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Joint News Release with Frasca


Contact: Peggy Prichard
Manager, Advertising/Promotions
Frasca International Inc.
Phone: 217-344-9200
www.frasca.com		 Contact: Mary Van Buren
Assistant Director, Communications/Marketing
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Phone: 386-226-6525
www.erau.edu

Embry-Riddle the First Sponsor to Receive FAA Level 6 Approval for Frasca DA-42 FTDs

DA-42 FTDDaytona Beach, Fla., March 5, 2008 -- Following several months of in-house flight testing and data gathering, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., is the first sponsor to receive FAA Level 6 qualification for its two Frasca DA-42 Flight Training Devices.

The Frasca-built FTDs, which include a 220-degree spherical visual system, were delivered and placed into service in January 2008; only 10 months elapsed from receipt of contract to FAA qualification.

The new FTDs will supplement the fleet of 10 Diamond DA-42 Twin Star aircraft recently delivered to the Daytona Beach campus. The Twin Star meets all requirements for designation as a technically advanced aircraft and includes a Garmin G1000 avionics suite, a Jet-A-burning Thielert-built power plant, and a Bendix/King KAP140 Autopilot.

DA-42 FTD Level 6 ground and flight performance data for the FTDs were collected by Embry-Riddle’s College of Aviation instructors and staff in cooperation with faculty and students from the College of Engineering. This process, under the leadership of Dr. Tim Brady, dean of the College of Aviation, included over 100 hours of flight time in a Diamond DA-42 Twin Star with numerous sensors attached to the experimental platform to collect engine, airframe, and performance data. The ground and flight data that simulate the aircraft’s characteristics were developed and then provided to Frasca for modeling. More than 105 different maneuvers, many beyond Level 6, were conducted in the test aircraft. Embry-Riddle has retained ownership of the 2.23 gigabytes of DA-42 data to support the future sale and distribution of the enhanced data package to additional sponsors.

Using the simulator instead of the aircraft results in fuel-emission savings and reduced carbon emissions. Simulators are also safer for flight training and do not add to congested skies.

“These new FTDs have some significant improvements over the Seminole FTD they replace,” commented Frank Ayers, chairman of the Flight Department at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach campus. “They include visible and working engine nacelles, wings, control surfaces, and propellers. I’ve flown the FTD on a single engine with the second propeller wind milling and it is quite realistic.”

The DA-42 FTDs have Garmin 1000 avionics; Frasca’s Graphical Instructors Station (GISt) with a portable tablet, which allows the instructor to control the FTD from the cockpit; and an auto-certification system used to validate the simulators.

Embry-Riddle is a long-time customer of Frasca International, with several Frasca simulators in use at its two residential campuses in Daytona Beach and Prescott, Ariz., and at its Worldwide Campus centers around the globe. These include one CRJ-200 Level 6 FTD, 11 Cessna 172S Level 6 FTDs, two Piper Seminole Level 6 FTDs, one Piper Seminole Level 5 FTD, one F142P FTD, one F141 FTD, and two Mentor Advanced Aviation Training Devices.

About Frasca International Inc.

Frasca International of Urbana, Ill., manufactures flight training equipment for airlines, flight schools, universities, and military organizations worldwide. The product range includes Flight Training Devices (FTDs), Synthetic Training Devices (STDs), Cockpit Procedure Trainers (CPTs), Full Flight Simulators (FFSs), and more for all aircraft types, fixed wing and rotary. Over 2,000 devices have been installed worldwide. www.frasca.com

About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. www.embryriddle.edu