Swiss Aviation Training completes Airbus-Boeing simulator conversion

Swiss Aviation Training (SAT) has converted the first Airbus full-flight simulator (FFS) to the latest version of theBoeing 777-300ER. The EASA-certified FFS has been put into training operations for Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS).

The new device was converted from an existing Airbus A330/340 simulator and is located in SAT’s Kloten training facilities, near Zurich Airport. It was developed with global simulation provider CAE, Boeing and Lufthansa Group subsidiary SWISS.

SWISS’s new 777-300ERs will arrive from January 2016 through 2018. The carrier has nine of the type on order.

“Our new simulator’s configuration is 99.9% congruent with the first Boeing 777-300ERs that Swiss will receive,” COO David Birrer said in a statement, meaning that pilots who train on it will have the same functions and options as on the actual aircraft. “As a result, they won’t have to undergo the usual training on the differences between the simulator and the aircraft. And this will hugely enhance the efficiency of the overall training process,” he said.

SAT’s Airbus-to-Boeing simulator conversion project took a total of 24 months and involved the procurement of some six tonnes of new material. Around nine tonnes of the original A330/340 simulator were also sent to CAE for re-use.

In August, SAT began constructing a new 777 cabin emergency evacuation trainer, which should be available for crew training from October. A new service trainer will follow in January 2016.