Singapore, 10 July 2012 – ST Aerospace’s commercial pilot training arm, ST Aerospace Academy (STAA) has signed a partnership with Sim-Industries B.V., a Lockheed Martin company. Under the agreement, Sim-Industries will provide an Airbus A320 full flight simulator (FFS) for the STAA Multi-crew Pilot Licence (MPL) programme. The FFS will be housed in STAA’s simulator training centre, which is currently being developed in Singapore’s Seletar Aerospace Park.

“ST Aerospace holds a strong position within the Asian market, we support STAA in this partnership with our proven equipment to provide the best possible training environment for future pilots.”
~ Frank Uit den BOGAARD, CEO, Sim-Industries B.V.

“Sim-Industries coming on board this partnership is a vote of confidence in our MPL programme. We are very excited about our upcoming simulator training centre, which will see us having the right infrastructure to bring our pilot training business to the next level.”
~ PEH Teng Keng, President, ST Aerospace Academy

Expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2013, STAA’s simulator centre is designed to house six full flight simulators and one full size fixed base simulator, as well as state-of-the-art computer-based training rooms for both Air Transport Pilot Licence and entry level ground training. The suite of training equipment and devices is custom designed for the newly legislated Singapore MPL programme.

STAA, in partnership with Tiger Airways and with support from the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, pioneered the Singapore MPL programme. The beta programme’s pilots are now flying with Tiger Airways as First Officers.

The MPL programme utilises the latest teaching methodologies and simulation technologies and trains the student in a multi-crew cooperation environment from much earlier in the training than in traditional pilot training programmes.

Established since 2007, STAA’s customers include both private individuals, as well as airlines such as Hainan Airlines, JuneYao Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines, ShunFeng Airlines and Tiger Airways. STAA operates out of Seletar Airport in Singapore and Ballarat Airport in Victoria, Australia.

Sim-Industries develops and produces a full line of aircraft training technologies – including full flight simulators, fixed base simulators and flat panel trainers – to support the needs of airlines, aircraft manufacturers and independent training centres. The integration of Sim-Industries into Lockheed Martin brings together Lockheed Martin’s expertise in crafting training programmes with proven simulators produced by Sim-Industries, with both pushing the standard of realism, reliability and responsiveness in cost-effective design solutions.