American Eurocopter (AEC) has received FAA Level B and night-vision goggle (NVG) training certification for its AS350 full flight simulator in Grand Prairie, Texas. And yesterday, AEC announced that it signed a simulator training contract with the Texas Department of Public Safety, covering dry lease of the AS350 simulator. This will allow the department’s instructors to train DPS pilots.

Level B approval allows Part 135 operators to incorporate the device into their training programs and log training credits. The sim can provide highly realistic training for a variety of missions, including EMS, law enforcement (note the Bushmaster rifle aimed from the rear of the sim’s full cabin in the photo, part of the tactical officer suite useful for practicing law enforcement scenarios), business aviation, offshore and utility work.

The simulator, manufactured by Indra Systems, is equipped with a full-motion platform and expansive visual system and is convertible from AS350B2 to -B3 models. “We have already had customers from Canada and Botswana complete training, and we have had discussions with Eurocopter customers from as far away as South Korea and Russia,” noted AEC president and CEO Marc Paganini.