Shovels have hit the dirt as Pacific Sky Aviation and Viking Air turned sod for a new flight training centre in North Saanich that is designed to spur growth for both companies.
The 10,000-square-foot centre, to be ready for students in the fall of 2016, will be the world’s first Twin Otter training centre that offers a flight simulator to train pilots to take off and land on water.
“It’s been a long time coming, but this feels really good today,” said Michael Coughlin, chief executive of Pacific Sky, a sister company to Viking Air, which manufactures the Twin Otter aircraft. He said the two companies are bound together in partnership by the new training centre and both will reap the benefit of it.
“We are already training commercial and private pilots, but now we will be able to train them on the simulator and get them on the Twin Otter very quickly,” Coughlin said, noting they train about 200 pilots each year.
Coughlin said it will help Viking compete with aircraft manufacturers all over the world, while Viking customers will get safer flying and lower training costs as the simulator saves money and wear on planes.
Dave Curtis, chief executive of Viking, said having access to a simulator that can cut pilot training down by as much as a two-thirds means his company’s aircraft become more attractive to new markets.
“What it means for us is a customer comes in and wants a volume of airplanes. The next question is where do they get people to fly them? We now have the solution,” he said. Curtis said it takes about three years to train a seaplane captain on a Twin Otter in the air. With a simulator, they could do it in a year.
“We look at new markets like China, where we think we may be able to sell 200 airplanes. We think, ‘Where will we get seaplane captains?’ That’s the business behind this simulator,” he said.
But it wasn’t a slam dunk. The simulator had been kicked around as an idea for years before it got the green light. That’s because it’s still a gamble, said Sherry Brydson, who is chair of the board of Pacific Sky and controls Westerkirk Capital that drives both companies.
“It’s not going to make a bag of money, but it is going to be profitable enough to survive and for that we have our customers to thank,” said Brydson, who is bullish on Viking’s ability to open new markets with seaplanes. “I think it’s a good bet.”
The cost of the centre and the flight simulator were not disclosed. However, the simulator will cost more than a new Twin Otter, which starts at $7 million.
The training centre will be next to Viking headquarters and will house the Level “D” full flight simulator/seaplane trainer as well as a flat-panel integrated cockpit procedures trainer.
There will also be room for simulator expansion should the need arise as well as classrooms, briefing rooms, a lounge, offices and a boardroom.
It is expected the new facility will create 20 new jobs at the Victoria airport and will host hundreds of pilots each year.
Curtis said Viking’s decision this year to lay off 116 staff and slow down its productivity — from one plane every 10 days to one every 15 — was never going to have an impact on the training centre. He also said since the announcement in early April, they have been working on new projects and hope to be able to announce something soon.
Since Viking brought the Twin Otter back into production — the first was delivered in 2010 — the plane has generated more than $400 million for the company.
The aircraft has been sold and delivered to 27 countries. Viking has taken more than 100 orders for aircraft and delivered 68.
