Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
EVANS & SUTHERLAND (E&S) is claiming 50% of the commercial flight-simulator visual-system market after just two years as an independent supplier.
The Salt Lake City, Utah-based company has announced orders from British Aerospace Regional Aircraft and United Airlines, and says that sales so far this year give it half the market, with simulator-and-visual suppliers CAE Electronics and FlightSafety Inter- national taking the rest.
United has ordered two ESIG-3350 visuals, one for installation on its second Boeing 777 full-flight simulator, being built by Thomson Training & Simulation (TTS), and the other to upgrade its existing TTS-built 777 simulator. BAe has bought an ESIG-3350 for an Avro RJ100 simulator being built by Reflectone and supplied to Sabena.
The RJ simulator, now in acceptance testing, is the first to include E&S' own projectors, developed since the company's long-running agreement with Rediffusion ended in 1994 when the UK simulator manufacturer was acquired by TTS. Previously, E&S supplied only image generators (IGs), used in Rediffusion visuals. "Then we were just an IG supplier, with no systems capability and no experience of dealing directly with the customer," says Stuart Anderson, general manager of E&S' commercial-business unit.
Two approaches were taken to meet the need for display systems. E&S has signed a non-exclusive agreement with independent UK supplier SEOS Displays, while work-share agreements with CAE and TTS allow it to use their wide-angle display systems where appropriate. "The display is really part of the simulator," argues Anderson. The Avro simulator uses an SEOS wide-angle display, while the 777 will use TTS' WIDE display, for commonality with United's first simulator, he says.
E&S' commercial-visuals unit was formed when the market was depressed, but did a respectable $9 million-worth of business in its first year, gaining a 38% market share, Anderson says. The market has since picked up, and several orders will be announced soon, he says. E&S' position appears to have been strengthened by problems with TTS' own Space visual, with customers British Airways and Continental Airlines rumoured to be planning to remove their systems.
E&S are to supply TTS with the visual system for second unidentified "fast-jet simulator for an East Asian customer".
Source: Flight International
