Eurocopter (Booth No. 7010) and Thales will design and build the first-ever simulator for the medium-weight, twin-engine Dauphin AS 365 N3 helicopter for Héli-Union of France. Expected to be operational beginning in 2011 at Héli-Union’s training center in Angoulême, the simulator has the support of Angoulême’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI).

“This project follows on the one launched a few years ago with the help of the CCI in Angoulême, which led to the development of the flight navigation procedure trainer developed by Thales,” said Héli-Union CEO Christophe de Courlon. “The new AS 365 N3 simulator, which will be built in partnership with Eurocopter, will help us keep our pilots’ qualifications up-to-date in order to meet our customers’ needs as well as that of the market.” 

Héli-Union plans to use the AS 365 N3 simulator for training its own pilots as well as those of other civil and military customers–up to 3,000 hours per year, an average of eight hours per day. The manufacturers expect the device will  obtain dual qualification: as a  level-3 flight training device and a level-B full-flight simulator.

The new simulator will have provision for several types of training, ranging from ab initio and recurrent training to specific programs covering failure procedures, instrument flight rules, offshore and search-and-rescue operations, night flight (including night-vision goggles), flight over mountainous terrain and low-altitude navigation.

“This contract with Héli-Union is fully in line with our training policy, which is to create a vast network of simulators for the various different aircraft of the Eurocopter range, such as the NH90, the EC 135 and the EC 225/725,” said Derek Sharples, Eurocopter’s executive vice president for support and services.
“Our aim is to improve flight safety even further by placing simulators as close as possible to our customers so as to offer training programs that meet their specific needs at the most competitive price,” he said.