Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&amp;P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.

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Matt Thurber

Finland’s Traficom Transport and Communications Agency and the UK Civil Aviation Authority have qualified Coptersafety’s TRU Simulation level-D Leonardo AW169 full-flight simulator. FAA qualification is expected next year.
The simulator is equipped with the latest Phase 8 avionics upgrade to the helicopter’s Honeywell Epic 2.0 platform, which includes HTAWS with offshore modes as well as FMS and autopilot improvements. Pilots training in the simulator can experience immersive and realistic features, according to Coptersafety, “such as cockpit vibration, smoke generation, 3D clouds, night, and NVIS/NVG visual scenes.” The training provider’s in-house visual model team can set up various visual environments in known geographic locations and also custom landing sites.
Training in the new AW169 simulator is available at Coptersafety’s Helsinki training center, minutes away from Helsinki International Airport.
“I’m very happy to announce that the long-awaited Phase 8 upgrade of our AW169 FFS level-D is finally ready for training,” said Coptersafety COO Toni Rönnberg. “Coptersafety has very high standards when it comes to the simulator quality. There was unfortunately a delay on the upgrade process, which was to ensure that our customers will have the best possible training value and quality from the simulator, which is now in the latest avionics version.”

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