Reinforcing practical training for pilots for high-risk situations

Airbus Defence & Space (DS) has entrusted Indra with the development of a tactical and integrated procedures trainer (IPT) for A330 Multi Role Tanker Transport (MRTT) aerial refueling tanker pilots. System delivery is scheduled for 2019.

Indra has supplied over 200 simulators to over 50 clients in 23 countries. The trainer will be a key element for pilots to familiarise themselves with A330 MRTT tanker systems. The trainer replicates the cockpit’s instrument panel with the aid of touchscreens. This reduces costs, by avoiding the need to use real equipment, and enables pilots to learn by “putting their hands on the wheel” of the aircraft from the very beginning, to move on to “flying” in the Full Flight Simulator (FFP) during the final stage.

Indra’s IPT may be connected to the Partial Training system (PTT) used by boom operators for refueling the A330 MRTT. This way, pilots can train to perform this complex operation in which they must coordinate with the boom operators and with the crew of the aircraft being refueled.

The contract for developing the trainer of the A330 MRTT is in addition to the one already awarded to Indra in 2015 to develop the level D Full Flight Simulator (FFS) for this same aircraft. Level D is the maximum level possible for a simulator, meaning that the system offers a degree of realism that makes one hour of training onboard it equivalent to one real hour of flight with that aircraft, for training purposes.

Indra also delivered simulators to the US Navy and the marine corps of Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, among other countries. In Spain, its collaboration with the Spanish Army Airmobile Forces (FAMET) in implementing one of the continent’s most advanced helicopter training centres is worth highlighting. This centre is equipped with Indra’s CHINOOK, COUGAR, TIGRE and EC135 and will also count with the NH90 simulator that the company is currently developing. Indra has also developed simulators of the Airbus commercial aircraft A320 and A330, and of the Airbus helicopters H135, H225, H175, H145 and AS350. Its systems fly in countries all over the globe, including among others the USA, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Japan, China, Malaysia and Brazil.

DPM