Flying Mi-8 Can Now be Learnt on Simulator

The world’s first Level D helicopter simulator for Mi-8 has been developed and manufactured in the Russian Federation.

The simulator for the Mi-8MTV helicopter has been developed by TRANSAS, a leading simulator manufacturer for the domestic aircraft on the Russian and world market. The work was done to an order from Gaspromavia, one of the 10 major Russian airlines. The cost of similar level simulators for foreign helicopters varies from 12 to 20 million dollars.

The key feature of a Level D simulator is that pilots can complete the course on the simulator only, without training on actual aircraft. The helicopter simulator provides highly realistic imitated aircraft flight owing to the 6 DOF motion system and the specially developed spherical screen and visual system. In the course of a “flight”, vibrations, shocks, environmental effects on the aircraft are imitated with a high degree of veracity. Pilots can also gather experience of working in different flight conditions and areas – daytime, night, dawn, twilight, wind, snow, rain, fog, urban area, mountains, sea.

The full　flight helicopter simulator permits flight personnel training in compliance with the current Russian and European standards, and enables training exercises whose fulfilment on actual helicopters is either impossible or involves great hazard to life.

The new simulator can be used for emergency drills for in-flight situations like the main rotor autorotation with two engines failed, left-hand autorotation, fire, system failures. The simulator with a motion system also allows training related to air illusions which frequently result in a crash and have so far been studied in theory only.

A special-purpose civil aviation helicopter training centre, the largest in Europe, fitted with 4 such simulators, will appear in Russia in the immediate future. The opening of the centre at the Ostafyevo airport (Moscow region) intended by the customer (Gaspromavia) for both, own flight personnel and that of other airlines, will contribute to the significant improvement of flight safety factor.