is expected to be awarded in May to build a large, two-story addition to Building 108 in order to house a new, state-of-the-art C-17 flight simulator, a loadmaster trainer and other related training equipment.
The existing facility's three flight simulators and loadmaster trainer currently operate 24-hours-a-day to meet the immense demand for required qualification, proficiency, emergency and mission procedure training essential to maintaining global airlift capabilities.
To minimize the disruption to training during construction, the addition will be constructed as a stand-alone facility, abutting the west side of the existing building with connecting corridors on both floors.
Construction of the facility is scheduled to start early this summer and should be complete by the middle of summer 2010. Boeing is currently scheduled to deliver and install the new six-axis flight simulator late next summer, at which time the new simulators will undergo several months of testing and certification. Once certified, the simulators will be ready for operational flight training, currently scheduled for December 2010.