KF Aerospace鈥攐ne of 91大黄鸭鈥檚 biggest employers鈥攈as earned a $6.5 million contract from Canada鈥檚 Department of National Defence.

The contract will see KF Aerospace provide a new Bell 206 Level 7 Flight Training Device (FTD) for the federal government鈥檚 Contracted Flying Training and Support (CFTS) Program located in Southport, Manitoba.

This new program is part of a larger scope of work by KF Aerospace Defence Programs to provide the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) with primary, basic, rotary-wing, and multi-engine pilot training at CFTS until 2027.

Built by Frasca International Inc., the new Level 7 FTD will provide helicopter pilot trainees and instructors with the most up-to-date flight training simulator available. The Frasca FTD system is the first configuration of its kind in Canada, and is equipped with a 220-degree field of view visual system. The device also incorporates Frasca鈥檚 proprietary SimAssist鈩� software which provides varying levels of automatic instructor assistance during the earliest phases of helicopter flight training.

鈥淲e are very pleased to provide cutting edge training systems for the CFTS Program,鈥� said Peter Fedak, site manager for the CFTS program. 鈥淚ntroducing devices like the new Bell 206 FTD is one example of how we鈥檙e continually honing our training system to provide exceptional service, efficiency, and throughput for our Canadian Armed Forces customer.鈥�

The simulator will be installed at the CFTS Training Centre as part of the flight training program led by KF Aerospace Defence Programs and supported by a pan-Canadian team consisting of Bluedrop Training and Simulation, Canadian Helicopters (HNZ) Ltd., and Canadian Base Operators.

Tracy Medve, President of KF Aerospace added, 鈥淚n addition to enhancing our ability to train emergency and other procedures, the new simulator will yield cost benefits as it will eliminate the need to increase our flying fleet by four aircraft. The new FTD may also be adaptable to the future rotary wing training requirements of DND鈥檚 FAcT program.鈥�

The CFTS Program trains 100 per cent of the pilot candidates seeking to become Royal Canadian Air Force pilots.

The Bell 206 FTD will begin service with the CFTS program in April of 2018.