News Safety & Training
Caverton and Thales sign acceptance of Africa’s Level D helicopter full flight simulator

Cpt. Musa S. Nuhu and Franck Riester, French Minister Delegate in charge of Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Caverton, and Thales signed the acceptance of the Reality H full-flight simulator configured for the AW139 helicopter.

The Thales Reality H full-flight simulator is installed and operational in Caverton’s new training centre located at the Murtala Muhammad International Airport, Nigeria. The simulator allows pilots to train in adverse weather conditions, helicopter failures and emergencies, that could occur during actual flight operations.

With this new training centre, soon to be certified by the Nigerian and European civil aviation authorities (NCAA and EASA) at the highest level, Caverton will provide state-of-the-art training, including initial type rating, continuous training and proficiency checks, for offshore and onshore missions as well as VIP transport operations. This training is intended for Caverton’s pilots as well as AW139 helicopter operators based on the African continent.

Franck Riester, Minister Delegate in charge of Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, declared in a statement: “This amazing simulator is another illustration of a success story between France and Nigeria and the strength of the partnership between Thales and Caverton. Supported by Bpifrance on export credit, this project involves unprecedented top technology at the scale of Africa, allowing Nigeria to fulfill its ambition to become the training hub of the region.”

Peter Hitchcock, Vice President of Training & Simulation at Thales, added: “working together with Caverton through this unprecedented health crisis, we have safely finalized the shipping, commissioning and acceptance of the first level D full flight helicopter simulator in Africa, representing a major milestone in the continued effort to improve the efficiency and safety of flight operations.”