The Upper Austrian company AMST-Systemtechnik GmbH has made a name for itself worldwide in recent years with dynamic flight simulators, spatial disorientation demonstrators and altitude simulation chambers. An interview with Sales Director Wolfgang Lindlbauer about the stress limits of the human body, the behavior of pilots in extreme situations and centrifuges “made in Austria” for the Royal Air Force.
Mr. Lindlbauer, your company recently presented itself at the IDEX security trade fair in Abu Dhabi. Was the focus more on acquiring new customers or maintaining existing ones?
We already have five or six customers in the region who use our devices, but of course we are also trying to expand our market presence. Our customers are primarily from the air force sector, although we do not supply training devices for tactical simulation, but for aeromedical experience and diagnostics.
So this is about training for extreme situations, for example to avoid losing your bearings under G-forces?
Exactly. With our systems such as the Airfox (image), we want to highlight the shortcomings of the human body. With their legs, humans are designed to move in two dimensions, whereas birds move in three dimensions. With our devices, we try to show how great and how quickly the associated limitations become apparent. For example, it is a question of whether a person is suitable as a pilot or not, which is ultimately in the interests of flight safety . .. … but also in the interests of the air forces.
Of course. Every air force is looking for the best pilots and wants to avoid putting an expensive piece of equipment in the hands of a possibly unqualified aspirant. Ultimately, we therefore protect air forces from damage or loss of aircraft with our systems.
“Every air force is looking for the best pilots and wants to avoid putting an expensive machine in the hands of a potentially unqualified candidate.”
AMST also builds complex centrifuges, for example the Royal Air Force operates a corresponding system from your company.
Yes, although the cockpits in the nacelle are not manufactured for a specific aircraft, but generically, only in the style of the design of that type. What is new is that not only can the G-forces be simulated up to the so-called G-LOC (note: G-force-induced loss of consciousness) as in the past, but test subjects have to simulate the changing load multiples with their control inputs and simultaneously control and operate various instruments and applications. https://militaeraktuell.at/us-verteidigungsministerium-testet-frequentis-system/
So the pilots are reaching their limits?
In any case, pilots learn how to deal with deteriorating situations and get out of them safely. The desire to simulate this did not come from us, but from users. However, we have now been able to meet this request repeatedly, so far in England, Singapore, Germany and Poland.
Click here to read the other articles in our “5 questions to” series.
