Canadian flight training device manufacturer Flightdeck Solutions Ltd. (FDS) showcased an Airbus A320 and C172 flight training device at the UAA Collegiate Aviation Education Conference. In August FDS shared that its Airbus A320 manufactured device at Ohio based Sinclair Community College had done its maiden flight.
Source: Flightdeck Solutions
Photo Credit: Flightdeck Solutions
Turkey based KEYVAN Aviation brings flight simulation enthusiasts closer to real-world data with the launch of the SIMDATA Navigation Database. This new product aims to elevate virtual flight experiences by providing professional-grade accuracy, allowing users to immerse themselves in highly realistic simulations.
Real-World Data and Easy Access
Developed by Keyvan, this innovative service allows users to incorporate real-world navigation data into their flight simulators. With an affordable annual subscription model, users gain access to comprehensive global airport and flight route data, enhancing the realism of virtual flight environments. Integration is seamless, with simple subscription and download options.
Professional Standards in Sim Lovers Database
The SIMDATA Navigation Database is built on certified and approved data, drawing from Keyvan’s expertise in the aviation sector. Users can simulate flight operations with data that generated from real-world navigation standards. The database includes detailed information on over 30,000 airports, 39,500 runways, navaids, and airways worldwide.
Regular Updates and International Compliance
The database is updated regularly in synchronization with AIRAC’s 28-day cycle, providing 13 updates per year. This ensures that users always have access to the most current data for their flights. Moreover, the database complies with international aviation standards, making it a reliable resource for flight schools and simulation users globally.
Perfect for a Wide Range of Users
Designed for flight simulation enthusiasts, virtual flight schools, and anyone seeking a high-fidelity aviation experience, the SIMDATA Navigation Database stands out for its accuracy and depth. Regular updates and professional-level data make it an indispensable tool for those who prioritize precision in their virtual flight environments.
Source: KEYVAN Aviation
Photo Credit: KEYVAN Aviation
FTD.aero, a European manufacturer of flight training devices, showcased the wide offer of type-representative and type-specific flight training devices based on Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft models.
At APATS 2024, FTD.aero drew considerable attention demonstrating unrivalled commitment to innovation and excellence in pilot training. The event provided an ideal platform to highlight FTD.aero’s EASA- and FAA-compliant Non Motion Simulators, which are renowned for their cost efficiency, high fidelity often compared to the Level-D class and, last but not least, their reliable and customer-oriented technical support.
Building on this successful event, FTD.aero is thrilled to announce its upcoming entry into the Indian flight training market with two EASA FTD-2 type-specific devices to be delivered in Q1 2025. The simulators will incorporate the latest technology including CANBUS simhardware with ARINC communication and will integrate OEM Data and Software Packages, as well as a number of OEM hardware components for the most immersive training experience. This expansion marks a significant milestone for FTD.aero and aligns with company’s strategic vision to increase its footprint in the sky-rocketing Indian market with low-cost world-class training solutions to enhance pilot readiness.
FTD.aero extends its gratitude to all attendees and partners who engaged with us at APATS 2024. We look forward to further collaborations and continued success as we expand our offerings to new markets.
About FTD.aero
FTD.aero, based in Poland, is a leading manufacturer of Airbus A320 and Boeing B737 type-specific and type-representative flight simulators, compliant with EASA and FAA certification standards. All devices are designed and built in-house using high-fidelity simulated hardware and OEM components, ensuring top quality control, cost efficiency, guaranteed quick access to affordable spare parts and exceptional customer support. All devices can be configured to the client’s individual specifications.
Source: FTD.aero
Photo Credit: FTD.aero
ASTi, an industry leader in Simulated Air Traffic Control Environments (SATCE) for pilot training, will attend the Flight Simulator Engineering and Maintenance Committee (FSEMC) on October 7–10, 2024 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel & Convention Center in Tulsa, OK, United States of America. This year, ASTi submitted a discussion item for the “Innovation in Simulation” session titled “Simulated ATC Environments (SATCE) Adoption in Commercial Flight Training.”
This discussion item prompts industry to examine where new technologies like SATCE fit in flight training from regulatory and practical viewpoints. As runway incursions are happening with alarming frequency these days, it’s important to examine how the industry can shift training priorities to address the reality of these training failures. Which obstacles are keeping training programs from adopting SATCE? Are these decisions being made because of regulations that already—or do not yet—exist? And are these decisions in the best interest of commercial pilot training?
ASTi will also participate in a technology demonstration of its Simulated Environment for Realistic ATC (SERA) product hosted by FlightSafety International (FSI) at its manufacturing plant in Tulsa. SERA is integrated with a G500/600 Gulfstream business jet Level D full-flight simulator at the FSI facility. This demo will take place during the welcome reception on the evening of Tuesday, October 8th. Visitors must register by October 4, 2024 to attend this event
About ASTi
ASTi is the leading supplier of communications, automated ATC, and sound systems to the training and simulation industry. ASTi meets FAA, EASA, and equivalent Level D qualifications with simulators around the world. Since 1989, ASTi has fielded over 10,000 systems at more than 800 installation sites in the U.S. and 49 other countries.
Source: ASTi
Photo Credit: ASTi
Aviatize, a provider of flight school management solutions, has announced the addition of Flight Training London to its growing family of flight schools. This partnership is a significant step towards:
With Aviatize’s innovative platform, Flight Training London is poised to revolutionize its operational capabilities, providing a superior training experience for students and instructors alike.
Source: Aviatize
Photo Credit: Aviatize
Dubai, United Arab Emirates-headquartered aviation recruitment firm Aerviva has shared its insights on pilot interviews. Check out their article below entitled “How pilot interviews work differently”.
“After Investing in the education for certification and being tested by flight instructors, all pilots will inevitably encounter a moment to test the measure of their convictions for flight that had motivated the training thus far. If done properly, there are truly only a few moments more validating than a pilot’s first interview with an airline. From application to agreement for work, interview processes can take several months as airlines and operators will take time to review applications and schedule interviews based on their capacity to train. Any successful pilot will encounter numerous interviews during their career progression, so we have provided insights on how to best navigate the process.
As everyone in the industry knows, Boeing’s pilot and technician outlook calls for the creation of more than 674.000 pilots over the next 20 years, making it appear as though it would be simple for qualified pilots to be placed with an airline. While the market demand for more pilots exists, airlines are limited by aircraft, and air traffic control capacity, as well as their own ability to train.
For example, British Airways advertises that it would fund up to 200 positions for its Speedbird pilot academy. The Speedbird Academy program itself works through a number of partner flight schools including L3 Harris, and Skyborne. This past March, Skyborne reported that it had seen more than 20,000 applications for its academy. The competitive nature for this pilot selection process means failure rates can be anywhere between 50% and 90%.
Each carrier will have their own interview process, and we have spoken to a number of successful candidates who have provided us with feedback on their selection process experience.
Each process will begin with some sort of organizational flow, to sort qualified applicants. There are a few different pathways to earn qualification as a pilot, and interviews sometimes take place during education, prior to checkride. The European Aviation Safety Agency has done a lot of work to harmonize its training program with US regulation part 121. These regulations generally add formulaic processes to pilot training and interviews. When aviation academies and training centers have established agreements with airlines, applicants don’t necessarily need to possess their commercial pilot ratings for the interview. The biggest effect of this difference will be on the flow of the onboarding process with the airline, as each airline will have its own “class” of new hire pilots, and the first interview will hopefully establish a flow towards the airlines respective onboarding process.
The first questions of pilot interviews will have a similar nature to questions expected of any other job interview and are a key opportunity to provide insights into one’s behavior. Competent pilots will prove that they can answer questions directly and are assured in their reply. This information is key to understanding the seriousness of a potential pilot, and compatibility with the recruiting manager’s goals for their company culture. The first questions are like the first communication to air traffic control when entering new airspace. The goal of first communication will be to announce who you are, address who you are speaking to, and communicate intentions. Common questions such as “Tell us about yourself” are an opportunity for applicants to communicate that they are a responsible qualified applicant, acknowledge the airline in a matter that complements the idea of working together, and state the goal of being a part of that airline’s cohort of aircrew.
For every qualified candidate, there will likely be a number of interviews and associated checkrides to prove one’s skills. The number of interviews a pilot will go through may not be entirely distinctive from any other job, however there is a commitment to an onboarding and recruitment process that is unique to aviation. Boeing’s 2023 update to its pilot and technician outlook predicts a demand for 674,000 new commercial pilots over the next 20 . Due to pilot shortages, each airline will have its own work force development scheme to take qualified recruits to flow onto the flight deck at planned pace.
While the the first interviews are usually one-on-one, this doesn’t mean panel interviews are irregular. Infact, some airlines will conduct interviews as potential class members for an academy, something unique to the industry. Just as the workload in the flight deck can come from multiple sources at once, the panel interview is a great way for pilots to demonstrate efficiency in balancing multiple tasks and communicating while not losing focus.
On certain occasions in the interview process, applicants can be expected to work with other potential pilots in a group, or pool. Pool interviews are more often accomplished at large flight schools and requisite spots in applicable airline training academies.
At a certain point in the interview process, the interview questions will be expected to contain more technical and industry-specific information. For example, during a pool interview at a major IAG airline, groups of an academy class were asked to make a go/no-go decision for a planned flight toward a fictional destination. Pilots will be given weight and balance, fuel information, and asked to plan their flights. During early rounds of pilot interviews, air crew can also expect to be asked technical information for aircraft they have flown previously, including: What is proper propeller pitch for a 700 ft climb at 12,000 ft MSL? Or how is calculated takeoff performance calculated and displayed? These technical questions will test your knowledge of standard operating procedures for your aircraft.
During each step of the interview, pilots can expect their counterparts on the other end of the table to gather information. Applicants should be prepared and pay attention to the roles of the airline’s representatives. During interviews with check airmen, the best practice is to give the airmen the information they would want if the applicants were to be flying with them. Just as the key to a good landing begins with a good approach, the technical portion of the interview is the essential first step of a good subsequent check ride.
Interview processes can also include simulator time. Simulators are an important part of life as a pilot, as the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has regulations requiring simulator training be conducted at least every 12 months. In recent years, simulator time can be different, or replaced for another work test as time in the simulator is an increasingly scarce commodity. If pilot interviews include simulator time, pilots should take advantage of the opportunity to demonstrate crew resource management. For this simulator time, you will likely be given a packet of information and assigned a fellow applicant. Currently, it’s important not to think of this fellow applicant as your competition, but as your aircrew. If you can work well with your fellow applicants, it will tell your airline that you can work well with their crew.
Additionally, the time in a simulator is an important opportunity to demonstrate one’s ability to be taught. Successful applicants will need to go through training for the airline that has contracted them to fly, so it’s important that pilots demonstrate their ability to receive training during the simulator time. Airlines will make simulators difficult and challenging and that’s on purpose, asking questions helps here. The most common mistake would be forgetting a call out, pilots should make every effort to make callouts to utilize crew resource management.
Pilots will receive binders of information prior to simulator time. It’s important to study this information and review it with your crew members during your simulator time before the start of the interview. Airlines such as Ryanair have published video tutorials for their simulator examination, which stress the importance of callouts and procedure.
The interview is an important part of any career development. For pilots, these interviews can open lifetimes of opportunities that are predicated upon access to future qualifications and aircraft type-ratings. These interviews will follow a pattern, and flow for success. Aerviva wishes all of its candidates well, and good luck during these interviews.”
About Aerviva
Aerviva is a Dubai-based international consultancy, specializing in recruitment services, contract management, staff leasing expertise, personnel and crew leasing & other personalized solutions in aviation consultancy.
Source: Aerviva
Photo Credit: Aerviva
Amsterdam, Netherlands – MPS CEO Philip Adrian FRAeS, a key figure in aviation regulation development, has shared updates on the progress of the EASA Rulemaking Task 0196. The task, which aims to introduce new regulations, has seen significant advancements since the publication of NPA 2020-15 in December 2020, despite the long and intricate process involved.
Check out his article entitled “EASA RMT.0196 and NPA 2020-15: Where Are We Now?” below.
“Implementing new regulations takes years of focused teamwork, a process I am heavily involved in and committed to. Although it has been a while since I updated you on EASA Rulemaking Task 0196, many important steps towards finalization have taken place since publication of NPA 2020-15 in December of 2020. A Focused Consultation just took place last month, so in this blog I will bring you up to speed on developments and give some further insight into the process.
Since I last shared a dedicated blog on this topic, the comment period for NPA 2020-15 opened. This is a lengthy but crucial step in the process. Comments have since been received from National Authorities, affected parties and many individuals. Based on these comments and the Terms of Reference of the team, EASA and the teams have been creating the rule-text and applicable AMC and Guidance material. There are three teams; one team is focused on CS-FSTD, one team is focused on ARA/ORA, and the final team, which I lead, is focused on training.
After working to create the proposed rules, we gathered as a group during the week of June 17th for a Focused Consultation. This was successfully completed with mostly positive comments from participants.
The next steps include additional Focused Consultations on specific items, for example on the final version of CS-FSTD, which is being created by the group led by Olli Hanninen from Traficom, and the opinion from EASA to the European Commission to establish European regulations.
There are already several changes from the original proposal which will have an impact on the training industry. For instance, we have made the change from 12 to 14 features (in coordination with the CS_FSTD team) to ensure better separation between some associated items, such as controls. These have been separated between “Primary Controls Forces and Hardware” and “Primary Flight Controls System ”.
On the training side, we have finished a thorough review of EASA Appendix 9 and have identified the required FCS for each individual task at both the “Training” (T) and “Training to Proficiency” (TP) levels. The TP level replaces the initial proposal of “Testing and Checking” (T&C) and serves as a requirement of FCS to which all training tasks must be completed.
The additional work that has been done by the RMT includes proper incorporation of “Hard Law”, Acceptable Means of Compliance and Guidance Material for Competent Authorities with regards to implementation of all these changes.
For the training community, one of the major changes is that unlike before, there will be no time restriction on the use of any specific device. The previous requirement that a Type Rating should be a minimum of 32 hours, of which 16 should be completed in a Full Flight Simulator, is no longer applicable in this proposal, as the FCS rather than the device type will be leading. In essence, this will allow any organization to optimize their training via the Task-to-Tool philosophy and minimize cost while optimizing quality and efficiency. I foresee future Type Ratings to be performed on a multitude of devices, with only the “Pre-Check” and the actual Skill Test being performed in a “heritage” FFS, a significant improvement.
While this work is still ongoing and in the final stages of creation of the Opinion, I do want to take the opportunity to thank those who have contributed to this effort. It has been a long road. We started this effort almost 10 years ago, and it has taken a lot of work from the people below. It is always risky to mention some and not others, but these people deserve the credit for sure:
Francesco Gaetani, Ascanio Russo, Matteo Arnoldi, Nadia Ilieva Prokopis Batzanopoulos and Daan Dousi from EASA, Eric Fuilla-Weishaupt from Airbus, Franziska Scholz from LBA and the previously mentioned Olli Hanninen from Traficom as the team leaders.
Finally, my thanks go out to my training team, with special mention of Frederik Mohrmann (Boeing), Gilad Scherpf (Lufthansa), Steve Gibson (Ryanair)and Christian Norden (Airbus) for their work on the Training Matrices, and many others for their continuous contributions.
If you have any questions after reading this blog, please let me know via the comments below or contact me via LinkedIn and I will gladly address them in person or via a future blog. In the meantime, MPS recently shared some important videos from our friends at Traficom that also further explain the updated framework for FSTD training in detail. Of course, please note, that the final rules may differ from the information in this blog and presented in the videos linked, as the work is still ongoing. In addition, you can also check out our Frequently Asked Questions page.”
Source: MPS
Photo Credit: MPS
