Karnataka   

HAL, CAE sign pact on copter simulator training centre

BANGALORE: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, Canada, on Wednesday signed an agreement to establish a joint venture company that will open a helicopter simulator training centre in Bangalore.

The company, Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), will be owned equally by HAL and CAE.

The training centre is expected to begin operations in next year by providing both civil and military helicopter pilot and maintenance training services.

As part of the joint venture, CAE will design and manufacture one full-mission simulator featuring CAE’s revolutionary roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator.

The two companies are planning to provide HATSOFF with cockpits for the three variants of the HAL-built Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) Dhruv (one cockpit each for the Indian Army/Air Force glass cockpit Dhruv, Indian Navy Dhruv, and civil variant of the Dhruv), as well as cockpits for the Bell 412 and Eurocopter Dauphin helicopters. Other military and civil helicopter platforms will be added as the market develops.

“Our objective is to serve the fast-growing civil and military aerospace industry in India and become a globally competitive aerospace company,” said Ashok K. Baweja, Chairman, HAL.

“HAL went through an extensive technical and commercial evaluation of potential partners, and CAE is the right choice for our joint venture given its leadership in helicopter simulation and training.

“We will continue to partner with leading companies such as CAE to further HAL’s position as India’s premier aerospace organisation,” Mr Baweja added.

HATSOFF plans to offer both, flight and maintenance training, and provide customers initial, conversion, recurrent, and mission training.

The training centre will feature multimedia classrooms, computer-based training, and a training management information system. The full-mission simulator will be full-motion certified to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) Level D with the ability to interchange all three cockpit modules for the HAL Dhruv as well as any additional helicopter cockpits added in the future.

When a cockpit is not in the full-mission simulator, it will be used as a fixed-based flight training device (FTD).

“We are delighted to develop this potential business partnership with HAL,” said Marc Parent, CAE’s Group President, Simulation Products and Military Training and Services.

“There is a need for high-quality simulation-based training programmes in this region. This training centre will be the first of its kind in India devoted specifically to serving civil and military helicopter customers in the region,” the CAE official added.

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