Elite Offers Helo FTD

Swiss-based simulation specialist Elite is now offering a helicopter flight-training device (FTD). Elite exhibited the S623, based on the Eurocopter AS 350, for the first time at the Heli Trade show in Geneva.

Both IFR and VFR training are possible on the S623, which can be adapted for other helicopters, such as the Bell 206 or the AS 355. A fully enclosed cockpit features dual controls, dual pilot instrument panels and cyclic layout. It offers full autopilot capability, with a flight director and VOR and GPS, Elite said. Optional visual packages are available up to 220 degrees. The Elite S623 can be customized for virtual helipads, oil-rig environment or external loads.

“New JAR-STD European regulations have created a new market,” Heinrich Schaible, Elite’s sales and marketing director, told AIN. However, the first two S623s have been sold far from Europe–one to the Philips Search and Rescue Trust in Hamilton, New Zealand, and the other to ExxonMobil in Australia. The former was delivered last spring. Schaible told AIN that Elite expects to sell 10 devices next year.