Entebbe Airport based Airserv has received the state of the art flight training simulator machine to bolster training of junior pilots. launched on the 05th August, the gadget is expected to drastically reduce training costs and give junior pilots real time experience on training. The USA made simulator cost Airserv over 1 billion UGX.
Speaking at the launch, the director general Uganda civil aviation authority Fred Bamwesigye revealed that this advanced technology will be used to train new pilots before they are exposed to the real aircrafts. “it is important for student pilots to familiarize themselves virtually in simulation before eventually getting hands on with aircrafts so as to avoid accidents related to pilot incompetency because life and safety of the passengers is very vital,” he asserted.
Director operations, Airserv, Captain James Lwanga, said that this advanced technology will allow junior pilots (students) to get exposed on certain mistakes, maneuver mitigation procedures and get acclimatized to situation based huddles and how best to over come them before using the real aircraft.
“As a tool, it will greatly assist us in the standardization and training of our group, and we expect the good results. Currently the Aviation sector has a challenge of less human resource due to the fact that even the available human resource is aging therefore there is a need to train more pilots and engineers, “he added.
According to Johnson Mugulusi, the managing director Airserve, the piloting training giants in the country, Airserv has been yarning for this machine, however there was so many obstacles brought in by a set back from the outbreak of Covid 19 plus other challenges like the Ukraine – Russia war that has a robustly escalated prices of equipment needed in the aviation sector.
He Further revealed that there is an eminent limited shortage of human resource in the Aviation industry globally, that has been caused by the aging of pilots yet few pilots have been trained to fill the vacuum.
With the availability of the simulator, Airserv is set to train 70 Aviators including 25 pilots, 25 engineers and 20 flight operation officers in two years time and it will be done at no cost.
Before the acquisition of this simulator machine, piloting students and engineers have always been sent to South Africa, USA and Kenya to get access of trainings on similar simulator machines. This move is also anticipated to save resources in monetary terms as compared to training using aircrafts which would cost $1140 USDs per training hour, now this has drastically dropped to a meager $150 USDs.
Flight training simulator is an e-coach airspace planner used for virtue piloting training in different types of environments, aerial study, area control, mechanical analysis, runway approach and tower coordination.