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On the Record With
JEFF ROBERTS, GROUP PRESIDENT, CIVIL SIMULATION & TRAINING,
CAE
"We're going to have four big business aviation centers
by the summer of 2006," says Jeff Roberts, group president
for civil simulation and training with CAE (Booth 8011). Roberts
is the former CEO of Dallas-based SimuFlite, now CAE SimuFlite,
which was acquired by Montreal-based CAE in December 2001 and is
celebrating its 20th anniversary here this week.
CAE is taking business aircraft pilot and maintenance training
far beyond the SimuFlite location in Dallas, where about 400 people
support training for a wide range of aircraft types, one of the
latest being the Citation X, for which a Level D simulator has just
been FAA-certified.
The three new locations are:
Dubai, where a joint effort with Emirates handles training for
Gulfstream and Raytheon business aircraft at a brand-new, 80,000-square-foot
facility—and new sims are being installed for aircraft such
as the Bell 412 helicopter and Boeing Business Jet;
the UK, where Dassault Falcon and its new 7X and EASy cockpits
will be the lead offerings, followed by Cessna and Raytheon, at
a new center to be located in the London area; and
a new CAE center in New Jersey, initially to support Falcon and
Raytheon aircraft. Site selection has been narrowed to Morristown,
Newark or Teterboro.
In Phoenix, CAE has added the Legacy business jet to its Embraer
ERJ145 full-flight simulator at Arizona State University, with
Swift Aviation a key client.
"About 30 percent of our resources are dedicated to business
aviation and it's certainly carrying its weight," Robert
says. "Our aviation training business is double-digit growth,
year after year, the bottom line too."
CAE continues to enjoy the fruits of a decision made under former
chief Derek Burney to branch beyond the manufacture and sale of
training hardware—simulators—to airline customers, and
also offer full-fledged training programs and curricula.
Now, Roberts says, a new frontier is at hand, with expansion
of the company's Simfinity brand course offerings beyond the training
center, to the Internet. Face-to-face market research, he says,
will be a key mission of the CAE team here in Las Vegas. "What
we're trying to do at this show is get real clarity from the operators,"
he says, about the hard specifics of how a marriage of Simfinity
and the broader concept of e-learning (online training) can bring
real improvements to aviation instruction.
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SimuFlite Celebrates Its 20th
"It's 20 years and we're going to celebrate a little
bit," CAE group president for civil simulation and
training Jeff Roberts said on the eve of NBAA 2004.
SimuFlite Training International says it became the first
provider to offer business-jet training in FAA-approved
Phase ll (Level C) simulators, in 1984 at the Dallas/Fort
Worth International Airport.
Today, the company says, CAE SimuFlite is the largest business
aviation training center in the world, offering pilot and
maintenance training at a 426,000-square-foot DFW facility.
Now the quandary is whether to take the SimuFlite name
beyond Texas, or to brand new facilities in Dubai (already
in service) and New Jersey and London (to be ready in 2006)
simply as CAE.
Roberts himself joined CAE in late 2001 following the acquisition
of SimuFlite by CAE. He was SimuFlite CEO.
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SimuFlite Serves the Citation X
CAE SimuFlite said late last month that its full-flight
simulator for Cessna's Citation X business jet has received
the FAA's Level-D nod.
The Citation X simulator, designed and manufactured by
CAE, uses the firm's Sim XXI technology featuring CAE's
Tropos visual system. It brings CAE SimuFlite's fleet of
Citation simulators to seven: Citation II, Citation III/VI/VII,
Citation V, Citation Ultra/Bravo, Citation Excel, CitationJet,
and now the Citation X.
CAE's Citation X training program features its Simfinity,
described as "a simulation-based ground school that
brings the power of the simulator into the classroom."
Initial, recurrent, upgrade and technical training courses
are available. Pilot recurrent training began on Sept. 20
and initial training on Sept. 27.
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