Airbus H145/135 simulator joins Lufthansa Aviation Training’s fleet

Lufthansa Aviation Training (LAT) puts its first helicopter simulator into service after receiving approval from the German Federal Aviation Authority. A new Level D full-flight simulator of the Airbus H145/135 type joined the existing training fleet at the Frankfurt training location on Aug. 27, 2020, and is available to customers for training. As a HEMS operator with decades of experience and the world’s largest operator of the H145 in civil aviation, the DRF Luftrettung with its academy in wet training trains helicopter pilots.

The full flight simulator (FFS) of the Airbus H145/135 is the most modern helicopter simulator on the market worldwide, which was manufactured by Reiser Simulation and Training. It is certified by the EASA as Level D. The FFS is capable of displaying numerous realistic landing scenarios with moving objects in the landing area or at different locations. These include, for example, scenarios at airports, hospitals, landings on ships or oil platforms or in confined terrain. Thanks to the high resolution of the visuals and the additional possibility to depict flight procedures at night with night vision equipment, the FFS is ideally suited for operator training in the HEMS (Helicopter Emergency Medical Services) area. A third crew member station with virtual reality technology and virtual helicopter hoist operation will be added as a special feature in early 2021. The helicopter simulator also has the option of an interchangeable cockpit to be able to simulate both Airbus types H145/H135 accordingly. The innovative briefing station, which enables flight preparations and pre-configurations tailored to the customer’s individual needs, offers further added value.

The new helicopter FFS is the first of its kind in Lufthansa Aviation Training’s (LAT) training fleet of over 55 FFS to date and will be put into operation at the centrally located training center near Frankfurt Airport. To date, there have only been four Airbus H145 full flight simulators on the market worldwide, which are used for training purposes. As a leading aviation training provider with years of experience in simulator training, human factors and expertise in the technical maintenance of training equipment, LAT offers its customers a comprehensive infrastructure at all training locations.

With the new helicopter simulator, LAT is opening up to a new market that is becoming increasingly important, especially in times of the coronavirus pandemic. In previous cooperations LAT has already had good experiences in interdisciplinary collaboration, for example in the field of human factors, with medical institutions.

“With its great experience in HEMS missions, the DRF Luftrettung is a strong partner in pilot training and further education. This is also beneficial for our customers: All procedures that had to be flown in real life in the helicopter so far can now be simulated in the full flight simulator due to the outstanding features of the new helicopter simulator and the great closeness to reality,” said Tiziana Heilig, managing director and chief financial officer of LAT.

As a leading HEMS operator, the DRF Luftrettung is very familiar with medical emergencies and the transport of intensive care patients between hospitals: Whether night flight, winch rescue over sea or alpine rescue — with more than 40,000 missions per year, it covers a wide range of mission profiles.

Within its approved training organization (ATO), the DRF Luftrettung has a large number of highly qualified trainers (type rating instructor) and type examiners (type rating examiner) as well as specialists for instrument, NVG, winch and mountain flight training.

“On request, our instructors and examiners can also be used for wet training. Thus, customers from the EASA area as well as internationally benefit from the great professional competence of the DRF Luftrettung,” said Dr. Krystian Pracz, chairman of the board of the DRF Luftrettung.