Thierry Dubois is a freelance writer specializing in helicopters, business aviation and aerospace technology. He earned a degree in fluid dynamics from an engineering school in Toulouse, France in the mid-1990s. At an unexpected crossroads, he found his first job in journalism. In 1997, he started working for French aerospace weekly Air &amp; Cosmos in Paris. This lasted until 2000, when he moved south to Lyons. He then became a freelancer, working for various aerospace publications and has been part of the AIN team since late 2000. In addition to writing about business aviation, Thierry shares responsibility for the rotorcraft section. He also is a regular on-site writer for AIN’s daily editions at international airshows such as the Paris, Farnborough, Dubai and Singapore shows, as well as at EBACE in Geneva.
In 2007, he won the Honeywell award for “Best systems or technology submission” at the Aerospace journalist of the year awards. In 2013, he won an Aerospace Media Award for the "Best Safety, Training &amp; Simulation Submission."
In other activities, Thierry moderates international conferences on aviation technology topics. Thierry is married and has three children, who seem to begin enjoying the mountains–as their parents do.

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Thierry Dubois

Venyo, the Belgium-based designer of flight simulation training devices (FTD) and serices, is developing a highly immersive FTD for the Boeing 737NG and is hoping to obtain EASA FTD level 2 certification this year. A prototype was exhibited here at the 2013 Paris Air Show, when certification was expected in 2014. The development schedule has slipped to the right but Jean-Claude Streel, business development manager, is confident that certification will happen this year. Streel is at the show to announce two launch customers–one airline and one flight training school–who will help secure the green light from EASA.

 


Streel believes his company’s fixed-base FTD is very close to a full-motion simulator because of an innovative feature. It tricks the brain and gives it the illusion of motion. Usually, in such an FTD, the brain has a hard time discerning between inputs from sight and the inner ear (the latter helps with perceiving motion, or the absence of it). This often causes sickness until the body gets used to the conflicting feelings.

 


Venyo’s FTD format favors sight. “To do this, we meet two criteria–the projected image has to be wider than the human field of vision and the refresh rate should be at least 60 Hz,” Streel said. In Venyo’s case, the image is 220 degrees wide. Fast computers need only nine seconds to reposition the virtual aircraft and yield a resolution of 1.4 feet for details on the ground.

 


Another feature, Streel said, is mobility. The FTD weighs two metric tons, can travel by road and can be installed in one day. This opens the door to a “pay-per-use” business model, he said. The direct operating cost is estimated at €150 ($165) per hour, which halves today’s typical costs, he said.

 


Production of the first two FTDs has started at Venyo’s Charleroi Airport headquarters near Brussels, using forward fuselage sections from dismantled 737s. The company, which is exhibiting here in Hall 2B Stand G61 aims to deliver 50 FTDs in the 2015-2020 period.

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