Simulator OEM Loft Dynamics have announced that Pathfinder Aviation will install Alaska’s first Airbus H125 VR simulator at its base in Anchorage.
Pathfinder operates a fleet of 22 helicopters and averages roughly 8,000 flight hours annually, supporting remote operations and precision external-load work across Alaska and the continental United States. For helicopter operators in Alaska, training often competes with the realities of the job: weather can limit flyable days, winter brings limited daylight, and peak operating periods are also when helicopters are needed most for customer missions. Most of Pathfinder’s pilots live outside Alaska and travel in for training events, making weather-driven delays even more disruptive.
“In Alaska, we don’t get to choose when conditions become difficult, so our pilots need to be ready before they do,” said Rogan Parker, CEO of Pathfinder Aviation speaking about the the simulator buy, “The value of having this simulator in Anchorage is repetition. We can put pilots through a whiteout, IIMC event or emergency, work through decision making, then run the scenario again. That kind of repetition is hard to achieve consistently in the aircraft, and it gives pilots the chance to build judgment before the stakes are real.”
“Helicopter pilots often do their most demanding work in places where consistent simulator access is hardest to come by,” added Sebastien Borel, CEO of Loft Dynamics. “Alaska exposes the limits of a training model that depends on good weather, spare aircraft and long-distance travel. Pathfinder is changing the equation by putting H125 training at its base in Anchorage, where pilots can train more often, safely and on their own schedule. The old model asks pilots to go to the simulator. We’re building a future where the simulator comes to the pilots.”
The operator intends to pursue FAA Level 7 flight training device qualification for the simulator, though that will not delay early use with training for inadvertent IMC (IIMC) avoidance, including repeated practice responding to a loss of visual reference and transitioning to instruments; Part 135 emergency procedures; Part 133 external-load operations; normal and abnormal procedures; whiteout conditions; mountain, pinnacle, slope and confined-site operations; and local site and terrain familiarisation.
Heli-skiing will also be an early focus. Pathfinder’s H125 pilots operate in mountainous, snow-covered terrain where flat light, blowing snow and rapidly changing visibility can complicate landing-zone decisions. Loft Dynamics is developing scenery based on Pathfinder’s real-world heli-ski operating areas in the Chugach Mountains, including the Valdez/Thompson Pass region and north Cordova, allowing pilots to familiarise themselves with local terrain and landing sites before flying those missions.
The simulator will initially support Pathfinder’s own pilots and, as local demand develops, make it available to other helicopter operators and pilots in the region. Once qualified, Pathfinder will incorporate available FAA training credits into its formal training programmes.
Image: Pathfinder Aviation
