Emergency services trust builds own simulator

Although not a full flight simulator the high-grade city and landscape visuals that surround the machine make for an authentic flying experience

An emergency services trust has solved its $1 million problem of buying a helicopter flight simulator - by building one themselves.

The state of the art machine, located at Whangarei airport, is made using the cockpit and fuselage of a Sikorsky S-76A helicopter and is powered by five computers.

Northland Emergency Services Trust chief executive and chief pilot Peter Turnbull says the simulator or Flight Training Device (FTD) looks and flies like the real thing - without even leaving the hangar.

"Using Kiwi ingenuity we've cut the cost back to around 15 per cent of what is commercially available - and in many respects it's better than anything else around," he said.

Built by a team of NEST pilots led by local engineer and computer whiz John Keller it is Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) certified and will be used by both NEST pilots and outside parties for training and pilot flight testing.

Although not a full flight simulator - because it does not move - the high-grade city and landscape visuals that surround the machine make for an authentic flying experience.

Mr Keller says it's just as if you are flying, accelerating and hovering in the air but without leaving the ground with a 270 degree field of view.

"You look left and right, over your shoulder, and even though it doesn't move you still get the sense of movement just like in a real aircraft."

It also uses high resolution linear potentiometers, an electro-mechanical transducer designed for racing cars that converts linear motion into a change of resistance.

These devices have been installed in the roof of the simulator to detect the movement of the hand and pedal controls.

NEST purchased the second hand Sikorsky aircraft from Japan which was damaged during the 2011 tsunami.

Mr Keller built a new instrument panel from scratch meaning the simulator is a virtual replica of the helicopters NEST pilots fly in real life rescue situations.

Mr Turnbull says the FTD means their pilots will get better quality training and more of it because it is less expensive than doing exercises in one of its three helicopters.

And because the FTD is made from the entire body of a helicopter, Mr Turnbull, says it enables NEST to take its rescue helicopter training to a whole new level.

"We can take the whole crew including the paramedics and a critically injured patient on board and go through drills like engine failure," he says.