All Nippon Airways Rolls Out New Technician, Pilot Training Tech

Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways is harnessing virtual technologies to simplify training for its maintenance technicians and pilots.

The airline is using virtual training tools from Acron Aviation, including its Virtual Maintenance Trainer (VMT) and Virtual Flight Deck (VFD), which provide digital lessons on a tablet or computer to reduce the need for a physical aircraft simulator.

The VFD allows trainees to explore panels, controls, indicators and displays in real time, while the VMT enables maintenance teams to recreate and practice a range of aircraft fault isolation tasks based on the Fault Isolation Manual—a document used to help technicians diagnose and troubleshoot malfunctions.

Acron Aviation offers both technologies for the Boeing 737NG and 787, and the company says the VMT is used by airlines, MROs and training organizations to reduce training costs and improve operational efficiencies.

A representative for All Nippon Airways (ANA) tells Aviation Week Network the airline believes the technology is “an effective and efficient way to develop some of the basic skills required of qualified mechanics through practical training on the VMT, without using actual aircraft.” ANA, which performs most of its mechanic training in-house, says the VMT will be used primarily to train its 50 new 787 qualifiers annually.

According to the Aviation Week Network Fleet Discovery database, ANA currently operates 81 787s, with five in parked or reserve status and 33 on order. In February, it ordered 18 more 787-9s to support its plan of “aggressively introducing new aircraft to international routes, which is the growth area of our business.”

Across ANA’s line, base, engine and component maintenance businesses, the airline employs nearly 2,700 staff. ANA tells Aviation Week Network that it has deployed several new strategies to continue recruiting and training its maintenance workforce.

“The ANA Group has expanded its resources, which were previously focused on science students, to include a wide range of students in both the liberal arts and sciences, and is striving to employ a wider range of talent,” says a representative for ANA. “We are also working to employ diverse, global personnel who have work visas under the newly created Specific Skill System [a Japanese visa program designed to enable foreign nationals to work in specific industries that are experiencing labor shortages] in the field of aviation mechanics.”