France Opens New International Helicopter Training Centre

France’s Défense Conseil International (DCI) is inaugurating new facilities at International Helicopter Training Centre (CIF-H) and has acquired three EC120 helicopters for reinforcing training capacities.

The CIF-H is the second pilot school created by DCI, and the first in France.

The overall refurbishment of the CIF-H infrastructure, carried out over the past year, enables the integration of e-learning tools, simulators, serious games and real-time flight monitoring screens. This modern, comfortable and functional setup offers a quality environment for foreign trainees and helps to boost the success rate. The first CIF-H graduating class scored a 100% success rate in obtaining their French military helicopter pilot qualification.

The CIF-H offers courses ranging from initial pilot training to operational missions. Patrick Tanguy, Director of DCI-COFRAS, comments on the excellence of DCI training: “It requires constant adaptation, in order to offer our trainees a high-quality environment and a course content necessary to achieve their training goals and thus to maintain friendly and effective military cooperation. Thanks to the French Army light aviation unit (ALAT) school, the French armed forces are among the most effective in the world."

The helicopters – EC120s modified for pilot training by DCI subsidiary HeliDax – are equipped with latest-generation avionics and are identical to the machines used by the ALAT. They are suitable for advanced training thanks to the integration of “glass cockpit” technologies and the use of night vision goggles (NVGs).