OUR TEAM
GRAHAM PRITCHARD
Graham is a UK citizen and co-founder of Sim Ops based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He specialises in Customer and Technical support services to the Flight Simulation industry. Having worked for over 40 years in the business with various manufacturers plus several years in the UK Royal Air Force where he received his degree in Avionics, Graham has a wealth of experience in all aspects of aviation flight training.
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Previously he carried the role of Customer Support Manager for Thales Training & Simulation, Customer Support Director for TRU Simulation & Training and General Manager for ETOPS Malaysia prior to and after its acquisition by Textron in 2016. During this time Graham was the accountable manager for the ETOPS ATOs in Europe and Malaysia focusing primarily on B737NG, A320 and ATR crew training.
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In addition, he has worked in various long term resident support roles in UK, Italy, Taiwan, Thailand, China & Malaysia for Thales Training & Simulation and L3 Harris providing Field Service support and new training centre setup roles. To date he has resided in the Asia Pacific region for almost 30 years.
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Graham is an active general aviation pilot holding FAA commercial licenses for single and multi engine aircraft with current instrument ratings. Amongst his many hobbies he enjoys competition aerobatic flying and ferrying light aircraft to worldwide destinations.
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PATRIC MAC DONALD
Patric is a Canadian national, aerospace engineer and MBA with 20 years of experience in flight simulation. He started his career with CAE first as an aerodynamics engineer, before taking Field Service Representative roles with major airlines in Europe.
After completing a MBA at INSEAD in France and Singapore, Patric joined Sim Industries/Lockheed Martin Flight Training and was tasked with starting up and leading flight simulator training centers in Europe and Asia until 2016. He then joined TRU Simulation + Training as the Director of Sales for Asia and the Pacific region, based at the Kuala Lumpur office. In that role, he sold a number of FFS to tier-1 airlines and independent training centers from India to Australia and China.
Recently Patric has led the TRU Simulation Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia office until 2020. At that time, the team included about 20 FSRs distributed around the world and a dozen simulator maintenance technicians on long term operation contracts with airlines.
JOHN R. SMITH
John, a highly experienced Flight Simulation and Training professional with extensive knowledge and skills in general management and staff leadership, has over 50 years of experience in related aviation industries as both a customer and as a supplier.
He has been extremely successful in every position held and enjoys the challenges of Customer liaison where man management skills, technical knowledge and experience gained across the complete spectrum of aviation related products are of paramount importance.
He has very extensive overseas experience, often in harsh environments, where the appreciation, understanding and ability to negotiate with varying cultures was honed.
Previously John was Accountable and General Manager of the Asian Aviation Training Centre (AATC) in Thailand for over 18 years where he grew the operation from a single FFS to an EASA ATO with 15 EASA qualified devices.
Prior to AATC John held a raft of engineering and management positions at Redifon, Rediffusion, Hughes Rediffusion, Thomson and Thales Training & Simulation, based in UK, Japan, Iraq, South Africa, Algeria and USA and prior to that worked for South African Airways, BOAC and British Eagle.
In 2017 he was the recipient of the FSEMC Roger S. Goldberg Award.
BARRY GAINES
Barry is a UK citizen living in France, he joined Sim Ops as a partner in 2022.
He has over thirty years experience in the Flight Simulation industry, initially joining Rediffusion Simulation as a design engineer he went on to hold management positions in design and support until he left what was then Thales Training & Simulation as Head of Product Support in 2010.
Joining ETOPS in Toulouse in 2010 he was instrumental in establishing the Centralised Competency Centre (CCC) in support of the Mechtronix build FSTDs. After a secondment to TRU in Montreal, Canada he returned to ETOPS in France where he was the Accountable Manager for the ETOPS EASA qualified ATO (conducting Type Ratings for ATR, A320, A330 and B737 aircraft types) and the TRU European support organisation.
He served as Vice Chairman of the steering committee of the FSEMC between 2008 - 2010 where he has been an active participant. He has also presented at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London.
Barry was a Royal Air Force apprentice, he obtained an HNC in Mechanical Engineering from Bangor Technical college in Wales and in 1990 obtained a first class BA honours degree in Computing and Computers from the UK Open University.
MARK DRANSFIELD
Mark is co-founder of Sim Ops and independent Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD) regulatory consultant, based out of the UK, specialising in the evaluation and qualification of FSTDs in accordance with the latest regulatory frameworks around the world. As such he is involved in various industry rule-making activities within the regulatory agencies concerned with flight crew training, including EASA with whom he is registered as an independent FSTD subject matter expert.
Previously Mark was Director Regulatory Affairs for TRU Simulation & Training in March 2016 following the acquisition by Textron of the ETOPS group of companies that acquired in October 2013 as CEO and group managing director responsible for its activities in FSTD customer support, qualification and validation services as well as running ETOPS European and Malaysian TRTO for A320, B737 and ATR aircraft types.
Prior to running ETOPS Mark held various engineering and senior management positions at Rediffusion, Hughes Rediffusion, Thomson & Thales Training & Simulation, all based in UK, and Mechtronix (now TRU Simulation & Training) where he covered most aspects of commercial flight simulator engineering, production, evaluation, qualification, customer support and strategic business development.
In addition, Mark spent 3 years as a regulator as UK CAA Simulator Standards Manager responsible for managing the regulatory oversight of all FSTD Qualifications within the UK, and on behalf of the JAA.
In 2018 he was awarded the Halldale CAT magazine Aviation Pioneer award and in 2019 the ARINC FSEMC Edwin A Link Award for his vision and services to the flight simulation industry.
Mark is a registered Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society and past Chairman of the RAeS Flight Simulation Group Committee for 2011 – 2013. As part of his work for the RAeS he has also co-chaired the International Working Group responsible for the update of the current ICAO 9625 Edition 3 Manual of Criteria for the Qualification of FSTDs.
He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Queen Mary College, London University, United Kingdom.
RAVI SHARMA
Ravi is an Indian national with more than 30 years of aviation experience. Having started as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, he has flown several fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. During his twenty-two years in the IAF, he held a number of field and staff appointments, including the position of Joint Director at Acquisition Wing, processing multimillion-dollar acquisitions.
He spent the last decade in the corporate world, mainly working with US-based Textron as Director of Business development in South Asia. He dealt with products across Textron business lines, including aircraft, flight and maintenance simulators, aero engines, and UAVs. He played a key role in the first FFS sales of Textron’s TRU Simulation + Training in India and in expanding the company's footprint and market recognition in South Asia.
An alumnus of the Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun, he graduated from the National Defence Academy, Pune and has done a postgraduate program in Business Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Indore.
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Ravi is the regional business partner for Sim Ops in South Asia.