April 6, 2012
A “Proficiency Protection Program” that kept hundreds of unemployed business pilots and maintenance professionals current at no cost to them in 2009 is being reinstated by training provider FlightSafety International.
The re-born program will run through December 31, 2012. Pilots and technicians who became unemployed since January 1 of this year through staff reduction or job elimination are eligible for the training, which will be provided on an as-available basis. Those taking advantage of the offer will not be required to repay the cost of the training or enter into a new training agreement once re-employed.
“The effort three years ago was a tremendous success,” said Steve Phillips, FlightSafety International’s vice president of communications. “It allowed hundreds of business pilots and mechanics to stay ready to accept employment when the opportunity arose. In 2009, we saw it as a way we could help our loyal customers through tough times, and we feel the same today.
The 2012 program is available to any business pilot who was training under a FlightSafety full service contract at the time of his or her involuntary job loss, and will be in the aircraft type used for the original training. Any maintenance technician who was enrolled in the company’s Master Technician Program when he or she became unemployed may receive the next course toward completion of the program.
Phillips said the largest percentage of the hundreds of program beneficiaries in 2009 were trained in Cessna airplanes, followed by Gulfstream and Bombardier aircraft. In 2012 eligible business aircraft will include those made by Bell Helicopter, Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault Falcon, Embraer, Eurocopter, Gulfstream Aerospace, Hawker Beechcraft, Piaggio Aero and Sikorsky.
The 2012 Proficiency Protection Program is available to business pilots worldwide. “Right now European business aviation is going through a rough time, so we expect a number of pilots and maintenance professionals from there,” said Phillips. “But we have customers in 154 countries worldwide.”
International Business Aviation Council Ltd.