Flight Simulator - Manufacturers

Manufacturers

Notable full flight simulator manufacturers include:

• AXIS Flight Training Systems (Austria)
• CAE Inc., (Canada)
• FlightSafety International (FSI) (United States),
• Frasca International, Inc.
• Havelsan (Turkey)
• Indra Sistemas in Spain
• L-3 Communications - Link Simulation & Training Division
• Mechtronix Systems (Canada)
• Rockwell Collins
• Thales Training & Simulation (France and UK)

The UK Thales site at Crawley, near London Gatwick airport, is a successor to the ex-Rediffusion simulator factory. Another flight simulator manufacturer is Aerosim located in Burnsville, Minnesota, USA; their focus is making FTDs and VPTs (virtual procedure trainers).

There are currently about 1280 Full Flight Simulators (FFS) in operation worldwide, certificated for pilot training in the Commercial Air Transport (CAT) sector by the relevant National Civil Aviation Regulatory Authorities (NAA, such as the FAA for the USA and EASA for Europe), of which about 550 are in the USA, 75 in the UK, 60 in China (PRC), 50 each in Germany and Japan, and 40 in France. Of these, some 450 were made by CAE, mainly in their Montreal factory, about 380 by Thales and its predecessors Rediffusion, (Singer) Link-Miles, and Thomson CSF, and about 280 by Flight Safety International. L-3 Communications operates a facility in Arlington, Texas which manufactures flight simulators for the military; the division (Link Simulation and Training) traces its legacy back to Link's original invention.

Flight simulators are also extensively used for research in various aerospace subjects, particularly in flight dynamics and man-machine interaction (MMI). Both regular and purpose-built research simulators are employed. They range from the simplest ones, which resemble video games, to very specific and extremely expensive designs such as LAMARS, installed at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. This was built by Northrop for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and features a large scale five degrees of freedom motion system to a unique design and a 360-degree dome-mounted visual system. The most advanced research simulator with sustained G-capability, unlimited attitude control and a reconfigurable cockpit was developed in a joint-venture of TNO and AMST GmbH and is called DESDEMONA.