ASTi is pleased to announce the recent sale of two Simulated Environment for Realistic ATC (SERA) systems to a world-leading provider of aviation training and flight simulators. This sale supports the first-ever use of a Simulated ATC Environment (SATCE) within a Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) training program, achieving a vision first proposed by the ICAO for MPL in 2006.
The two SERA systems will be installed on 737NG Level D full-flight simulators (FFS) in the United States with additional SERA systems being added in the coming months. The end user is a major airline with extensive experience in the MPL training pipeline, which obtained sign-off from the national aviation authority for the use of SERA in the program.
MPL procedures put more emphasis on simulator training, including the use of simulated air traffic control (ATC). But, until now, no existing MPL program used SATCE in their flight simulator(s). ASTi believes that this new SERA contract award will lead to many more MPL training programs adopting SATCE. Interestingly, the airline involved with this award conducted a cost-benefit analysis for the use of SATCE technology, which indicated that SERA will result in direct cost savings and a smaller carbon footprint. The latter is due to a reduction in student flight time that until now was used specifically to provide exposure to ATC radio operations.
Flight crews can only be fully prepared to handle real-world threats by training with those same threats. And recent results from a Line Operations Safety Assessment (LOSA) carried out for a major European airline identified ATC as the primary threat for operational safety. This is why bringing ATC experience to the MPL students from day one with SERA provides greater proficiency and radio competency. Training with SERA minimizes the flight line "shock" often experienced by new students facing their first ATC calls at a busy training airfield, all in the safe environment of the flight simulator.
About MPL
According to the ICAO, the MPL "allows a pilot to exercise the privileges of a copilot in a commercial air transportation on multicrew aeroplanes. It provides the aviation community with an opportunity to train pilots directly for copilot duties… The licence focuses on ab initio airline pilot training. MPL training and assessment will be competency based and involve a multicrew environment and threat and error management from the onset. It provides for greater use of flight simulation training devices and includes mandatory upset training."
About SERA
SERA, ASTi's leading simulated air traffic control environment (SATCE) system, fully complies with the latest industry requirements for SATCE solutions. This innovative technology eliminates the need for an instructor to role-play air traffic control, ensuring consistent phraseology for ATC and all other traffic radio calls. To learn more about SERA, go to seraatc.com.
About ASTi
ASTi is the leading supplier of communications, automated ATC and sound systems to the training and simulation industry. ASTi meets FAA, EASA and equivalent Level D qualifications with simulators around the world. Since 1989, ASTi has fielded over 11,000 systems at more than 800 installation sites in the U.S. and 49 other countries. To learn more about ASTi, go to asti-usa.com.