FlightSafety International's (FSI) largest training center
outside the U.S. opened its doors to students at TAG Farnborough's business
aviation airport on August 8. The 92,000-square-foot, $250 million UK facility
is built on the successful U.S. model, and will eventually house 14-15 advanced
full-flight simulators in three halls, with 27 classrooms and up to 120
instructors and 30 support staff. FAI expects throughput of 3,800 students per
year by the end of 2007. It also holds land options both sides of its current
building to allow for expansion.
"We've got about 40 students here," said Rudy Toering, FSI
Farnborough Center manager and MD of European Business Development just before
the NBAA Convention, "and numbers will steadily build as more simulators come
on line."
Cessna has selected FSI to build two Level D Mustang
simulators, one of which will be based at Wichita, the other at Farnborough.
The Farnborough sim should be ready for students by end of 2007. "With Europe
as its second largest market outside the U.S., the Mustang is going to be big
over here," said Toering, He estimates that European owners and operators have
ordered around 60-70 Mustangs.
"Our Beech 1900D sim is getting a tremendous demand from
Pakistan, with around ten students in residence at the moment. It
is easier for them to train at Farnborough than in Montreal,
where FSI has another 1900D simulator," he noted.
Toering says that FSI's Citation Bravo simulator at
Farnborough is running at least three lines of students, which keep it busy 15
hours per day. "We're hoping to run another line pretty soon, and reach our
ideal of about 22 hours on the sim clock per day," he told Show News.
FSI's King Air B200 sim, which is the third simulator
currently running at Farnborough, is getting plenty of inquiries but running
less, as it has been operational the least time.
A Saab 340A/B Level D simulator was expected to become
qualified at Farnborough by the time of this NBAA Convention. "It is probably
the best Saab 340 sim in the world right now," said Toering.
FSI is confident that it will have five simulators qualified
by year-end, and at least ten operational by the end of 2006. "We have room for
14 sims, with the center hall sharing four, but have made provisions for five
if we don't put in a helo sim. Total capacity could be 15," Toering noted.
Introduction of a Gulfstream IV EVS-equipped simulator is
running a little late as it is being fitted with a new wide-angle mirror to
meet a JAA requirement for a full 180¼ visual. It will be up for evaluation at
the end of November.
Next year will see the introduction of a Citation CJ1/CJ2
quick-change sim in the first quarter. Two Hawker 800XP sims (one with
Honeywell and the other with the Pro Line 21 avionics) are due in the first
half of 2006.
A Pro Line-configured
Hawker 400XP simulator and one for the Citation Excel (currently
undergoing avionics mods) will be at Farnborough in second quarter, and will be
offered with 'changeabout' FMS packages for the Universal UNS-1K and the
Honeywell
NZ-2000. And there is another, as yet unannounced, sim
penciled-in for 2006 arrival. — Mike Vines
