Leonardo strengthens its presence in the United States with the official opening of its new Helicopter Training Academy in Philadelphia. The new facility will provide a 360° training experience for pilots and maintenance technicians with classroom courses, virtual environment activities and real flight. The Academy is located in the same manufacturing facility in Philadelphia which also includes manufacturing and technical support for the American market.
In detail, the new Philadelphia training facility falls within an investment of 80 million dollars intended for operational activities in the United States, to meet the growing demand for training for pilots, crew members and maintenance technicians in North and South America.
In addition, the Training Academy in the USA will mirror the services already provided by its Italian sister facility based in Sesto Calende, in the province of Varese, which offers training on the ground, in a virtual environment and in flight, also taking advantage of the simulation capabilities jointly developed by Leonardo and the Canadian company CAE and managed through their Rotorsim joint venture.
Finally, the Training Academy in the USA, already operational for customers, offers training services for models of AW119, AW169, AW139 helicopter and will also host training services for all customers in the world of the first full motion flight simulator to receive civilian certification, theAW609.
The structure thus reinforces Leonardo's role as the only helicopter manufacturer in the world equipped with the ability to independently design, develop, supply, qualify, support and use the most complete range of training systems, thus generating a totally faithful simulated and virtual environment to the real product.
The launch of the new Training Academy was announced during the international helicopter show Heli-Expo in 2019 in Atlanta and, despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, it opened two years later than planned.
“In our sector, only industries with a clear vision, strategy and consistency in execution can aim for a long-term sustainable business and become strategic assets for their countries. - he has declared Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo's Managing Director We want to be seen as a partner, not just a supplier, by continuing to deliver exceptional services and training experiences, and we integrate these capabilities into our one-of-a-kind helicopter offering, with ambitions to become the global leader in the industry. ”
“Advanced simulation, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, all present today in our Training Academy in the USA – concluded Profumo – are examples of this vision. This new structure can leverage the revolutionary technologies we are implementing and the investments in a deep digitization of our offer and our processes”.
