Texas, United States based flight and aircraft maintenance training organisation, Thurst Flight and Thrust Institute of Maintenance received its official certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approving its Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) school. The inaugural class will be on November 6. Thrust Institute of Maintenance is located at Addison Airport in Addison, Texas.
Source: Thrust Institute of Maintenance
Progress continues on schedule for Textron Aviation’s parts and distribution expansion in Wichita, Kansas. All flooring, exterior walls, windows and roof are in place for the company’s 180,000 square-foot parts warehouse expansion. Now, the team is focused on interior finishes, including wiring, painting and preparing the space for the thousands of Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker parts the company stocks and ships to support customers around the world.
The project, which broke ground in October 2022, is on track to be completed by the end of the year. The new footprint includes additional room for parts storage, warehouse space, offices and dedicated customer support analysts.
Textron Aviation has seven distribution centers and 17 stockrooms around the globe. This Wichita location houses more than 120,000 parts and employs a team of more than 350 people to support distribution operations. This major growth in the company’s parts distribution operations will better support customers who own and operate aircraft manufactured by Textron Aviation.
Source: Textron Aviation
Photo Credit: Textron Aviation (shown as meta image)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has been contracted to assist in the development of curriculum and online training for small Uncrewed Aerial Systems (sUAS) operators for the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Office of Aviation (also known as the Air Wing).
“The government has training standards and robust administrative policies and procedures already in place globally for everything that is crewed — but nothing that is uncrewed,” said Dr. Scott Burgess, associate professor of Aviation and principal investigator on the project.
That’s where Embry-Riddle comes in. An established leader in uncrewed systems application and safety — Embry-Riddle became the first academic institution in the world to receive the Trusted Operator certification from the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), in 2018 — the university will lend its expertise in designing and administering a standardized training program that could potentially be used by government employees, law enforcement entities and civil aviation authorities all over the world.
“Their intent is to standardize sUAS training, certification and standardization globally,” Burgess added. “Our job is to offer our existing sUAS professional education, thus enabling their crews to perform to a set standard, as well as assist in setting conditions that provide a level of knowledge, skills and abilities equivalent or surpassing established international sUAS crew standards.”
The final step will be to design courseware in conjunction with the Air Wing and offer training to students, earning them an industry certification in sUAS.
“The Worldwide Campus Department of Flight has worked aggressively over the past six years to raise-the-bar for UAS operational integration, training and standardization into various commercial and governmental disciplines, and the federal government came to us for a reason,” Burgess added. “They have been very open to our ideas, due to the fact that our strength in these areas is combined with our knowledge in aviation safety. The DoS has also encouraged further ideas toestablish a noteworthy program.”
Those new ideas will be mined from a wealth of industry experience and various projects led by Embry-Riddle to help push drone technology forward. In 2021, for instance, the university earned a first-of-its-kind waiver to begin training aspiring drone pilots remotely through online video streaming platforms. The Department ofFlight has a long history of supporting government agencies, such as the FBI, Daytona Beach Police Department, South Florida Water Management District, Conservancy of SW Florida, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management and the Government of the Bahamas. Around the same time, Embry-Riddle was awarded nearly $2 million from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to collect risk-assessment data that will help integrate UAS safely into the National Airspace System.
Researchers at Embry-Riddle also continue to leverage uncrewed systems in creative ways to solve real-world problems. Some of those applications are safety-focused — such as using drones to improve tactical response against active shooters, or deploying them into hurricanes to more accurately predict storm developments. Other applications might surprise you — such as using drones to map ancient cities.
“We are very pleased to partner with the U.S. Department of State, Bureau ofInternational Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Air Wing in this endeavor,” said Dr. John R. Watret, FRAeS, chancellor of Embry-Riddle’s Worldwide Campus. “As leaders in UAS education programs, we are extremely well equipped to support these operators and ensure they receive the highest level of training.”
Burgess is leading the project along with fellow drone experts from the College ofAviation at Embry-Riddle’s Worldwide Campus: David Thirtyacre, Department of Flight chair, and associate professors Joe Cerreta and Anthony Galante.
About Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Reporters worldwide contact Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for content experts in all aspects of aviation, aviation business, aerospace, engineering and STEM-related fields. Our faculty experts specialize in unmanned and autonomous systems, security and intelligence, air traffic and airport management, astronomy, human factors psychology, meteorology, spaceflight operations, urban air mobility and much more.
Embry-Riddle educates 31,300+ students at its residential campuses in Daytona Beach, Florida and Prescott, Arizona, at approximately 110 Worldwide Campus locations and through online degree programs. In 2023, U.S. News & World Report named Embry-Riddle Worldwide the nation’s No. 2 provider of online bachelor’s degree programs. The university has ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in this category every year since 2016. Our residential campuses hold multiple Top 10 rankings. All of our campuses have been ranked Best for Veterans.
Source: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Press Release
Photo Credit: Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
United States based pilot and aircraft maintenance training organisation Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology recently hosted a new class orientation at their Broomfield campus in Colorado.
This Spartan campus trains students in two technology based disciplines: Aviation Maintenance Technology and Aviation Electronics Technology. Equipment on campus includes over 80 powerplants such as two Rolls Royce RB 211-22B turbine engines, IFR6000 test equipment, an ADSB test system and multiple aircraft to work on including three Cessna 172s, a Cessna 152, LearJet 24, Falcon 20, and a Beech C-35 Bonanza.
Source: Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology
Photo Credit: Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology
