Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
ATLANTIS AEROSPACE and IVEX have joined forces with Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) to study the potential use of low-cost flight-training devices (FTDs) to meet pending regulations requiring US regional carriers to use simulators for pilot training.
The initiative is a follow on to a study already under way with Delta Air Lines to determine the training benefits of an FTD equipped with a visual system (Flight International, 17-23 May). The results of both studies are expected by November.
Atlantis, a Canadian FTD manufacturer, and IVEX, a US manufacturer of low-cost visual systems, are working with ASA and Delex Systems, a company with expertise in implementing the US Federal Aviation Administration's proficiency-based advanced qualification programme (AQP).
The partners are taking the results of an AQP task analysis, which decides the training required, and determining the lowest level of device in which each training task can be performed. The aim is to produce a document, which the FAA will approve and which regional airlines can use as a model for their simulation-based training.
Regionals are looking for cheaper alternatives to costly full-flight simulators. FTD manufacturers argue that most of the required training could be performed in a lower-cost device, leaving only a few manoeuvres, which need to be accomplished in a motion-base simulator or the aircraft.
Source: Flight International
