Nation's Army To Receive "Two-Dome' Sim Next Month

One of the world's most sophisticated aircrew training systems has received official certification by Australian accreditation authorities and recommended as suitable to begin training pilots and Battle Captains for the Australian Army's new fleet of Eurocopter Tiger ARH armed reconnaissance helicopters.

The Tiger ARH Full Flight & Mission Simulator (FFMS) has been granted FSD-1 Level 5 accreditation -- equivalent to Europe's Level D -- the first time a flight simulator with two coupled domes has attained the highest level of certification worldwide. The FFMS simulates all aspects of the Tiger's operation and environment, and will be used to train pilots and other flight deck crew, as they are in the commercial aviation sector.

The Tiger FFMS is part of the Australian Tiger acquisition program (Air 87). The Army has an order for 22 Tiger ARH helicopters which are being assembled at Australian Aerospace's assembly plant in Brisbane. Nine aircraft have already been delivered to the Army.

The Tiger FFMS, which is located at the Army's Aviation Center in Oakey, Queensland, replicates the Tiger's two separate cockpits -- one for the pilot and the other the Battle Captain -- and can be operated either coupled as one virtual aircraft, or independently.

Formal accreditation of the FFMS was granted to Australian Aerospace by SIMULINC, a Canberra-based specialist group retained by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority to advise on flight simulator standards and accreditations.

SIMULINC calls the Tiger FFMS "one of the best presented simulators SIMULINC has been involved with, and one we are confident will prove to be a useful and valuable training aid."

"The integrated Eurocopter/Australian Aerospace project management team ensured that the Tiger Test Pilot and Design Office experts became fully immersed in the assessment of the simulator's fidelity and its comparison with flight reality, thus helping towards accreditation," added Joseph Saporito, Chief Executive Officer of Australian Aerospace. "This accreditation will permit the teaching of the whole transition course necessary for the training of the first squadron of Tiger pilots without limits, before Initial Operational Capability."

The simulator will officially be handed over to the Australian Army next month.

FMI: www.defence.gov.au, www.eurocopter.com