Last week our Belgian project ended with a successful certification of our latest an Airbus A320 based FNPT II APS-MCC FTD-ready device. Hence COVID-19 has affected our plans we needed to come up with some creative sloutions, therefore we decided to give you an insight to show you what has happened behind the scenes.
LVL320 has approached us back in August and requested for a quotation to an Airbus A320 FNPT II APS-MCC FTD-ready device. Based on their activities they required some custom changes which - after thorough evaluation - we were happy to implement.
Following the discussion of the concept, negotiation processes continued in October with personal meeting at our facilities, which allowed both parties to further assess and clarify customer requirements and identify possibilities. Our showroom and simulator used by of our ATO provides the perfect opportunity for a test flight so the future partners would have the chance to try out the device in action and make sure that it fits their requirements.
Right after our partner have departed our sales team started to edit the preliminary quotation based on the discussion took place at our HQ. The final quotation always reflects on the personal needs of our customers and calculated to be equally beneficial to both parties.
After LVL320 has accepted our offer we began to work on the next phase – the negotiation of the exact configuration, the additional services, the timeline of the project and the contract. Eventually they’ve chosen a type-specific device with some custom implementations. They chose original OEM seats and required properly working oxygen masks with compressed air system, so our task was to implement them into our system. LVL320 also required a tailor made IOS station which needed some extra designing. Besides custom alterations, we also implemented some new developments to this simulator like the elevated die cast aluminum sidestick handles.
In our contract we agreed to install the device during April after the factory acceptance on the second week of March. Unfortunately, the restrictions in Europe regarding COVID-19 affected our plans and seemingly made the factory acceptance impossible. The same week we planned to welcome LVL320 to our manufacturing facility in Hatvan, the Hungarian borders got closed so we needed to come up with an alternative solution. We decided to utilize the modern technology and organized a special, first time ever online showcase of the device. During the event our engineers was conducting all the necessary procedures in the simulator while the LVL320 team monitored them. We are proud that although it took a lot of work and effort, our team had been able to come up with the solution to this unprecedented situation and we successfully managed to pass the factory acceptance.
Until this point everything was progressing according to the agreed deadline, but the pandemic situation delayed the installation. Our team wasn’t able to travel to Belgium so the simulator stayed in our manufacturing for two extra months. In the middle of May the situation seemed to be getting safer and understanding LVL320’s need of the urgent installation we decided to set off the simulator and the installing team to Belgium. The installation and testing of the device took 7 days and went smoothly and according to the plans. Following the installation, the LVL320 team immediately put the simulator to use and started to explore and test its functionality, usability and reliability, completed the on-site acceptance.
In all cases following an installation a simulator needs some fine-tuning in order to the smooth operation. During this process we ask for the help of our partners to register every problem they detect in the ticketing system. This makes quick responses possible and reassures that every glitch is known by the assigned support associate.
At the very end of June our team travelled to Belgium again, this time to assist to the certification of the device, which successfully took place. The authorities have tested the simulator in objective and subjective aspects. The 70 objective tests are focusing exclusively on the numerical data while through the subjective aspect the simulator is tested for its resemblance to the real airplane, whether it gives you a real cockpit feeling and how precise are its flight controls and switches. The simulator’s all functions and its navigation are also tested along with the general behavior of the virtual airplane. Eventually the authorities found the simulator perfectly suitable for training and now we are working on fine tuning the last configurations.
We are proud that our product will help countless future pilots to achieve their goals and get accepted at their dream job - working for an airline.
