CAE Announces $67.6 Million Dollars In Contracts For A350,
Other Simulators
Though it may be some time before the A350 XWB is
ready to fly, a simulator for the new Airbus is
already in development. CAE announced Thursday that it has
signed a contract with Airbus to design and manufacture two CAE
7000 Series full-flight simulators (FFSs) for the Airbus A350 XWB,
representing the world's first FFSs for the new long-range
aircraft. In addition, CAE will develop six CAE Simfinity A350 XWB
Airbus Procedures Trainers. CAE also announced that it has signed
contracts with Airbus to perform a range of upgrades on
Airbus-owned FFSs, and that it has received a contract from a North
American customer to provide a Boeing 777 FFS. The contracts are
valued at approximately C$70 million and bring the total FFS sales
that CAE has announced to date in fiscal year 2011 to nine.
CAE has designed, developed and delivered the word's first
full-flight simulators for more than 40 new aircraft representing
16 different original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
"Airbus customers expect the highest standards of innovation,
quality, safety, efficiency and service in their training
programs," said Jeff Roberts, CAE's Group President, Civil
Simulation Products, Training and Services." He adds: "CAE has a
long history of exceeding expectations, and we look forward to
continuing this heritage by developing the first simulators and
training devices for A350 XWB aircraft customers around the
globe."
The first FFS for the A350 XWB is scheduled to be delivered in
late 2012 to the Airbus Training Centre in Toulouse, France, where
it will be used by Airbus to support aircraft training developments
and certification, as well as for initial training of pilots for
customers taking delivery of the aircraft. The A350 XWB FFS will be
initially qualified to interim Level C regulatory standards. After
final aircraft flight data is available, the simulator will be
updated to Level D qualification standards - the highest fidelity
for full-flight simulators. The location of the second A350 XWB FFS
installation is to be determined. In addition, Airbus also holds an
option for a third A350 XWB FFS and the agreement includes
provisions for the placement by CAE of additional A350 simulators
in its network as the market develops.
Artist's Concept
The A350 XWB FFSs will feature the industry-leading CAE
Tropos-6000 visual system and the CAE True Airport visual database
update service, as well as a six-degree-of-freedom CAE True
Electric Motion System.
The CAE Simfinity Airbus Procedures Trainers (APT) provide a
fully simulated Airbus aircraft cockpit using the same Level D
simulation model as the FFS. Touch-sensitive screens in a 3D
spatial orientation display the cockpit environment in a 1:1 ratio.
The CAE Simfinity APT has data display screens for the Captain and
First Officer that show Airbus procedures tutorials, animated
schematics, and virtual aircraft. Pilots train on normal and
abnormal procedures through a free play simulation.
CAE will update an Airbus-owned A300 FFS with a new host
computer, interface, motion system and industry-leading CAE
Tropos-6000 visual system. CAE will also upgrade the visual systems
on an Airbus-owned A380 FFS and two A330/340 FFSs with the CAE
Tropos-6000 visual system and provide the CAE True Airport visual
database service for all simulators. Each of these simulators is
located at the Airbus Training Centre in Toulouse, France.