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Light single sim thrives in French Alps

By Thierry Dubois | August 7, 2015

Estimated reading time 5 minutes, 48 seconds.

The Thales simulator in Albertville has been certified to Level B/FTD 3 — providing an ideal ratio of training credits to costs. Nicolas Durano/Thales Photo 
Thales’ expectations for its Airbus Helicopters H125/AS350 B3e Ecureuil/AStar full flight simulator in Albertville, France, seem to have been surpassed, as the training facility, the first for the type in Europe, is attracting pilots from other continents. The company has a partnership with a local helicopter operator, SAF, and is making the most of the latter’s knowledge of the aerial work world. 
As of early June, one year after the first commercial virtual flight, Thales and SAF had found customers in Spain, France, India and Angola, among other countries. Initially, the location had been chosen for its close proximity to the Alps mountain range, where a number of operators fly Ecureuils for commercial work. But the appeal proved broader, as illustrated with Angola’s police, a commercial operator based near Bangalore, and a private pilot in France.
To make simulator training more affordable, Thales chose not to offer a Level D device, although the firm’s Reality H product line enables it. Rather, the simulator in Albertville has been certified to Level B/FTD 3 (under European Aviation Safety Agency standards, which are equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administrations’s FTD 6). “For a light helicopter like the B3e, we worked out a ratio of training credits to costs,” said Jean-Jacques Guittard, Thales Training & Simulation’s chairman. The Level B/FTD 3 standard meets 100 percent of recurrent training needs, he added.
To cut acquisition costs, the instrument panel is simulated and cheaper materials are used, and sound simulation is not as realistic as it is for Level D. Ingress is via stairs, as opposed to a more expensive drawbridge, and the actuators are not as long as those of a Level D simulator — and the cabin therefore stands at a lower height.
The motion system is based on electric actuators, thus getting rid of a hydraulic system. Compared to earlier-generation electric systems, it no longer uses compressed air. Therefore, support of Thales’ Hexaline actuator technology is said to be much cheaper — the maintenance technician on site is only a software expert.
On the visual system, the field of view is 210 by 70 degrees. The resolution is said to be “medium” —between three and 10 feet. Five high-resolution (one foot) insets are available, representing Marseille, Castellane, Le Lavandou, and Le Luc (cities of various sizes in Provence), as well as one high-mountain environment.
A large part of the software — namely, the flight control loops — is the result of an SAF-Thales cooperation. Thales Training & Simulation commercial director Cyrille Grandbastien said buying the data from Airbus Helicopters would have been too expensive, so the two companies performed data collection flights with an AS350 fitted with numerous sensors, mainly targeted at mountain flying. Thales thus managed to have a representative software program with realistic aircraft reactions to control inputs.
Customers can choose to lease the simulator with or without an instructor, and, in the latter instance, they may want to bring their own. Packages that include real flights are available. The simulator is suitable for training on the B3e type, as well as for those B3s powered by a Turbomeca Arriel 2B1 engine.
The Thales site is not an approved training organization (ATO), under EASA rules, but an FSTD (flight simulation training device) operator, a company executive explained. It is not supposed to provide student pilots with a full pedagogic system. This is the key of the relationship with SAF — the latter can supply instructors. SAF has an ATO and shares the building with Thales. Two simulators are housed in the same hangar — SAF’s Thales-built EC135 simulator and Thales’ own H125 simulator.
As simulators for light helicopters are still rare, Thales and SAF (which combine their marketing efforts) still have to educate pilots to the benefits of such training devices. In the world of single-pilot helicopters, the dominant culture is to train in the real aircraft, Thales executives noted. Fortunately, French and European authorities are being very supportive, they added.
Incidents and failures that may be trained realistically and safely in a simulator include autorotation with crosswind or at maximum takeoff weight, vortex ring state, hydraulic system failure and tail rotor failure.
Thales expects the simulator business in Albertville to become profitable after a couple of years, following a similar curve to SAF’s EC135 simulator. According to SAF managing director Christophe Rosset, the operation will be in the black this year for the first time, after having been established in 2012. Thales’ AS350 simulator is eventually expected to log 2,000 hours annually.

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