Textron subsidiary opens maintenance training facility (+video)

Tru Simulation Plus Training publicly unveiled on Thursday its new Wichita Aviation Maintenance Training Academy, which opened to students in October.

The academy, housed in about 43,000 square feet of buildings on the north end of the Textron Aviation West Campus, is the company’s first center dedicated to maintenance training on civil aircraft.

Tru Simulation is a subsidiary of Textron Inc., the parent company of Textron Aviation Cessna and Beechcraft.

The unveiling late Thursday morning included a ceremonial ribbon cutting and speeches by city and company officials.

Once the academy is fully up and running, it’s expecting to train 7,500 avionics technicians and aircraft mechanics annually on a broad range of Textron Aviation Cessna and Beechcraft business jets and turboprops.

The average student will come from out of town and spend two weeks at the academy.

“That’s business for our hotels and restaurants, putting money into our economy,” Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell said in his remarks at the event.

The academy’s initial training is focused on Beechcraft King Airs with the Pro Line Fusion avionics — 350i, 250 and C90GTx models — all current propellers manufactured by McCauley, also owned by Textron, as well as mechanical and avionics maintenance theory for Beechcraft Baron and Bonanza piston engine aircraft.

It has eight employees, five of whom are instructors, with plans to add six instructors next year.

By the end of 2016, Tru Simulation expects to offer maintenance training on all Textron Aviation new production aircraft, including Cessna Citation business jets, said John Pippin, Tru Simulation’s senior program manager for maintenance training.

After 2016, he said, the company will evaluate which Textron Aviation legacy aircraft — aircraft that are no longer in production — it will offer maintenance training for, including Hawker business jets.

The academy provides both classroom and practical instruction, which is done in six classrooms — with capacity for 16 students per classroom — and in a 35,000-square-foot hangar that is heated and air conditioned, Pippin said.

The hangar most recently served as the delivery center for Cessna Caravans, said Mark Vanderpool, Textron Aviation’s senior manager of pilot and maintenance training.

The students themselves come to the academy through several different channels, said Kyle Crooks, Tru Simulation’s vice president and general manager of mission and maintenance training. They include Textron Aviation’s service centers; buyers of new Textron Aviation aircraft; and service centers and MRO — maintenance, repair and overhaul — companies that aren’t owned by or affiliated with Textron Aviation.

Plans for the center were conceived about a year-and-a-half ago, not long after Tru Simulation was formed.

South Carolina-based Tru Simulation was formed by Textron in 2014 following the acquisition of three companies: Mechtronix, Opinicus Corp. and a portion of the former AAI Logistics and Technical Services.

In addition to the Wichita academy, Tru operates ProFlight pilot training centers in Carlsbad, Calif., and Tampa, Fla., and provides flight simulators and flight simulation software for companies such as Boeing, Bell Helicopter — also a Textron company — as well as for military aircraft including the B-1 Bomber and C-17 Globemaster.

Tru Simulation chief executive Ian Walsh said after the event that he’s focused on boosting the company’s maintenance training.

“We plan to grow this part of our business, for sure,” Walsh said.

But on the pilot side, he doesn’t see Tru Simulation extending its Cessna Citation training – which it offers in Carlsbad and Tampa – to Wichita, which has long been done locally by FlightSafety International.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 7:50 PM with the headline "Textron subsidiary opens maintenance training facility (+video)."