CAE says that in February its Burgess Hill, UK training centre will begin flight training with an Airbus A320 Series 5000 full flight simulator (FFS), marking the first application for the new line of Level B and Level D simulators for single-aisle and smaller aircraft.
With prices starting at C$7 million ($6.9 million), the Series 5000 is in many respects CAE's attempt to lower FFS entry costs for smaller airlines wishing to optimise training logistics by bringing more flight training in-house, a move that in the past has meant purchasing more expensive Level D devices. Prices for CAE's Level D simulator, the Series 7000, start at C$11 million.
Pilots can use Level B simulators for 80% of their initial training and 100% of their recurrent training every six months, but in the past, cost-benefit analyses did not favour purchasing the devices as the fidelity paled when compared to the more sophisticated Level D simulators from the two main competitors in the market, CAE or Thales.
Developed as a result a research and development programme funded by CAE and Canadian government, CAE says the Series 5000 will offer a 25% reduction in lifecycle costs, which tend to be two to three times the original cost of the simulator during a 20-year lifetime it has 50% fewer parts, which translates to fewer maintenance headaches, and its order-to-operational delivery timeframe has been compressed from more than a year for the Series 7000 to eight months or less for the Series 5000.
Other deliveries on tap for this year include a Level D Series 5000 Boeing 737NG simulator for CAE's training centre in Amsterdam, a Level B A320 FFS for Lufthansa Flight Training, the first of five 737NG simulators for Ryanair and an FFS of the Embraer Phenom 100 very-light jet.
Source: Flight International
