Newcastle International Airport upgrade to Micro Navs BEST simulator

NIA evaluated competing products before awarding Micro Nav the contract to supply and support a radar simulator and a tower simulator with a panoramic three-dimensional display of the airport. The realistic simulation of the view from the Newcastle tower cab is created by an accurate visual model of the airport, the aircraft, vehicles, surroundings and the weather. The tower and radar simulators are integrated so that advanced team training can be carried out for handling unusual and emergency situations as well as regular refresher training. A particularly cost-effective solution was engineered by tailoring an off-the-shelf design to meet the NIA space and budget constraints. The modular and scalable design of BEST is ideal for airports where restrictions on space, staff or funding would previously have prevented the use of advanced simulators to support their unit training.

The BEST airport simulators can be delivered quickly. The NIA system will be installed before the end of this year. Training of the Newcastle users and the start of support will follow immediately afterwards.

Newcastle International Airport joins the growing community who benefit from using the BEST simulators for ATC training and operational evaluation. This installation brings the total number of BEST systems in the UK to sixteen.

Allan Davison, NIAs ATC Watch Manager, commented: After evaluating our options we concluded that Micro Navs BEST simulators offer the flexibility we need in a compact package that meets our training requirements and can be expanded to cover our future demands.