New Delhi: Bangalore will soon have a world-class flying training institute for helicopter pilots as aerospace major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has entered into a joint venture project with a Canadian company to set up a helicopter simulation park there.

HAL Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Baweja said the facility will be developed jointly by HAL and Canada-based aviation firm CAE on equal partnership basis at an initial investment of Rs 240 crore to provide complete range of solution on helicopter training.

"We are setting up a helicopter simulator park in Bangalore to offer complete solution on helicopter training," HAL Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Baweja said. He said HAL is taking up the project as an industry.

The park, which is being developed on five acres of land, will provide flying training basically on Advanced Light Helicopter Dhruv.

"We are introducing Dhruv. So we will have to train pilots. It is a new machine. Pilots have not flown Dhruv before. They are flying other types. So that (the facility) will provide them opportunity to get training on Dhruv," he said. He said the pilots will be initially trained on a "universal simulator."

With the help of simulators, pilots can experience different kinds of effects while sitting inside an artificial cockpit and can go in for various manoeuvres and combat profiles while staying on the ground.

Indigenously designed and developed by HAL, Dhruv, is a twin-engine new generation helicopter in the 4.5-5.5-tonne weight class. It is a multi-role, multi-mission helicopter capable of a wide range of military and civilian applications.
Source : PTI