Simulator manufacturer Alsim says that most of its projects in South America are on hold at the moment, given the current situation, but it hopes that a return to normality will be on the cards for the final quarter of this year, as flight schools start to re-open.

Its most popular products in the region are the AL250 and the ALX, which are both generic devices. “Their success relies on their versatility and their reconfigurable and flexible aspects,” explains Nicolas de Lassus, sales account manager.

He continues: “The purpose of these simulators is to act as a training tool for transference of skills for a wide range of aircraft: single piston, twin piston, twin turbine and medium category twin jet. The principle involved is not to learn to pilot and manage one specific aircraft but to understand the logic and procedures common to each class of aircraft. This means that the instrument panel has to be designed with this in mind: it must not reflect the design of any particular aircraft but must provide all the systems that may be found in each aircraft class. In general, our customers choose SEP, MEP and light and medium jet configurations.

“South America is severely affected by the pandemic and some countries are still in lockdown, which makes any travel impossible for now. Some business forecasts in our sector talked about three to five years to get back to the level before COVID-19.”

In January 2020, the first Alsim simulator in South America was inaugurated; it went to Ecuadorian flight school FlyingPro.