Training for those who will fly and maintain the Airbus A380 is currently undergoing validation at the manufacturer’s Toulouse, France training headquarters. The central tool for pilot training is an A380 full-flight simulator (FFS) that Canadian simulator manufacturer CAE delivered in May, which has recently completed its acceptance trials.
A second FFS will be delivered before the end of the year, says vice-president training and flight operations support Jean-Michel Roy. Along with the FFS, CAE has delivered two maintenance and flight-training devices (M/FTD) for the A380.
The M/FTD is a training tool unique to Airbus at present, and the company has already been using them as fixed-base trainers for its other fly-by-wire types. M/FTDs are designed to give maintenance technicians and pilots hands-on experience of the aircraft’s system controls and system operation, in operational, flight and ground-maintenance diagnostic modes.
Now Airbus has two devices specific to the A380 and uses them as the first stage for trainees before they move to the FFS, which has motion and a high-definition visual system with a 200˚ field of view. At present the FFS and MFTDs are being used by a team comprising Airbus test pilots and training pilots to draw up and validate the training programmes for future A380 pilots. Their experience, say Roy, will also provide the basis for the A380 operational and training manuals.
DAVID LEARMOUNT/LONDON
Source: Flight International
