Flight training rooms

Flight Training Theory (Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I).

Battlestar Galactica has several rooms reserved for training of new pilots and practice sessions for her more seasoned warriors. In the case of training new pilots, these facilities allow for the honing of dogfighting skills without any danger of serious injury or damage to military hardware.

One room is fitted with a bank of computers that can be used to display the HUD(Heads Up Display) configuration of the Viper and familiarise new pilots with the sensitive controls of the fighter.

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Flight Training Practice (Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I).

A more hands-on approach is introduced later in the training program. A partial mock-up of the cockpit and exterior of the Viper is used to teach the combat skills that will be needed to stay alive in the frenetic environment of a space battle.

On one occasion, the majority of Galactica's pilots were unable to perform their patrol duties due to a contagion. A small group of shuttle pilots needed to be trained in order to replace the fleet's defenses. The Viper simulator proved effectively how dangerous a live combat situation could have been when Athena "killed" Starbuck (Lost Planet of the Gods, Part I).

Notes

• The Viper simulator is clearly the actual cockpit mockup used for shots in the show.
• The back projection screen with the starfield may also be the one used in production. A backlit screen was used for cockpit shots(rather than a blue screen) allowing the actors to see some of the action they were reacting to.
• The training room with the computers may also serve as a ready room for fully trained pilots, as in the Re-imagined Series. The Re-imagined Series introduced (off-camera) that its version of battlestar Pegasus included pilot training simulators.