The GSA showcased the benefits of EGNOS to pilots from across Europe at the AERO 2017 show in early April at Friedrichshafen, Germany. A crucial element in raising awareness and widening the use of EGNOS for Aviation is integrating the system into training for both new and experienced pilots. The integration of EGNOS and LPV capability in ALSIM simulators boost their sales.

AERO 2017 visitors were able to ‘fly’ with EGNOS on the ALSIM simulator AL250, which is configurable for a wide range of general aviation and other aircraft.

ALSIM has been developing and manufacturing certified flight simulators since 1994 and today has more than 260 devices installed worldwide with more than 160 global customers in 45 countries.

Since 2014 ALSIM had noticed an increasing interest from Air Training Organisations (ATOs) in GNSS-enabled approach training. In 2015, ALSIM was supported by the GSA to implement Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) landing procedures in its simulators/ devices within the Aviation grant programme with a co-funding of 60%.

The two-year GSA co-funded project enabled ALSIM to equip three simulator models with LPV approach ability, the main objective being to offer new training capability to existing or new ALSIM clients.

Now, in 2017, ALSIM is offering three LPV-enabled simulators: the ALX which is a state-of-the-art generic simulator that helps students to train on several aircraft classes in one simulator; the AL42 – a specific simulator replicating the Diamond DA42 aircraft; and the AL250, which is the company’s latest generic reconfigurable simulator in a compact design. LPV has been implemented and approved by civil aviation authorities on all three models.

EGNOS opportunity

Mickaël Hérard, Flight Simulator Qualification Manager at ALSIM, was a member of the ALSIM team at AERO 2017 and participated as a key speaker in one of the GSA organised seminars on EGNOS for general aviation and also on the panel discussion on Saturday.

“The ALX was our first EGNOS-enabled device and the AL42 was the first to fully implement LPV procedures thanks to the support of the GSA,” said Mickaël Hérard. “Being able to implement LPV training has been a big benefit for ALSIM, enabling us to offer new capability to existing clients. The use of LPV is growing very fast, especially in France, and the authorities are pushing air training organisations to get their simulators equipped – in fact this will be mandatory by 2020.”

“This is becoming a really big issue in Europe,” he continued. “Every ATO will need to offer their existing clients a solution for LPV training.” So far, since the beginning of 2016, ALSIM has upgraded or sold over 40 LPV-enabled simulators and sales are accelerating. “LPV capability has been a big boost to our business,” says Mickaël Hérard.

The first challenge to implement LPV was to upgrade the avionics in the simulators using actual GNSS receiver manufacturer equipment and the second was to seek approval from the aviation authorities. “We got approval from the French authority for one year initially, and now other authorities across Europe have also approved our devices,” Hérard says. “All our existing clients are now asking for upgrades. The LPV implementation has given ALSIM a real competitive advantage.”

The ALSIM presentation at AERO 2017 is available here.

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