Leonardo officially opened its $80 million Philadelphia training academy on Thursday. The remodeled warehouse on Leonardo’s existing production, engineering, and service campus will be operated by Rotorsim, a joint venture between Leonardo and CAE, and offer mission-specific ground, in-flight and virtual training. Senior Leonardo executives said the co-location of the academy on the Philadelphia campus provides a “one-stop-shop” for its customers and will provide them with “an inside view of our organization, our culture, and how our product is made and maintained.”
The new facility is expected to serve up to 1,000 students per year and features 10 multi-media classrooms, three maintenance simulators (AW139 and AW119 with the AW609 to be added shortly), and two full-motion flight simulators for the AW139 and AW169/AW609 with roll-on/roll-off capability. The AW139 simulator was relocated to Philadelphia from Whippany, New Jersey, while the new AW169 is one of only two simulators of its kind in the world. An empty bay allows for a third simulator to be added later.
Other center features include a self-service cafeteria, store, quiet room, and gym. The first Leonardo academy opened in Sesto-Calende, Italy, in 2006 and in its inaugural year trained 600 students. That number has grown to an annual average of 10,000 at the company training center there and in the UK, Poland, and Malaysia, as well as company-authorized training centers.