India’s first helicopter training academy with facility to train pilots on simulators will be launched by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and Canada-based CAE in Bangalore by middle of this year.
“The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) will come up with the installation of first simulator by middle of this year,” the Academy’s chief executive officer Wing Commander (retd) Chandra Dat Upadhyay said here.
The joint venture between HAL and CAE was progressing on schedule for the Level-D helicopter simulator training facility to come up, he said.
The CAE-built full-mission helicopter simulator for the academy has been shipped from Canada and is scheduled to arrive in Bangalore this month. It will be installed at the new HATSOFF helicopter training centre.
“The first cockpit for the simulator will represent the Bell-412 helicopter and would be ready for training by summer. Additional cockpits for army and air force’s Dhruv choppers would be installed over the next year,” Mr. Upadhyay said.
