Eurocopter's new Adaptive Cockpit Simulator for Research, Development and Flight Crew Familiarisation

It is vital for helicopter flight deck development to use state-of-the-art tools in each development phase. However, budget constraints can compromise the availability of such tools. This paper describes a new type of flight deck simulator that can be adapted and reused for a range of helicopter types in order to reduce tool costs. It has been implemented at Eurocopter's simulation department in the engineering directorate. After a brief discussion of the underlying requirements the general design principles of the simulator and its major building blocks are presented. The integration of the simulator into the existing infrastructure at Eurocopter is described as well as its integration into the development of training simulation. In the final section of the paper the benefits and opportunities for this new tool in the human-system interface design process are demonstrated from a user perspective.