Sikorsky to build Black Hawk helicopter training center in Colombia

Posted by John McHale

RIO NEGRO, Colombia, 9 July 2011. Officials Sikorsky Aerospace Services (SAS) announced that the company is building a new UH-60 Black Hawk HelicopterFlight Simulator Training Center at a Colombian air force base in Melgar. It is expected to be completed later this year. The new training center will have a full motion, high fidelity Black Hawk simulator to enable pilot and flight crew training for the Colombian armed services as well as Sikorsky military operators throughout Latin America. The simulator is Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Level D rated. It will have a detailed cockpit replication of all Black Hawk controls and aircraft systems including wide-field outside-world visual systems. All components are mounted on six degree-of-freedom motion platforms that work with pilot control movements and external aerodynamic factors.Columbia's Black Hawk simulator will be located in a special purpose facility currently under construction. Overseeing the project is Corporacion de la Industria Aeronautica de Colombia (CIAC), the acquisition arm of the Colombian Ministry of Defense. The facility staff will include two experienced Black Hawk pilots serving as simulator operators as well as three maintenance personnel to maintain the simulator.Sikorsky Aerospace Services is the aftermarket business of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).