Page 31 - Military Technology 12/2018

Features MT 12/2018 · 29

Robert Czulda

Norwegian Competence Centre

Helicopter Inaugurates H145 Simulator

During a ceremony on 10 October in Stavanger, Reiser and Norsk The NCCH’s H145 simulator is based on a roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) con-
Luftambulanse (NLA - Norwegian Air Ambulance) - officially launched cept, which provides the option of using two or more cockpits within one
NCCH Norwegian Competence Centre Helicopter AS (NCCH). simulator structure – an excellent feature for an asset estimated to cost
€12 million. According to the manufacturer, a cockpit can be changed in
less than two hours, so NCCH looks set to be even more flexible in the
Some 450 kilometres from Oslo, located in western Norway, Stavanger. future, with optional additional helicopter types in prospect. During the
This town already hosts the NATO Joint Warfare Centre and is one of the design phase, Reiser took a real helicopter, instrumented it and then flew
most important hubs for regular helicopter operations to and from offshore it in order to collect all physical and mathematical data in all areas of flight
oil platforms. The NCCH is located close to Stavanger Airport, which al- behaviour, which was later incorporated into the simulator.
ready hosts various helicopter operators, the location a deliberate choice The NCCH simulator was manufactured and delivered by Reiser
of its main customer, NLA. The facility is scheduled to be ready for training Simulation and Training GmbH, with important subcontractors including
by the second quarter of 2019. Moog for the motion system and Norxe for the projectors. The company
The main component of the event consisted of the official launch of a underscored that the Full-Flight Simulator (FFS) installed at NCCH was
new simulator, the flagship element of the NCCH. At the moment, it offers qualified as CS-FSTD(H) EASA FFS Level D in August this year. It is char-
all features of the H145 light 4t-class twin-engine helicopter, but will also acterised by a full six-degrees-of-freedom electric motion and vibration
soon (officials confirmed early 2019) be augmented with H135 features. It system and a 240° horizontal by 80° vertical field of view display system.
will also be equipped with the HELIONIX Step 2 aviation suite with 4-axis The moving imagery is projected by using dual-channel high-definition
autopilot and increased situational awareness. So far, HELIONIX is avail- LED video projectors.
able on the H175 and H145, to which the H160 is due to be added shortly.
The H135 with HELIONIX received its initial certification from the European Robert Czulda, PhD, a research associate in the Department of the Foreign Policy
Aviation Safety Agency in November 2016 and the US Federal Aviation and Security Theory (University of Lódz, Poland), is an expert in international secu-
Administration in February 2018. rity and defence issues, and a regular contributor to MT.

The NCCH’s H145 simulator is based on a roll-on/
roll-off (RoRo) concept, which provides the option of
using two or more cockpits within one simulator
structure – an excellent feature for
an asset estimated to cost
€12 million.
(All photos via author)