03 September 2010
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have approved two Boeing Training Boeing 787 Dreamliner Full Flight Simulators, manufactured by Thales, to Interim Level C.
In addition, the FAA has also approved the associated Boeing 787 Flight Training Device (FTD) to Level 5 and EASA has approved the FTD to EASA Level 2. This is the first time that two authorities have approved four devices in parallel.
“Thales is proud to have achieved these important milestones through its partnership with Boeing and its training division, Training & Flight Services,” says Allan Cameron, chief executive officer of Thales USA. “The achievement of this ‘industry first’ is an example of our investment in the research and technology that allow us to provide customers worldwide with proven training and simulation solutions that help the airline industry train its pilots and technicians and ultimately keep passengers safe.”
Thales is providing nine training suites for the Boeing 787 to Boeing Training & Flight Services. Each training suite includes a full-flight simulator, flat panel trainers and desktop simulation systems. The training suites are being placed in training centers central and convenient for 787 operators around the world.
The Boeing 787 simulator is being manufactured by Thales UK at its Crawley facility.
Note to editors
In order for a flight simulation training device to be used for flight crew training it must be evaluated by the local National Aviation Authority (e.g. the FAA). The training device in question is evaluated against a set of regulatory criteria, and a number of objective and subjective tests are conducted on the device.
There are currently four levels of full flight simulator, levels A – D, level D being the highest standard with the highest fidelity to the real aircraft. FTDs are evaluated similarly to full flight simulators, but the criteria for these devices are slightly different around the world.
The B787 devices provided by Thales are at the highest fidelity they can be with the existing aircraft data.
An international working group has been developed to evaluate and change the A – D level rating scale over the next several years. The group, which is chaired by the UK Royal Aeronautical Society Flight Simulation Group (RAeS FSG), is working to streamline the number of categories in the FTD rating system from 27 to seven and plans to introduce the new system by 2012.
About Thales
Thales is a global technology leader for the defense & security and the aerospace & transport markets. In 2009 the company generated revenues of $18 billion (€12.9 billion), with 68,000 employees in 50 countries. With its 22,500 engineers and researchers Thales has a unique capability to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex security requirements. Thales has an exceptional international footprint, with operations around the world working with customers as local partners. Visit us at www.thalesgroup.com