Frasca offers lower-priced sim

Part of the year-long birthday party included a new, lower priced flight simulator that Frasca officials hoped would open up the world of aviation to community colleges, technical schools, and other institutions that were on a budget.

Colleges, flight schools, and other customers can switch between different aircraft models including popular Cessna 172 and Piper Seminole trainers, and choose to display traditional six-pack flight instruments or advanced avionics, “which operate and function exactly as in the aircraft,” the company wrote in a news release.

The reconfigurable simulator has a browser-based flight instructor operating station that can be controlled by phone, tablet, or desktop computer. Digital sound accompanies realistic visuals that can be displayed with either a single or a three-channel monitoring system. Another benefit of the simulator was “easy maintenance and diagnostics and a modular design that takes up minimal floor space and will fit through a standard sized door,” the company noted.

Early adopters of the RTD include American Flyers—Rudy Frasca’s initial TruFlite simulator customer—and Metropolitan State University of Denver, which boasts “the largest fleet of Frasca simulators," the company wrote.

In other news, the simulator manufacturer struck a deal with two college training programs in Japan. The Japan Civil Aviation College ordered five Cirrus SR22 simulators with Garmin NXi avionics, and Tokai University selected a Piper PA-44 Seminole G1000-equipped Level 5 training device to replace a 2009 model.