Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC
FlightSafety International is to build a new training centre at Dallas/Fort Worth airport in Texas. The facility will be near the FlightSafety Boeing simulator centre.
The new building will accommodate 16 full-flight simulators for corporate and regional aircraft. It is just one of several new centres being built by the company. The Dallas/Fort Worth site will provide training coverage for regional airline American Eagle.
The FlightSafety/Boeing joint venture provides training for aircraft with 100 or more seats and has either taken over existing Flight-Safety centres or is building dedicated facilities.
FlightSafety, meanwhile, is building its own new centres. In addition to Dallas/Fort Worth, it is to construct a regional airline training base near Memphis airport in Tennessee. This will open within a year and will be equipped initially with Level D simulators for the Saab 340 and Bombardier Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ), to provide training for Northwest Airlink carrier Express Airlines I.
Meanwhile, the company's Cincinnati, Ohio, training centre is being relocated adjacent to Delta Connection carrier Comair's headquarters at the airport. The facility will be equipped initially with an Embraer EMB-120 simulator and two CRJs, with space for a third to be installed within a year.
The popularity of regional jets is helping drive FlightSafety's expansion. The company plans to operate 16 Level D simulators for the CRJ and Embraer RJ-135/145 by the end of next year. Its third CRJ machine has just been installed in Louisville, Kentucky. Its third ERJ-135/145 is operational in Paris.
FlightSafety's fourth CRJ simulator will be installed in Salt Lake City, Utah, later this year. Its fourth ERJ-135/145 machine has been delivered to Houston, Texas. An ERJ-135/145 simulator is to be installed in the company's new training centre in Manchester, UK, at the end of the year.
• FlightSafety's new Bell 430 helicopter flight simulator has received Level C certification. The device is based at the company's Bell training centre in Fort Worth alongside a Model 412EP machine, the first helicopter simulator to be certificated to Level D.
Source: Flight International
