Aerios Global is the first South African company to train at the Helicopter Flight Training Center (HFTC) in Shreveport, Louisiana, and says it will be back every year.
Aerios Global’s newest aircraft, the EC145, which has been modernized by Paradigm Aerospace Corporation. Photo by Stefan Smuts
The Cape Town-based offshore and land helicopter services company currently operates a variety of aircraft, including an H120, AS350, AS365 and the most recent, the EC145. The EC145 was modernized in Pennsylvania by Paradigm Aerospace Corporation, a Metro Aviation company, for Aerios.
Two Aerios Global pilots spent a week at HFTC in the Western Hemisphere’s first EC145 Level D full motion simulator.
“It blew me away,” said driver Stephen Merry. “It’s an amazing training tool, and we were able to do so much in the simulator that we wouldn’t be able to do in real life on a real airplane. “
Compared to the training they have taken elsewhere, Merry said, “This training is up there with the best training you can get. On top of that, the people we have worked with are incredibly friendly and professional.
Merry and his colleague will now return home to South Africa to train their counterparts on the EC145, with the intention of visiting the HFTC annually for recurrent training.
Mark and Charlie Johnston – Britain’s newest top training partners | Subjects: Mark Johnston, Ciaron Maher and David Eustace, Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott
