Helisim breaks ground on Texas training center

Helisim broke ground on a new 23,000-square foot helicopter pilot and maintenance crew training center in Grand Prairie, Texas.

The new center, at the Airbus Helicopters Inc. campus, represents a major international expansion of Helisim. The company will oversee operations at the new simulation center, and the first stage of the new facility is scheduled for completion later in 2019.

The center will house the first Level D full-motion flightsimulators in North America for Airbus H145 and H175 helicopters as well as twohigh-tech civil helicopters, which are now entering wide use in the Americas.

The Texas training center also incorporates existing training facilities, including its H125/AS350 full-flight simulator and H135/H145 flight training device.

With an initial investment of $40 million, the simulation centeris expected to bring several thousand pilots and maintenance personnel to GrandPrairie every year the company says, sometimes for two weeks or more,supporting the growing local economy in Grand Prairie.