Company Trains 2,400 Pilots Annually

HeliSim and Eurocopter officially inaugurated the first EC225 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) in Marignane, France, on Friday.

"Our strategy is in tune with Eurocopter's reinforced commitment to improving flight safety by providing simulated alternatives to real flight," said Guy Dabadie, CEO of HeliSim. "We are fully dedicated to enlarging our service offer and ensuring our FFSs are in place at the right price for Eurocopter's customers. Due to the quickly increasing number of EC225s in the oil and gas market, we have installed the first EC225 FFS at our HeliSim facility. It is now fully operational."

The EC225 FFS is to be qualified to Level D according to JAR FSTD 1H standards. It includes a full-motion system with six degrees of freedom, an instructor station, simulation of all systems and optional equipment solutions, avionics system and full replica of the EC225 cockpit, sound system, original OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) simulation data package and a visual system field of view of 200° horizontal and 60° vertical daylight/dusk/night. The visual database features detailed airports, heliports, helipads and platforms as well as realistic 3D moving models and full correlation between databases.

The FFS guarantees the most representative synthetic EC225 and the latest aircraft configuration, with through-life upgrades, based on a Eurocopter data package and flight loop software using genuine aircraft manufacturer software. This unique simulation data package is the key element of Eurocopter's stringent policy to accept no compromise on safety, which to a paramount degree depends on first-class training. Flight profiles will be adjustable to any customer's mission profile and any working environment.

Training courses offered by HeliSim and Eurocopter on the EC225 FFS include standard and recurrent training such as type rating, emergency refresher, IFR, GPS approach and recurrency training; mission training such as night flight, NVG training, confined area procedures, SAR (Search and Rescue), crew reaction in deteriorating conditions (single engine, MET conditions, low fuel) as well as platform or rooftop landings; and tailored courses such as simulator handling for instructors, line oriented flight training, crew resource management and Multi-Crew Co-operation (MCC).

HeliSim was officially opened in February 2002 and is jointly held by Eurocopter, Thales Training & Simulation and Défense Conseil International. It already operates four simulators for the AS365 Dauphin, the EC155, the AS332 Super Puma L1 and L2. The EC225 FFS is its fifth. In 2007, HeliSim extended its facility to accommodate a Flight Training Device (FTD) capability. If required by the customers, all of HeliSim's helicopter cabins can also be utilized in FTD mode.

In 2009, HeliSim will add another high-end device to its capabilities: a NH90 Full Flight Simulator. Since its inauguration, HeliSim has annually trained 2,400 pilots from 62 countries, performing 10,000 flight hours per year, and is proud to have a customer base of 115 operators from all over the world.

FMI: www.eurocopter.com, www.helisim.net