KEY POINTS:
A Christchurch-based company has sold its first professional flight simulator for training pilots to fly large passenger aircraft, and is optimistic many more sales will follow.
Modelled on the Boeing 737-800, the flight simulator would be deployed by Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Flight Academy as part of its airline-focused pilot training programme, developer Pacific Simulators said today.
The device complied with a recognised European standard for flight training devices, and was due to be independently certified by the Scandinavian Civil Aviation Authority later this month.
Pacific Simulators' chief executive Bill Highet said the sale was a significant milestone for the company, and would be the first of many sales of its flight training devices internationally.
Along with a professional training subsidiary under the Pacific Simulator brand, the company has a Flight Experience subsidiary franchising simulators in the entertainment industry. It started developing replica aircraft cockpits in 2003.
The group said that with the two streams of revenue it had the potential to generate annual sales of around $35 million within five years, mostly from exports.
Mr Highet said that after certification, the group would be able to close a number of deals for other sales already in the pipeline.
Growth of the world's jet airliner fleet was likely to result in the need for an additional 18,000 pilots in the next six years, and that was not taking into account the number of pilots retiring.
Pacific Simulators intended to occupy a niche market between full motion trainers, which cost up to US$20 million ($30.2 million) and smaller flat panel trainers, which replicated the cockpit with computer screens.
" We're not looking to displace either of those but if we can put a major part of professional pilot training onto a lower cost simulator like ours, airlines can train a greater number of pilots more quickly," Mr Highet said.
Pacific Simulators' training devices are priced around US$1m.
Development of the new simulator was helped with a $500,000 investment from TechNZ, the business investment arm of the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.
That support was critical for a small company with tight cashflow and in rapid growth mode that needed resources to commit to major research and development programmes, Mr Highet said.
The company developed software and hardware for the new model that incorporates computer systems, wrap-around visual graphics of the outside flight environment, and the effects of wind, engine noise, cooling and sound systems, and vibrations in the seat.
The group has 23 staff with five working full time on research and development.
- NZPA
