PSA Airlines Invests in New Flight Training Device

Since the initial announcement of the  CRJ900 NextGens order in December of 2013, the PSA Airlines Training Department has been challenged with training, checking, and certifying over 900 pilots. Maintaining a rate of 60 to 70 new hire pilots a month, and anticipating this pilot hiring rate to continue throughout 2017 and the addition of 82 aircraft, has required proactive updates to PSA’s organization, infrastructure, and processes. One of these updates is the addition of a new Level 4 CAE Simfinity™ Flight Training Device (FTD) to PSA’s Mark J. Zweidinger Professional Learning Center.

The device was ordered from CAE in December of 2013 and became fully operational in January this year. As a level 4 FTD, the instrument includes a cost-efficient, highfidelity training device which integrates hardware replicas of aircraft-specific parts. The CAE Simfinity™ FTD is capable of handling more than 40 percent of initial training events, better preparing our pilots before they head to the full-flight simulator. The total investment reached upwards of $1.5 million.

PSA’s New Level 4 FTD

“The new level 4 FTD will take PSA to the next level of training as a professional airline,” says Fleet Manager Brad Tulin. “This device will allow us to adjust training to meet a more individual need for new hires and increase the success rate before going to simulator training. In addition, it will help with making sure that each student receives the best, most modern training and tools available in today’s market.”