It is not easy to control an airplane for the first time when you get into a CAE flight simulator that gives us the impression of being in a video game inflated to steroids.
Do not go up who wants in these cockpits with futuristic looks straight out of a science fiction film by Denis Villeneuve.
In Saint-Laurent, the districts of CAE house large flying saucers suspended on steel legs.
A CAE flight simulator, founded almost 80 years ago by the Royal Canadian aviation officer Ken Patrick, in Saint-Hubert.
Ben Pelosse / JD
Once inside, it’s fresh, cold even, as in a grocery beer fridge.
“It is to preserve electronics,” explains Matthew Arns, integrator of flight simulators at CAE.
It is he who will change the weather by tapping a screen behind me during my flight. It can drop at night or dawn during the day. Snow is too.
These realistic landscapes were created with Epic Games and CAE technology. These scenarios are used to prepare the pilots.
Each year, there are more than 150,000 on the planet to learn their profession in these “Quebec” simulators.
CAE monopolizes 85% of the world market in commercial aviation.
These devices are designed, made and assembled with us. They will then be exported to around forty countries.
The newspaper was able to try it last Thursday, on the sidelines of a partnership between CAE and Porter, which will bet on a new Embraer flight simulator in Montreal.
Life -size toy
When you take place in the signs of the simulator pilot, you have to get attached.
We are bombed with colors, dials and clocks, even before we could kiss the landscape by the front windows.
The interior of the simulator is identical to that of a real plane.
Photo Francis character
I am then told to lift the two controllers on the right without letting go of the steering wheel.
The plane takes off gently. It is after things get tough.
I find it hard to keep the right altitude by knitting a passage between the high peaks of the Kelowna region, British Columbia. The jolts of the aircraft remind me of it.
Behind me, fortunately Satesh Ramdeo, a pilot chief to wear, explains to me how to resume altitude, not too much.
Other tremors come to brew the capsule to tell me to go more slowly, but I finally get out of it.
Once posed, sounded, I crossed the doors of the CAE manufacturing plant.
From $ 10M to $ 20M
I then come across Bernard Milot, who proudly wears an exhibition cap.
“I’ve been working here for 38 years. I retire in six months, ”says the 71 -year -old man responsible for packing various pieces for decades.
Bernard Milot, CAE worker near retirement.
Ben Pelosse / JD
Steve Lévesque, vice-president of global CAE operations, explains to us how we make a meticulously making a simulator, one step at a time.
“From the cutting of the metal, to the addition of the computer equipment. It plays within 55 days, ”explains the senior director of the Quebec multinational.
Steve Lévesque, vice-president of global CAE operations.
Ben Pelosse / JD
Our eyes meet military simulators. These are kept away. No photos. We do not approach it. Defense does not hear to laugh with its secrets.
“Last year in civilian, we sold 55 machines, from $ 10 million to $ 20 million each. It is sure that business aviation is more expensive, ”concludes Steve Lévesque.
A manufacturing simulator.
Photo Francis character
CAE
- Fondation: 1947
- Headquarters: Montreal
- Employees: 13,000
- Sites: 240
- Suppliers: 500
- Canadians: 250 (75 in Quebec)
- Rest of the world: 250
(Source: CAE)
Sought -after pilots
- Canada: 7300
- Québec: 1600
– While schools are only 600 per year in Canada …
(Source: Quebec Air Transport Association (AQTA))