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Aug. 2, 2004

ULM Aviation Department Offers Cost Savings to Students and Community

The Aviation Department at the University of Louisiana at Monroe currently uses three full motion Motus Flight Simulators including a single engine, twin engine, and twin turbine to train pilots.

These simulators are ideal at training pilots for instrument flying because they accurately simulate real-time flight and have full motion to give added fidelity to the flight simulation.

Recently, The Federal Aviation Administration qualified ULM's simulators as "Level 3 Flight Training Devices." As a result of this qualification, ULM now offers a cost savings of up to 40% to their students for the instrument rating and a cost savings of up to 20% for the commercial pilot rating. This is possible because the FAA now allows 40% of the training for an instrument rating to be done in the simulator, rather than in the aircraft.

Paul Karlowitz, Head of the Department of Aviation says it's a great feature for the students. "ULM does not charge their students for the use of the simulators. It's the same situation for the commercial pilot rating, up to 20% savings. We also allow students free practice time in the simulators, depending on the simulator schedule and availability.

"Additionally, I believe we have the only flight simulators in the State currently qualified to Level 3, as the qualification testing of the simulators is an annual requirement and is conducted by the FAA. The FAA has told me that we are the first Level 3 qualifications done in the State."

These simulators are also available to the community through the Continuing Education Program. For a fee that includes a flight instructor, a pilot can get meaningful practice and also log instrument currency requirements. Karlowitz adds, "This can be a big savings. We plan to add additional programs such as instrument refresher training, and the ability to complete most of an instrument competency evaluation in the simulator. Much more training can be done in a simulator than in the airplane in the same amount of time. And, most importantly, no one gets hurt from mistakes."

For more information, contact Paul Karlowitz at karlowitz@ulm.edu or by phone at (318) 342-1780.

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