In a major technological breakthrough, Emre Bulat, a simulation engineer at Samsun University Flight Academy, has developed a low-cost flight simulator that can save thousands of United States dollars. Bulat said the new simulator he designed would cost only $8,440 (TL 120,000), instead of about $281,000 (TL 4 million) paid for the imported simulators.

A flight simulator is any electronic or mechanical system for training airplane and spacecraft pilots and crew members by simulating flight conditions.

The simulator of a Cessna 172 Skyhawk will serve student pilots attending advanced courses in the academy. Bulat said he decided to design the simulator when he saw students had to pay hourly to use a certified imported simulator. The engineer offers the simulator for free to students. He said the university provided him means to design the simulator, which serves students in the instrument flight phase in their training. He added he consulted students during the design process and tried to incorporate their ideas based on their feedback, especially on the ergonomic features of the simulator. "The simulator has everything, from scenarios of birds hitting the plane to a lightning strike. It took six months to design it," he told Anadolu Agency (AA) on Friday.

He says Turkey’s only locally made simulator was produced by leading defense company Havelsan and flight schools usually rely on imported simulators from various countries, including Russia and France. "What our simulator is missing than imported ones is only the option to record the flight hours," he added.