Spanish company, Simloc, has successfully completed a pioneering A320SR type certifiable simulator for the Canary Islands-based company Brok-air Aviation – integrated into the cabin of a real aircraft fuselage.
“We were very excited to take this on. It has been a very uncommon project,” said Manuel García-Muñoz, electronic engineer at Simloc.
“Given that we already had a certifiable generic simulator, Brok-air’s request was a wonderful opportunity to demonstrate its quality, with the challenge of adapting certain characteristics to this new scenario.”
As a result, Simloc has a pilot training device that completely replicates the entire cabin and all the original panels. Once everything is painted and carpeted, the impression is that of entering a brand new plane, with a fully working cabin.
The Brok-air fuselage has two main aircraft access doors, an evacuation ramp, 14/17 rows of passenger seats, service areas, bathrooms and the other elements for an aircraft of this kind.
“The most complicated thing has been the visual system,” said García-Muñoz.
“Our simulation cabins are supported by the ground, and given that the Brok-air simulator is inside a real plane, at a real height, we were asked for a visual aircraft system that was elevated in the cabin, with no support on the ground, leaving the space where the aircraft is located free for people and material to pass along.”
Simloc’s solution was to design and manufacture a semi-circular aluminium structure, with a diameter of six metres and a series of anchoring supports and lugs, which have enabled the visual system to be completely elevated, as required by the client, without damaging the fuselage in any way.