Indian Military

[Aviation Week,Anantha Krishnan M.] India’s first state-of-the-art helicopter simulator facility is expected to go live in Bengaluru next month. The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) is an 50/50 joint venture between Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and simulation technology company CAE, Canada. Installation and integration work began in early March and infrastructure activities are now in full swing. “The first Bell 412EP cockpit will be ready for training by May after certification by European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The Dhruv civil cockpit would be ready by December 2010, Dhruv military cockpit by April 2011 and the Dauphin 365N3 cockpit by June 2011,” Wing Cmdr. (ret.) C.D. Upadhaya, HATSOFF’s CEO, told Aviation Week.

The facility boasts a roll-on/roll-off (RO-RO) type, full-motion Level-D simulator, certified to EASA standards, with a common motion platform and interchangeable cockpit modules for Bell 412EP, Dauphin 365N3 and ALH civil and military variants. “This facility is being established to provide training to different customers from the three services and also customers from private civil helicopter operators in India and abroad who have shown keen interest in the training facility. Once operational, this will be a showcase to Bangalore,” a senior HAL official said.

Capt. Singh Deo, MD Bell Helicopter, India, told Aviation Week that once HATSOFF goes live, pilots will not need to leave India for training. “In India we are late in catching up with simulators, though it was long overdue. This simulator park is very advanced and now we need not send our pilots abroad for training. Now, pilots can practice handling emergencies however number of times they want, which otherwise was not possible,” said Deo, who is also the president of the northern chapter of the Rotary Wing Society of India.