Two HAI HELI-EXPO 2023 Floor Highlights

Group Editor Marty Kauchak noted his favorite time at industry conferences is the opportunity to explore booths and connect with community members in the exhibition hall. During his walkabout of the HAI exhibition floor on March 7, he gained insights on developments at entrol and Resier.

Entrol is expanding its portfolio into North America by launching its H1000 AATD to better support Bell 505s in service in the market and opening a maintenance center in Colorado. Halldale Group met with Luis Olarte, entrol’s CEO and founder, who took time to provide additional insights on the new AATD and associated developments.

The new H1000 replica elevates the fidelity of pilot training for single-engine rotary aircraft through a number of design strategies, including, “starting with the vibration system that provides cues to the engine when you are starting the engine,” and the inclusion of entrol’s 3TV immersive visual system.

While the executive emphasized the H1000 is a replica of a Bell 505, the helicopter OEM provides raw data from an actual 505 to support AATD validation, “flight testing,” avionics integration and other aspects of the device’s life cycle.

Olarte also placed a marker down on the risks and rewards of today’s S&T market, by noting that as a private company, entrol developed the H1000 through internal R&D funding.

Eyeing returns on investment, the CEO concluded “We hope to announce within the next two months a customer. We are on ‘final approach’ to land a simulator customer. We are taking orders and we hope to install the first unit by summer ’23.”

The H1000 is in FAA certification process.

Give Them a (AR) Lift

Reiser Simulation and Training and DRF Luftrettung is creating an AR-based training device for rescue hoist training of helicopter crews. This is an interesting partnership that brings together Reiser’s S&T expertise with DRF’s legacy in air and hoist rescue operations. Michael Weißenböck, Sales Manager at Reiser, walked Halldale Group through a scenario using the nascent device.

The choice of AR is interesting as it allows the trainee sit on and feel the helicopter fuselage, but also gain an outside view through the visual system. Additionally, moving the hoist system and accompanying winch cable provided a high-fidelity training experience.

Individual and crew training are is in this team’s sights, as efforts are underway to network the device to a Full Flight Simulator to permit pilots and hoist operators to train together to scenarios.

The program is expected to achieve it next major milestone this September-October.