OREANDA-NEWS. Russian Helicopters, part of state defence holding Oboronprom and a leading global designer and manufacturer of helicopters, announces that Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, a Russian Helicopters company, has introduced a Mi-171 simulator built by CSTS Dinamika.

The flight trainer is based on an actual Mi-171 cabin and features realistic on-board systems. It can be used to train on a complete range of flying and navigational skills in all weathers, and also to train crews on how to respond in the event of aircraft or equipment failure and other emergency situations.

The Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant Helicopter Training Complex (HTC) is located in a new building at the Plant’s flight training school. For the convenience of flying crews and staff the complex also includes classrooms, relaxation areas and counselling facilities, as well as a canteen. Members of the teaching staff have many thousands of hours of flying time and years of experience as flight instructors.

First feedback about training using the Mi-171 simulator has been extremely positive, with a group of Chinese helicopter operators praising its comfort and ease of use, as well as its high level of realism. The staff’s professionalism was also highly rated.

The training exercises for the new simulator were based on the summer testing of the Mi-171 by a group of constructors and pilots from Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, and as a result are as realistic as possible. A Mi-171 simulator was introduced at the Ostrava Helicopter Training Centre in the Czech Republic in 2010 based on similar principles as part of a joint Russian-Czech investment project.

The Mi-171 trainer was acquired due to high demand for and growing production volumes of the Mi-171, and as a result the need for more highly qualified personnel and engineering support staff.

Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant can provide a complete training package for staff of helicopter customers including simulation and flight training on the client’s own helicopters. The Mi-171 simulator at the Ulan-Ude plant also helps helicopter operators across Siberia and Russia’s Far East to optimise their costs on obligatory refresher training for crews, which are essential for flight safety.