The Hindu Business Line : Hindustan Aeronautics, Canadian co ink pact for copter simulator school

Bangalore, Sept. 26 Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Canada’s CAE on Wednesday signed an agreement here to set up a joint venture helicopter simulator training centre in Bangalore.

The two equal partners are totally investing $55 million (around Rs 220 crore) in the venture.

The joint venture HATSOFF — Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying — is expected to begin operations in late 2008 and provide both civil and military helicopter pilot and maintenance training services, HAL said in a release.

The school is to come up on a 3-acre plot belonging to HAL and employ about 25 trainers to start with.

Full-mission simulator

CAE, a global leader in simulation and modelling technologies, will design and manufacture one full-mission simulator featuring its roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator.

The two partners plan to provide cockpits for the three variants of HAL’s Advanced Light Helicopter ‘Dhruv’, including the Army/air force, naval and the civil versions); Bell 412 and Eurocopter Dauphin helicopters. Other military and civil helicopter platforms are to be added as the market develops.

The full-mission simulator will be full-motion certified to Level D of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Joint Aviation Authority (JAA).

The HAL Chairman, Mr Ashok Baweja, said: “Our objective is to serve the fast-growing civil and military aerospace industry in India and become a globally competitive aerospace company. We will continue to partner with leading companies like CAE to further HAL’s position as India’s premier aerospace organisation.”

Mr Marc Parent, CAE’s Group President, Simulation Products and Military Training & Services, said: “There is a critical 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.”

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