CAE TO APPLY MFOQA CONCEPTS TO SIMULATOR TRAINING APPLICATIONS IN PIONEERING US DoD RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Montreal, December 14, 2009 – (NYSE: CAE; TSX: CAE) – CAE today announced that its CAE Flightscape and CAE USA businesses have been selected by Concurrent Technologies Corporation (CTC) for a demonstration/validation initiative to demonstrate the benefits of applying Military Flight Operations Quality Assurance (MFOQA) concepts to the full-flight simulator (FFS) training environment for accident prevention and mishap reduction. The demonstration/validation initiative is funded by the U.S. Defense Safety Oversight Council (DSOC) through the National Defense Center for Energy and Environment (NDCEE) and is operated by CTC.
The concept, known as Simulator Operations Quality Assurance (SOQA), will involve researchers collecting statistics generated from flight data from FFS training sessions for comparison with statistics from flight data from the actual aircraft (MFOQA). The SOQA initiative will also explore the potential for developing evidenced-based training scenarios using objective flight data from known MFOQA events or mishaps.
"This initiative has significant potential to improve flight safety," said Everett Smith, leader for MFOQA and safety technologies, Office of the Undersecretary of Defense (OUSD), Readiness Programming and Assessment (RP&A). Smith foresees the potential transitioning of the technology to not only C-40 operations in the United States Air Force (USAF) but also across the Department of Defense. "The results of this demonstration effort will assist the military services in determining follow-on SOQA actions," said Smith.
The 11-month evaluation will be conducted on a Boeing 737 full-flight simulator at CAE SimuFlite in Dallas, Texas, beginning this month. The USAF flies the C-40 military version of the 737. The aircraft type was chosen for the demonstration due to its commonality with commercial aviation operations.
The evaluation will also use CAE Flightscape’s Insight flight data analysis and flight animation software technology. The USAF Safety Center’s Mishap Animation and Analysis Facility (MAAF) at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, has been using Insight for flight data analysis of mishaps since their inception in 1996 and selected the new Insight Flight Animation product for their MFOQA program in 2006. Using the same technology for analyzing MFOQA events, mishaps and for debriefing simulator sessions greatly facilitates collaboration on the DSOC demonstration/validation initiative.
"CAE believes that flight data analysis technology can facilitate increased connectivity between MFOQA safety programs and the synthetic training environment to help train pilots how to prevent mishaps by exposing them to training scenarios based on actual MFOQA events and/or mishaps," said Mike Poole, CAE Flightscape Executive Director and Chief Investigator. "CAE is very pleased to be partnering with the U.S. DoD in this emerging field of evidence-based training. By using a 737 simulator as a test bed, the results should provide benefit to the commercial aviation training community as well."
Concurrent Technologies Corporation is an independent, non-profit, applied scientific research and development professional services organization providing innovative management and technology-based solutions.
CAE Flightscape is a world leader in safety of flight science and flight data analysis. The CAE business develops software tools that enable the effective study and understanding of recorded flight data to improve safety, maintenance, and flight operations.
CAE is a world leader in providing simulation and modelling technologies and integrated training solutions for the civil aviation industry and defence forces around the globe. With annual revenues exceeding C$1.6 billion, CAE employs more than 6,500 people at more than 90 sites and training locations in 20 countries. We have the largest installed base of civil and military full-flight simulators and training devices. Through our global network of 29 civil aviation and military training centres, we train more than 75,000 crewmembers yearly. We also offer modelling and simulation software to various market segments and, through CAE’s professional services division, we assist customers with a wide range of simulation-based needs. www.cae.com
For more information, please contact: info@flightscape.com +1 613 225 0070
Posted: December 14, 2009
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