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Nigeria Becomes First African Country To Launch Sophisticated Helicopter Full Flight Level D Simulator
History has been made in the African continent as Nigeria officially becomes the first country in Africa to launch the sophisticated “helicopter full flight level D simulator” after Caverton in Ikeja completes the multibillion naira facility. The AirForce will train some personnel with the simulator, and repair helicopters in this facility.
It will be recalled that in 2020, the contract signature between Caverton Aviation Training Center in Nigeria, Caverton and Thales was signed at the Factory Acceptance of the AW139 Reality H Full-Flight Simulator in Cergy Pontoise, near Paris (France).
The Thales Reality H Full Flight Simulator level ‘D’, which is one of the world’s most advanced commercial helicopter simulator, will be used to provide superior scenario-based flight and mission training to AW139 helicopter operators across the African continent as well as Caverton’s pilots and crew.
With this simulator, Caverton will deliver state-of-the-art training, including Initial Type Rating, Recurrent Training and Proficiency Checks for both Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), for offshore and onshore missions as well as VIP operations to unprepared landing sites.
This simulator will enable pilots to become certified to fly the AW139 under various civil aviation authority approvals. It will be one of the most popular helicopter training platforms in Nigeria and in the region to be fully immersed in a realistic virtual environment representing Nigerian operational locations and learn to handle a multitude of system failures and overcome very complex malfunctions should they arise in the real world. Pilots can thus train safely in high-risk mission scenarios in a range of adverse weather conditions.
Fast forward to 2021, the facility has been built and ready to be used by the airforce in Nigeria.
About The Partnership With Thales
Caverton is in partnership with Thales Training & Simulation SAS, France for a Full Flight Simulator (FFS) for AW139, EASA Level D Certified. This training device will be delivered to the company’s MRO facility in Nigeria as at when due.
This partnership will allow Caverton to maintain sustainable helicopter operations, while other AW139 operators within Nigeria and neighbouring countries stand to benefit from the cost-effectiveness and easy access to the simulator training.
The simulator, which will enable Pilots to carry out their training locally, will also serve a dual purpose of a training facility to our Pilots and a source of revenue generation to Caverton.
Here are some of the photos from the multi-billion facility in Lagos.
