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Tuesday 12 March 2019
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Pilots’ training: Caverton acquires Reality H full-flight simulator Stories by IFEOMA OKEKE
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averton Helicopters has acquired a Thales Reality H full-flight simulator (FFS), which will contribute to improving the overall safety of helicopter flights in the Nigerian and regional aviation sector. It will be installed within the brand new Caverton Flight Training Academy, built at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria. The training centre will be next door to the future Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul facility, currently under development by Caverton. This will be the first helicopter FFS EASA Level D to be installed in Africa. Caverton, a key aviation and marine logistics player
for the Nigerian oil and gas industry sector, aims to deliver AW139 Simulator training to pilots. This move is a key step forward in Caverton’s strategic move into flight simulation training services. They have chosen to rely on Thales’s AW139-configured Reality H Full-Flight Simulator to accomplish this ambition. The simulator will be installed at Caverton’s new training centre, designed to meet the increased demand for helicopter pilot training and, in particular, to eliminate the challenges experienced by many pilots aiming to obtain initial and recurrent training. The training centre’s ultimate aim is to improve the overall safety of helicopter flights in the Nigerian and regional aviation sector. The centre is being set up on the same site as Caverton’s brand new
International Women’s Day: Dana Air supports entrepreneurs, women in
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n celebration of the International Women’s Day 2019, Dana Air has supported the Women in Media Development initiative 2019 and Women Entrepreneur Fair, scheduled to hold on the 29th and 30th of March at the Justice Idris Kutigi Conference Centre in Minna Niger State. The Women Entrepreneur Fair (WEF), an initiative of the Airmingle Media ltd is aimed at training, empowering and showcasing female entrepreneurs, women in business and encouraging them to come together and share their experiences in order to shape the thought of young women in business. Hajarah Alhassan, the founder of WEF, speaking on the airline’s support for the event said, ‘’ we have chosen Dana Air to fly our participants and we thank the airline for always showing
commitment to the anything and everything that concerns women, particularly women entrepreneurs. “We are grateful to the airline because we initiated this program to enlighten, empower and showcase women entrepreneurs so that they can be funded by individuals, corporate organisations or government.’’ Similarly, the airline has supported the Women in Media Development Initiative held earlier in the year as part of its commitment to the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day celebration tagged ‘Balanceforbetter’s. The WIMDI which held in partnership with Women FM, is designed to Assist, motivate, promote and reward excellence among members through consistent and effective training locally and internationally.
purpose-built Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. The Thales Reality H Full Flight Simulator is the world’s most advanced commercial helicopter simulator, and will
be used to provide realistic scenario-based flight and mission training to AW139 helicopter operators in the region as well as Caverton’s own pilots and crews. The simulator will support a large range of training needs, including Type Rating, Recurrent Training and Proficiency Checks for both Visual Flight Rules (VFR) and Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), including offshore missions and VIP operations to unprepared landing sites. It will be qualified to meet EASA Level D standard, the highest level of qualification for a simulator. The simulator being delivered to Caverton will enable pilots that fly AW139 twin-engine helicopters – one of the most popular helicopter platforms in Nigeria and the region– to be fully immersed in a realistic virtual environment repre-
senting Nigerian operational areas, and learn to handle a multitude of system failures and overcome very complex malfunctions should they arise in the real world. Pilots can thus train safely in high-risk mission scenarios in a range of weather conditions. “We are delighted to add Thales to our growing list of partners and we are confident in providing the best helicopter training with this Full Flight Level D Simulator. “Safety is our priority at Caverton and we are committed to improving flight safety across our industry and the region through simulatorbased training. The new training center being the first of its kind in Africa and will advance safety for the dedicated men and women who fly every day,” Aderemi Makanjuola,
chairman, Caverton Offshore Support Group said. “Thales is very excited to be part of this initiative with Caverton in Nigeria. We believe that Caverton is the best partner to develop helicopter flight training services, and we are confident that pilots will be keen to train with Caverton on the Thales AW139 Reality H simulator,” Makanjuola added Benoît Plantier, VP Thales, Training & Simulation said “The people we all rely on to make the world go round – they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary high technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible, today.”
Aero Contractors unveils new uniform accessories, opens more routes
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ero Contractors, one of Nigeria’s top airlines has unveiled new uniform accessories ands opened new routes in a bid to provide better service to its customers. Speaking during the unveiling at the Murtala Muhammed Airport terminal 2, Lagos, Kudirat Bello, the cabin service executive, Aero Contractors, she said the event was to promote and elevate Aero brand for a better service and seamless safe service delivery to its passengers. “We are using this medium to tell the public that we are back and we are back for good. We are in business. We changed the uniform accessories such as the tie and scarf just to enhance the beauty of our uniform. We are telling our passengers to expect us in a big way. We have increased our fleet. Our service delivery will be impeccable this time around; we are going to improve on it,” Bello added. Also speaking during the event, Ado Sanusi, the manag-
L-R: Ado Sanusi chief executive officer of Aero Contractors; Kola Roberts, official of the airline, and passenger who won Aero free ticket, during the unveiling of the airline’s new uniform accessories at the Murtala Muhammed Airport domestic terminal (MMA2), Lagos at the weekend.
ing director, Aero Contractors, said the airline is starting new routes and reinstating those routes that it suspended. Sanusi said, “When I joined, we were doing eight flights a day, we were servicing only Abuja and Port Harcourt.
In the past 24 months, we have increased to more than 30 flights daily. We were carrying close to 8,000 passengers a month, now we are doing almost 33,000 passengers every month. “We have included Kano
to our routes. We introduced more frequencies into Abuja. We now operate Abuja-Asaba, Warri, Uyo and we are in the process of introducing Yola. We will operate Lagos-Yola, Abuja-Yola, Yola-Abuja and Yola-Lagos.