CAE Announces $67.6 Million Dollars In Contracts For A350, Other Simulators

Though it may be some time before the A350 XWB is ready to fly, a simulator for the new Airbus is already in development. CAE announced Thursday that it has signed a contract with Airbus to design and manufacture two CAE 7000 Series full-flight simulators (FFSs) for the Airbus A350 XWB, representing the world's first FFSs for the new long-range aircraft. In addition, CAE will develop six CAE Simfinity A350 XWB Airbus Procedures Trainers. CAE also announced that it has signed contracts with Airbus to perform a range of upgrades on Airbus-owned FFSs, and that it has received a contract from a North American customer to provide a Boeing 777 FFS. The contracts are valued at approximately C$70 million and bring the total FFS sales that CAE has announced to date in fiscal year 2011 to nine.

CAE has designed, developed and delivered the word's first full-flight simulators for more than 40 new aircraft representing 16 different original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).

"Airbus customers expect the highest standards of innovation, quality, safety, efficiency and service in their training programs," said Jeff Roberts, CAE's Group President, Civil Simulation Products, Training and Services." He adds: "CAE has a long history of exceeding expectations, and we look forward to continuing this heritage by developing the first simulators and training devices for A350 XWB aircraft customers around the globe."

The first FFS for the A350 XWB is scheduled to be delivered in late 2012 to the Airbus Training Centre in Toulouse, France, where it will be used by Airbus to support aircraft training developments and certification, as well as for initial training of pilots for customers taking delivery of the aircraft. The A350 XWB FFS will be initially qualified to interim Level C regulatory standards. After final aircraft flight data is available, the simulator will be updated to Level D qualification standards - the highest fidelity for full-flight simulators. The location of the second A350 XWB FFS installation is to be determined. In addition, Airbus also holds an option for a third A350 XWB FFS and the agreement includes provisions for the placement by CAE of additional A350 simulators in its network as the market develops.

Artist's Concept

The A350 XWB FFSs will feature the industry-leading CAE Tropos-6000 visual system and the CAE True Airport visual database update service, as well as a six-degree-of-freedom CAE True Electric Motion System.

The CAE Simfinity Airbus Procedures Trainers (APT) provide a fully simulated Airbus aircraft cockpit using the same Level D simulation model as the FFS. Touch-sensitive screens in a 3D spatial orientation display the cockpit environment in a 1:1 ratio. The CAE Simfinity APT has data display screens for the Captain and First Officer that show Airbus procedures tutorials, animated schematics, and virtual aircraft. Pilots train on normal and abnormal procedures through a free play simulation.

CAE will update an Airbus-owned A300 FFS with a new host computer, interface, motion system and industry-leading CAE Tropos-6000 visual system. CAE will also upgrade the visual systems on an Airbus-owned A380 FFS and two A330/340 FFSs with the CAE Tropos-6000 visual system and provide the CAE True Airport visual database service for all simulators. Each of these simulators is located at the Airbus Training Centre in Toulouse, France.

FMI: www.cae.com