The US Navy Has The Coolest Flight Simulator In The World

This is the T-45C "visual simulator" at the Naval Air Station in Kingsville, Texas. It makes my 50" plasma look like a Game & Watch.

It's part of a US Navy pilot's earliest stages of training: this is a simulator not of something badass, but of the humble T-45 Goshawk, a small jet the US Navy has been using to train pilots since the 80s, and which is an updated version of an aircraft that's over thirty years old.

So students have to spend 96 hours in this, before they can fly a tiny little trainer, before then moving onto the good stuff.

The simulator provides an enormous 180-degree view with a rounded display, so there's no "fish eye" effect from flat screens at the edges of your vision.

Please, US Navy, can we have a go? Please?

[Flickr, via Gizmodo]