FlightSafety-Hawker center opens

Feb. 26, 2010

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Feb. 25--Inside a brightly lit hangar at FlightSafety International's new 44,000-square-foot building in northeast Wichita are three Hawker Beechcraft business jets.

The planes are used to help mechanics who come from around the world get training to work on Hawker Beechcraft jets.

The new building -- called the FlightSafety International Hawker Beechcraft Maintenance Learning Center -- is located at 1009 N. Greenwich Road. It represents a partnership between the two companies in a multimillion- dollar effort.

The building houses 10 classrooms, graphical flight-deck simulators, composites and cabin system laboratories and runway access to the 10,000-square-foot hangar.

The companies held an open house and ribbon cutting Wednesday.

The learning center has held two training classes since it opened in November in a program called MxPro.

The curriculum was jointly developed to combine Hawker Beechcraft's experience in aircraft design, manufacturing and support with FlightSafety's experience in aviation training, the companies said.

"This is a very significant occurrence," Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture said.

The instruction is "cutting edge," Boisture said. It gives technicians access to experts and proximity to the factory to help increase the value of the training.

A second FlightSafety facility, which trains pilots of Hawker Beechcraft aircraft near the factory, also has been expanded.

The facility -- FlightSafety International Hawker Beechcraft Pilot Learning Center at 9720 E. Central -- has 19 flight simulators, two flight training devices, 15 graphical flight simulators and 36 classrooms.

Reach Molly McMillin at 316-269-6708 or [email protected].