Delta State University has placed an order for a Level 6 Diamond DA42 FTD (flight training device) from Frasca International, to be delivered in the spring of 2016.
The new FTD will feature Frasca’s TruVision visual system, an advanced cockpit weather and traffic interface, and Garmin G1000 advanced avionics paired with the KAP 140 autopilot. The new simulator will be in addition to the university’s three other Frasca TruFite FTDs for the Cessna 172 and Beechcraft Duchess that are currently in use. The DA42 FTD will simulate the Diamond DA42 aircraft, which is a complex multiengine airplane popular with flight training operators.
"It is a big transition jumping out of a single engine Cessna 172 with steam gauges and then getting into a faster, complex, multiengine aircraft with a glass cockpit,” said Roger Campbell, Delta State’s assistant chief flight instructor, in a press release. “The DA42 FTD will definitely ease the transition for students. Our students will have to demonstrate not only flying the aircraft which is a task in its self, but also be able to use all equipment in that aircraft and this is where a complete and accurate replica DA42 FTD pays off.”
