Flight Options Flight Academy, located at the Sunshine Coast airport in Mudjimba, Australia, has placed an order for a Frasca Piper Seminole RTD. The RTD is an FAA-approved AATD and has also received Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) approval as a category B synthetic trainer.

The device will be configured as a Piper Seminole with Garmin G1000 avionics and will feature a three-channel visual display system. The Frasca RTD is the only AATD with licensed G1000 software for PFD, MFD and GFC700 autopilot.

Frasca International has had a presence in Australia for more than 35 years. Frasca's leading edge research and development, which led to the development of the new reconfigurable training device, now enables customers to implement the latest technology at a lower cost than before.

Tim Holland, Flight Options head of operations, says: “The purchase of the Frasca Piper Seminole RTD will complement actual flight training our students undertake in the Piper Seminole aircraft for instrument training.”

The Frasca RTD is easily reconfigurable between different aircraft models and between legacy analog and modern Garmin G1000 NXi glass avionics. The RTD is built using robust hardware for reliability and features a browser-based Instructor Operator Station (IOS) which can be controlled by phone, tablet or desktop computer. The RTD can be configured with a single or three channel visual display system and includes digital sound simulation.

Benefits of the RTD include easy maintenance and diagnostics and a modular design that takes up minimal floor space and will fit through a standard sized door. The device provides a high level of realism that enables the students to transfer a greater amount of learning from the AATD to the aircraft. Frasca's aerodynamic models have been validated by the FAA on higher level full-flight simulators and include physical modelling of all significant components and effects of the aircraft class.