HATSOFF emerges hot destination for desi, international chopper pilots

A pilot gets trained on how to land on an oil rig at HATSOFF facility in Bangalore.

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: International civil helicopter pilots have zeroed in on Bangalore to fine-tune their skills on flight simulators. Living up to their expectations with cost-effective training is the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), a JV project between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE (Canada).
Set to turn four years coming June, HATSOFF now caters to 100 per cent domestic market in India with Bell 412 EP, HAL's civil Dhruv and the Eurocopter's Dauphin 365 N3 simulators operating in tandem at its facility in Vimanapura. All the units are certified as Level D, FFS/FFMS (Full Motion/Full Mission Simulators), the highest qualification for flight simulators. The line up of international customers have been steadily on the rise with pilots from Australia (Bell), Canada (CHC Helicopter), Ecuador (FAE) and Japan being among the regulars.
HAL chairman R K Tygai tells Express on Friday that HATSOFF has emerged as one of the fast-growing simulator training facilities in the world. "The scale for us to measure the success of HATSOFF is the feedback we have been receiving from the customers, which has been encouraging. Domestic and international enrollments will further increase, making it one of the best in the world," says Tyagi.
HATSOFF currently provides training to 100 per cent domestic market in the civil sector in India with all major operators including Pawan Hans, Global Vectra, Heligo, UHPC, GMR and a few state governments enrolling their pilots for training. In the military segment, in addition to the three Services, Coast Guard and the Border Security Force have been sending their pilots to HATSOFF.
Capt N S Krishna, CEO and Chief of Training at HATSOFF says that new market potential is currently being explored in South East Asian region. "Bangalore has the advantage of good connectivity and the travel and living cost is low compared to other major cities abroad. We have kept a very competitive cost and is ready to offer prime slots during core hours of the day," says Capt Krish, a veteran pilot, who won laurels following the Dhruv crash in 2005. He had safely force-landed the helicopter after a tail rotor blade failure, with all onboard escaping unhurt.
Capt Ajay Ramakrishnan, a Dhruv helicopter pilot with Pawan Hans says that the training at HATSOFF proved handy to overcome a crisis. "We had an emergency due to bad weather in Raipur with the visibility suddenly becoming zero. We were able to recover the chopper only because of the training we received at HATSOFF," says Capt Ajay.
Since the Dhruv Mk-3 and Mk-4 variants are very highly complex machines, HATSOFF permits the pilots to train to proficiency in operating advance systems before they actually fly the machine. The military variant of Dhruv is expected to be added to the facility by 2015.
HATSOFF has so far logged in close to 4000 hours of training sessions with 120 Bell, 100 Dauphin and 30 Dhruv pilots getting exposure to simulation flying. It offers pilots all kinds of terrains such as hills, desert, oil rigs, jungles, extreme high altitude and rooftop helipads. These enable them to train in terrains they actually fly.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

HATSOFF CEO Upadhyay quits; HAL says all is well

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore: Veteran Test pilot and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bangalore-based HATSOFF Helicopter Training Private Ltd Wg Cdr (Retd) C D Upadhyay has quit . Sources confirmed to Express on Thursday that Upadhyay put in his papers on January 5 and will be out of HATSOFF (Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying) by the end of this month. HATSOFF is a JV of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and CAE Canada.

Sources say that Upadhyay emailed his resignation to the Board members expressing his desire to be off all activities of HATSOFF. “The CAE, while acknowledging the email thanked him for getting a world-class, leading-edge chopper training facility in Bangalore. He is now keen to share his expertise to promote helicopter industry and safe helicopter operations in India ,” sources said. He was appointed as the first CEO of HATSOFF in 2009.

HAL chairman's office told Express that Upadhyay was turning 65 years this month and hence it was a matter of days before he would have signed off from the post. An email sent to CAE's media department evoked no response. “He was informed that he could continue till March, which he rejected. There were some skirmishes over one armed forces' wing not agreeing to sent Dhruv pilots to train at HATSOFF despite repeated representations to them. He didn't budge a bit from the rulebook,” sources said.

For Upadhyay this will be the end of a hat-trick service spanning over 65 years. He commanded the Mi-8 Squadron while being with the Indian Air Force and later was the Chief Test Pilot (CTP) of HAL's rotary wing operations. “He was very much part of the design and development of Dhruv from its inception and has over 1000 hours of prototype testing experience on this helicopter. He has flown over 33 different types of aircraft and helicopters and has over 9000 hours of operational, prototype testing and instructional flying experience,” sources at HAL's Human Resources department said.

Upadhyay was not available for any comment.

Copyright@The New Indian Express

Dauphin pilots to make Bangalore their playing field | DGCA nod for 3rd HATSOFF simulator in striking range | Dhruv military variant simo getting ready

 The HATSOFF facility in Bangalore warming up for Dauphin certification. Photos: Yugesh Kumar 

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service 

Bangalore: Chopper pilots from India and abroad, flying the Dauphins will find a new abode to hone their flying skills -- swiftly, surely and safely – at the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) in Bangalore. The facility, a JV project between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE-Canada, will throw open a Dauphin 365 N3 simulator to pilots, after it is evaluated and qualified by the Civil Aviation Authorities (CAA) of UK on behalf of European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) of India. 

Once this qualification is in (likely any time now) , HATSOFF will join the exclusive league of very few simulator training institutions in the world (US, Europe, Singapore) who can boast of six synthetic training devices for helicopters. At the end of this qualification phase, expected to be by the third week of December 2011, HATSOFF will have the Bell 412 EP, HAL civil/conventional Dhruv and the Eurocopter's Dauphin 365 N3 units – all certified as Level D, FFS/FFMS (Full Motion/Full Mission Simulators), which is the highest qualification for flight simulators. 

HATSOFF is also approved to impart training for under slung operations and rescue hoist operations. Both of these operations is expected to be exploited by the Indian industry, as is being commonly done in the West. “The visuals of the simulators already have the roof top helipads. We will be ready to train pilots for roof top operations which are bound be become popular in India in the near future. Approval for imparting such training is expected to be granted by the DGCA very soon,” says Wg Cdr (Retd) C.D. Upadhyay, CEO, HATSOFF. 

DHRUV MILSIM: The military variant of Dhruv simulator with ‘glass cockpit’ and full weapons integrated is getting ready in Montreal (Canada). By the end of 2012, it will arrive at the HATSOFF facility in Bangalore and subsequent qualification. 

Till then, the Dhruv pilots can train in the existing civil simulator at the facility, but will only be able to do electronic warfare (EW) training when the military version arrives. “The Dhruv pilots flying this variant will be able to train on night vision goggle flying, weapons firing, EW and host of other military operations as required by the Indian Army Aviation, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Coast Guard,” says Capt N S Krishna, Chief of Training, at the facility. 

HATSOFF also imparts role and mission training modes on synthetic flight devices. It is cleared to train helicopter pilots for off shore operations on oil rigs, helipad operations on helipads from sea level to 20,000ft, catering for the Indian conditions requiring operations in plains, mountainous areas of wooded Eastern sector and the cold desert of the Northern sector. 

Says Capt Jatindar, Dauphin pilot, engaged in the integration of the Dauphin 365 N3 cockpit at HATSOFF. “I have seen many simulators all over the world and HATSOFF is outstanding. We are now approaching the final portion of the integration process and this will be one of the best Dauphin simulators in the world. The visuals are excellent and feels like a real helicopter,” says Capt Jatindar with more than 14000 hours on helicopters since 1967. 

(Copyright@The New Indian Express)

Celebrating the Wright way: Young Aviators say HATSOFF to Wright Brothers

Schoolchildren along with HATSOFF officials pose with their paper planes in front of the Dhruv civil simulator at the HATSOFF facility on December 17. (Below) Schoolchildren along with  officials test-fly their paper planes to pay tributes to Wright Brothers. Photos: Yugesh

By Anantha Krishnan M

Express News Service

Bangalore:  Rishab, Pooja, Vinodini, Krithika, Sai and Janani flew over the oil rigs of Mumbai. The weather wasn't friendly and still they managed a safe landing on their Dauphin chopper.  Prathika, Anusha, Rahul, Aathira, Aditya and Vaishnav took the Bell chopper and hovered over the Siachen Glacier. Awe-struck by the sight beneath, they manoeuvred confidently enjoying every moment.

Later, during the 'de-brief' session in the company of some of India's finest Test pilots, these  schoolchildren probably had one of their best moments in their lives so far. They had a reason to 'fly' and they had a reason to cheer, as they joined thousands of plane people world over in celebrating the 108th anniversary of the historic first flight of Wright Bothers. The man who gave wings to their desire was Wg Cdr (Retd) C.D. Upadhyay, CEO, Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) -- a joint venture of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE-Canada.

Students between classes two and nine from various schools, including the Sacred Hearts, Sishugruha, HAL, Cambridge and St. Thomas, were taken in groups to fly on simulators along with instructors at HATSOFF. "The contribution of Wright Brothers cannot be forgotten.  Their 12-seconds first flight at Kitty Hawk is something what we all will remember for ever," Upadhyay, former chief test pilot of HAL, said.

While the rest of the much-hyped Aviation Capital of India didn't bother to celebrate the Wright way (barring the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technological Museum which had an invited talk), HATSOFF rolled out a red-carpet welcome to these children. "It is important that we inspire these kids," Upadhyay, one of the popular faces of the rotor clan in India, told Express.

The motion flight simulator gave a near-perfect feel of flying and the graphics on offer took the imagination to unbelievable limits. Capt N.S. Krishna, Chief of Training, HATSOFF, explained the plane fundas in plain language to the young aviators. The children fired questions at will, like: "Uncle, Does the simulators have any side effects?

Have you gone on any secret missions?" Capt Krishna gave a brief account of his chopper crash in 2005 and how he walked out  without a scratch along with the crew.

The photo-op of the day finally came when the children flew their paper planes to mark the significance of the Wright Day. As  the planes landed one by one, after performing their brief mission, it was time for a short film.

"Uncle..., have you fired a real missile?," the questions continued.

(Copyright@The New Indian Express)

IAF Dhruv pilots begin training at HATSOFF; Ecuador pilots with presidential fleet complete session

 By Abraham V. Kuruvilla

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has entered into a formal agreement with Bangalore-headquartered HATSOFF for training their pilots operating the Advanced Light Helicopter, Dhruv. The first batch of pilots have already finished their mandatory five hours of training on the Dhruv simulator at the facility.

Every pilot is scheduled to receive five hours of training spread across two-two-and-a-half-months. The IAF on its part has also deputed an officer to monitor the training. “This is going to be a huge morale-booster for the ALH pilots considering the issues we had with this chopper. We hope to bring down the accident rate and couldn’t have asked for a better facility than HATSOFF,” a senior IAF official said, not wanting to give out the number of pilots set to undergo the training.

The training exposes pilots to undertake dangerous missions, thereby giving them the confidence to practice and execute ‘bail-out-plans’ in the company of an instructor.  “The options are aplenty. Now we know what needs to be done during bad weather, ways to avoid the clouds and so on. Time saved, money saved and above all the confidence of having upgraded our training levels,” says an IAF pilot, who was part of the Sarang team earlier.

HATSOFF’s first overseas client is Telstra Child Flight from Australia. Telstra operates emergency helicopter retrieval service for children and babies in Australia.  Two pilots have already undergone training at HATSOFF. In addition, two Ecuadorian presidential pilots also have finished their training on the Dhruv simulator. The air force pilots from Ecuador are now likely to follow suit.

HATSOFF now hopes to have the third simulator (Dauphin 365-N3) installed by November this year, taking the total to three. The facility has also got on to Facebook (Hatsoff Bengaluru) for the benefit of helicopter community world-over.   

(Posted by Abraham V. Kuruvilla, Tarmak007 intern from Madras University.)

(Below update on July 11, 2011)

Training comes handy: The practice of various emergencies and malfunction procedures at HATSOFF simulator has come in as a saving grace for Capt Paddy, COO of Swajas Air Charters Ltd. On July 7 2011, while take-off from oil rig Tahara, just after rotation, Paddy is said to have experienced a total power loss of engine No 2.

"The chopper was recovered without much problem, as we had practiced these emergency malfunctions at HATSOFF  last month. Hence, safe single engine flight was established and after identifying the fault, No. 2 engine was taken into manual control and was flown to Chennai, making a safe landing. The cause of this failure was due to a broken P3 air pipe which was rectified later. It was a simulator session, which made things very easy and helped us to handle the emergencies," the pilot was quoted as saying on the HATSOFF FB site.

DGCA certifies Dhruv simulator to Level D

By Abraham V. Kuruvilla

India’s Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) has certified the civil and conventional variant of the Dhruv simulator cockpit to Level D. Sources confirm to Tarmak007 that this is the highest qualification for flight simulators. The simulator is housed at the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF) facility in Bangalore – a CAE Canada-HAL JV.

The simulator cockpit has been integrated with the CAE-built full-mission simulator currently in operation at HATSOFF.  The simulator features CAE's revolutionary roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator.  “This is the world’s first-ever full-mission simulator for the HAL-built Dhruv helicopter. Now, we are can offer training to IAF and other operators of Dhruv. In many ways, our training will be advanced and cost-effective,” sources said. An official announcement is expected later today.

The news of DGCA certification comes at a time when India’s Border Security Force (BSF) has lashed out at Dhruv’s capabilities. Reports of BSF’s unhappiness have already appeared in a section of the Indian media.

Note: Abraham is a Post-Graduate Strategic Analysis student with the Department of Defence, University of Madras. He is currently on a 2-month internship programme in Defence Reporting (details soon) with Tarmak007 in Bangalore. He will be hosting ‘limited reports’ on the blog, until regular blogging on Tarmak007 resumes in July 2011.

DGCA to inspect,qualify conventional Dhruv simulator cockpit soon

India’s Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will be evaluating the Dhruv helicopter simulator cockpit during the last week of April. Currently being integrated at the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (Hatsoff) facility in Bengaluru, the Dhruv simulator was designed and built at CAE’s facility in Montreal.

Wing Cdr. (ret.) C.D. Upadhyay, Hatsoff CEO, tells Aviation Week that the DGCA team will be qualifying the Dhruv simulator to the Level-D category. Pawan Hans pilots currently fly the civil variant of the Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopter, owned by India’s Oil and Natural Gas Commission and Border Security Force, which were among the first few customers of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.’s Dhruv civil variant.

(Full report in AW)

For previous reports on HATSOFF, check the links below

Tarmak007 -- A bold blog on Indian defence: HATSOFF website goes live

Feb 14, 2011

Dhruv simulator has arrived from CAE: HATSOFF

Feb 02, 2011

First batch of chopper pilots complete type-conversion course on ...

Sep 14, 2010

HATSOFF offers free training to Indian civil, military pilots till Dec

Sep 04, 2010

Gen-next heli simo facility awaits DGCA nod, Team HATSOFF ready to ...

Jun 30, 2010

India Thought Leaders: HATSOFF Will Revolutionize Helicopter ...

Jun 19, 2010

Snapshots from HATSOFF: India's first hi-tech heli simo centre all ...

Jun 16, 2010

DGCA nod for Dhruv simulator likely in 2 months

Video: TV-007. Photos: Planefinder

The Dhruv simulator (civil variant) has finally made its official entry to HATSOFF premises in Bangalore. This after arriving at Chennai 2-3-weeks ago. The blogger visited the facility on Feb 22 and chanced upon Winco T.K. Singha, IAF PRO, at the controls of the simulator. HATSOFF hopes to have the DGCA nod in place in the next 2 months. The Dhruv simulator is currently undergoing its full integration. The man doing the talking is HATSOFF CEO Winco (Retd.) C.D. Upadhyay.  (First-time visitors to Tarmak007 may do a search for HATSOFF to know more details on this unique facility.) 

HATSOFF website goes live

 Director General Civil Aviation Bharat Bhushan launches the website of HATSOFF in Bangalore during the just-concluded Aero India 2011. Photo: Planefinder

Dhruv simulator has arrived from CAE: HATSOFF

(Press Release)

The Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying (HATSOFF), the joint venture owned equally by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and CAE, today announced that its simulator cockpit for the civil/conventional variant of the Dhruv has arrived at the HATSOFF training centre in Bangalore following design and manufacture at CAE’s facility in Montreal, Canada.

The Dhruv simulator cockpit will now be installed and integrated with the CAE-built full-mission simulator currently in operation at HATSOFF.  The simulator features CAE's revolutionary roll-on/roll-off cockpit design, which enables cockpits representing various helicopter types to be used in the simulator.  The cockpit for the civil/conventional variant of the Dhruv is the second for the HATSOFF training centre, and will be ready-for-training in May 2011.  The first cockpit for the simulator represents the Bell 412 helicopter.  Training for Bell 412 operators commenced in July 2010.

“This is the world’s first simulator representing the indigenously developed HAL Dhruv helicopter and we are excited to begin offering simulation-based training that will undoubtedly prove to be a safe and cost-effective method for training Dhruv helicopter aircrews,” said Wg Cdr (Retd) Chandta Datt Upadhyay Vr.C., Chief Executive Officer of HATSOFF.

The CAE-built full-mission helicopter simulator at HATSOFF and the Bell 412 cockpit was certified during 2010 to Level D, the highest qualification for flight simulators, by India’s Directorate General Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).  HATSOFF expects the cockpit for the civil/conventional variant of the Dhruv to be certified to Level D by the DGCA this spring.  Additional cockpits for the Indian Army/Air Force variant of the HAL-built Dhruv and the Eurocopter Dauphin will be added to the HATSOFF training centre over the next year.

The HATSOFF training centre, located near HAL’s headquarters in Bangalore, also features multimedia classrooms, computer-based training, brief/debrief facilities, and a training management information system. The full-mission simulator features a common motion system, vibration platform, and visual display system, along with the four separate cockpit modules that can be used in the full-mission simulator. When a cockpit is not used in the full-mission simulator, it will be used as a fixed-based flight training device (FTD).