Nick Leontidis, a 25-year veteran at CAE, took over the reins as group president of civil simulation products, training and services on June 6 and got busy that same day, when CAE announced it had sold six full-flight simulators. Three go to Azal (Azerbaijan Airlines) and three more to Turkish Airlines. Azal bought simulators for the Embraer 190 E-Jet, and for the Sikorsky S-92 and AgustaWestland AW139 helicopters. The Turkish Airlines purchases were for the Boeing 737NG, Airbus A320 and A330.

“We are pleased to welcome Azerbaijan Airlines as a new customer to CAE,” said CAE president and CEO Marc Parent. “Turkish Airlines already uses our end-to-end portfolio of training services, including cadet training, type-rating and pilot sourcing. We are proud that it is now turning to CAE for its simulation equipment needs.”

CAE also recently announced the launch of its Tropos-6000XR visual image generator. The software takes advantage of the latest commercial graphics processors. The Embraer 190 full-flight simulator going to Swiss Aviation Training is the first to use the Tropos-6000XR. Its benefits include precise and highly realistic replication of airport lighting under foggy conditions, according to the company. Tropos-6000XR features include new light points rendering; CAE’s ACE utility (allowing customers to customize each airport according to their training needs); and shadow and lighting, enabling more realistic depiction of ground vehicles.

The CAE Tropos-6000XR marks the fourth upgrade to the series of image generators, which was launched in 2006 and upgraded in 2009 and again in 2011.

“As a global simulation solutions leader, we are always working towards enhancing the effectiveness of pilot training by improving the fidelity and the immersive experience of the training environment,” Leontidis said.