The training specialist forecasts that in less than 10 years, more than 8,000 business aviation pilots and 10,000 private jet maintenance technicians will need to be recruited and trained in Europe alone.
GENEVA—CAE’s new training center in Vienna, Austria, will be home to up to nine full-flight simulators, including an Embraer Phenom 300 and a Bombardier Challenger 3500, in addition to the Bombardier Global 6000 and 7500 announced last year, CAE Business Aviation Division President Alexandre Prevost said on the eve of the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition here.
The decision is the latest in the flight simulation and training services specialist’s growth strategy. CAE has based the move on its own demand forecast, which suggests that in less than 10 years, more than 8,000 business aviation pilots and 10,000 private jet maintenance technicians will need to be recruited and trained in Europe alone. Doors are planned to open at the Vienna training center in the second quarter of 2025.
For CAE, the level of activity is higher than before the COVID-19 crisis, says Prevost. Moreover, Europe is following the global growth trend, according to CAE’s statistics. The company has therefore chosen to increase the number of training centers and the number of simulators in the region, Prevost explains.
The new Central European training center in Vienna will complement CAE’s facilities in Burgess Hill, England. CAE will offer maintenance technician training at its two European business aviation training centers.
The Phenom simulator destined for Vienna is part of a joint venture between CAE and Embraer, called Embraer CAE Training Services, which includes seven Phenom full-flight simulators, the latest of which entered operation at CAE Burgess Hill in March.
As a technology improvement, CAE has been including its CAE Rise tool on all its new simulators. CAE Rise uses metrics-based insights and telemetry data to liberate instructors during the grading process so they can focus on a pilot’s soft skills. As a result, they can better assess their overall performance, CAE Rise’s promoters say. Instructors can use the data during their debrief and show students how they performed a particular maneuver. At the same time, the data allows CAE to detect emerging safety trends in the industry.
The first CAE full-flight simulator using a gaming-engine-powered Prodigy image generator received level D qualification this year.
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