CAE and Lider Aviacao announce joint venture to provide helicopter training in South America

CAE and Lider Aviacao, the largest helicopter operator in Brazil, announced today on the eve of Heli Expo 2011, an agreement to form a joint venture company that will provide advanced, simulation-based, helicopter pilot training in South America in early 2012. The new joint venture company will purchase the first full-motion Level D CAE 3000 Series full-flight simulator (FFS), which will replicate the Sikorsky S-76C++ aircraft. This brings the total number of FFS sales that CAE has announced so far during fiscal year 2011 to 23.

"Offshore oil and gas platform transport services will generate significant helicopter fleet growth in the coming years, requiring well-trained, highly-skilled pilots who can adeptly handle a variety of weather conditions," said Junia Hermont Correa, Chief Operating Officer of Lider. "Our strong relationship as CAE's business aviation training representative in Brazil for many years provides us the utmost confidence in our combined abilities to deliver the highest-quality helicopter simulation equipment and training."

Lider operates more than 50 helicopters, representing nearly half the fleet servicing the oil and gas market in Brazil. Their customer base includes Petrobras, Shell, Chevron, StatOilHydro, British Gas, Repsol and Anadarko. Bristow Group, a leading provider of helicopter services in Europe, Africa, Australia, and the Americas, has a minority equity participation in Lider.

"Lider and CAE share a common vision for the highest standards of safety, quality and customer service," said Jeff Roberts, CAE Group President, Civil Simulation Products, Training and Services. "Lider's longtime leadership in the South American helicopter market and CAE's extensive civil and military helicopter training expertise will provide operators with the most advanced training technology and expert instruction available in an easily accessible location close to their home bases."

The S-76 FFS will be ready for training in early 2012. It is planned to be installed at CAE's training centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil, which serves South American airline customers and was recently expanded to 10 simulator bays. The FFS will provide training for all S76 variants, including S76A, S76B, S76C+ and S76C++.

The CAE 3000 Series helicopter mission simulator, which was launched in February 2010 at the Helicopter Association International (HAI) Heli-Expo annual convention, features unprecedented realism for helicopter-specific mission training, including offshore, helicopter medical transport, law enforcement, high-altitude, corporate, and other operations. The simulator enables pilots to practice challenging procedures without risk such as low-level flight, confined area operations, autorotation and landing on platforms and ships at sea.

The S-76 FFS for Brazil will be the first CAE 3000 Series full-flight simulator fielded with a CAE True Electric Motion six-degree-of-freedom motion platform, and will be qualified for initial and recurrent credits. List price for a CAE 3000 Series Level D full-flight simulator depends on the helicopter configuration and specific features and ranges from C$10 million to C$14 million.

Source: CAE

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