Australian transportation group Toll will build and operate the country’s first AgustaWestland-authorised training centre, as part of its 10-year aeromedical contract with the New South Wales (NSW) government.
Late last year, NSW selected Toll and NSW Helicopter Rescue Service (operating as the Westpac Life Saver Rescue Helicopter Service) as preferred tenderers for the state’s new Helicopter Retrieval Network, to also serve the Australian Capital Territory. The new aeromedical service will operate from 2017, with both operators using the AW139. Toll will cover the southern region and Westpac the north.
Toll signed an order for eight AW139s at the Avalon air show, while Westpac will lease four of the type from Lease Corporation International.
Toll will operate the new training centre based at Sydney’s Bankstown airport, which will be branded with the AgustaWestland name and available for other AgustaWestland customers in Australia and New Zealand. Operators in the region previously had to go to the company's training centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. AgustaWestland has 50 helicopters operating in Australia, with 20-plus on order, and describes itself as the leader in emergency medical operations in the country.
According to Toll, its new centre will include a A$15 million ($12 million) CAE 3000 Series AW139 Level D full-flight motion simulator – one of only eight in the world – and space for additional simulators. The centre will also house an advanced underwater escape training facility and wet and dry winching practice towers. It could also be upgraded to support future AgustaWestland models, such as the AW169 and AW189, says David Jackson, chief executive of Toll’s resources and government logistics division.
AgustaWestland says the new centre with Toll will be a world-leading facility and is the sort of collaboration it is seeking in other parts of the world to improve the safety of helicopter operations.
Source: Flight International