Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

Contributor

Mark Huber

Airbus Helicopters-Thales helicopter training joint venture&nbsp;Helisim and its member companies are building a new 23,000-sq-ft, $40 million pilot and maintenance crew training center on the Airbus Helicopters Inc. campus at Grand Prairie, Texas, it announced on Tuesday at Heli-Expo 2018. Helisim will develop and operate the center, which will house the first Airbus H145 and H175 level-D simulators in North America.

 


The H145 simulator is scheduled for installation first and construction of the center will begin later this year. Its Reality H simulators will be built by Thales. Plans call for an H160 simulator to be added at a future date, once that model is certified and production is under way.

 


According to Helisim, the center will incorporate Airbus Helicopters’ existing training facilities at Grand Prairie, including its H125/AS350 full-flight simulator and H135/H145 flight-training device. The new center is expected to accommodate “several thousand” students annually, including approximately 1,000 pilots for introductory and recurrent training. &nbsp;

 


“This is the next step of customer experience for us. When they arrive in Grand Prairie&nbsp;not only will they have their aircraft to pick up, we will have level-D simulation capability. This is just the first step. With this expansion, we will be able to support our customers' needs for helicopter training in one location,” said Christopher Emerson, president of Airbus Helicopters Inc. and head of the North America region. “Expanding our capabilities with H145 and H175 level-D simulators will allow customers to optimize their training programs and benefit from the expertise that we can provide onsite at our headquarters in the U.S.”

 


&nbsp;“When we first embarked on this partnership with Airbus, our primary goal was to ensure the next generation of helicopter pilots worked in an industry with the same safety record as those in the fixed-wing market,” said Benoit Plantier, Thales' vice president of training and simulation. “The quality and level of training Helisim offers to pilots in Europe has gone a long way to accomplish that goal. We are proud to continue this legacy in North America.”

 


“The opening of this new facility near Dallas represents a major international expansion of Helisim,” said Helisim CEO Christian Cochini. “Our 18 years of experience in simulation training for Airbus Helicopters’ wide range of aircraft, representing nearly 200,000 simulated flight hours, combined with Airbus Helicopters Inc.'s expertise will allow us to offer safe and efficient training solutions for North American customers.”

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

Helisim Building $40 Million Texas Training Center

Airbus Helicopters Site Selected.

2024 Corporate Aviation Leadership Summit

Neelam Mathews

News and issues relating to business, corporate and private aviation, primarily regarding turbine-engine-powered airplanes and helicopters. Subjects include aircraft, engines, maintenance, operations, personnel, acquisitions, accidents, safety, security, and training.

Single-engined rotorcraft will compete with Hindustan Aeronautics’ Light Utility Helicopter

Tata and Airbus Set To Build H125 Helicopters in India

Charles Alcock

News and developments about aircraft engines, including turbofan, turboprop, turboshaft and piston.

News and issues relating to civil and military unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) of all kinds and sizes, including those used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), combat (unmanned combat air vehicles, or UCAVs), law enforcement, research and other applications. Of particular focus is the FAA's planned integration of UAS into the U.S. national airspace system.

Essential news and analysis on the defense aerospace business. Your trusted source for new and ongoing programs and requirements in military aircraft (manned and unmanned), engines, avionics, weapons and associated systems, including ground-based air defense.

Evacuation of Ukrainian troops from Mariupol inspired efforts to "reinvent helicopters"

Lithuanian Start-up Takes New Approach to Emergency Air Mobility

Matt Thurber

News and information on safety procedures and concerns.

System would encourage operators to add equipment to prevent accidents

VAST Effort Explores Helicopter Safety Rating System

Aero Asset’s annual report noted a four-year peak in supply in Q4 2024

Single-engine Helicopter Market Stable, Supply Climbs

Helicopter sales for 2024 climbed 10% over 2023, including 58 Super Pumas

Airbus Helicopter Deliveries, Orders Climb During 2024

News and issues concerning the aviation charter and fractional-ownership industries and markets, including company announcements, regulations, new developments and labor issues.

Purchase marks company’s first investment in utility helicopter segment

Fundamental Advisors Acquires Utility Operator HeloAir

News and issues about aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), covering all segments of the aviation industry; and modifications for aircraft and engines. Subjects include product support of aircraft, engines and avionics, MRO company mergers, acquisitions, announcements and personnel, Airworthiness Directives, Supplemental Type Certificate approvals and other topics.

Works includes new avionics, fresh paint, ultra-leather seats, and pop-out floats

Meridian Delivers 29th Refurbished Bell 206 to FlyNYON

Jessica Reed

Issues regarding financing of aircraft; aviation insurance; tax issues for aircraft operators; new companies and people in the aviation financing and insurance industries.

News and issues relating to the aerospace industry that are related to the science, engineering and business of flight in space involving civil, industrial and military applications, and similar topics related to flight in the atmosphere of the Earth that are not covered more directly by other AINonline subject channels. In other words, both astronautical and aeronautical subjects, except for those aeronautical topics that are specifically covered elsewhere on this website.

HAI Heli-Expo 2018

More In Rotorcraft