Western Aircraft recently built and donated a cockpit simulator to be used as a learning tool in Idaho State University’s College of Technology.

“We actually started building the cockpit before we spoke to ISU,” Tracy Kalbfleisch, the MRO’s director of aircraft services, told AIN. “We wanted to show the university, and everyone in the state of Idaho, how committed we are to building the industry by getting young people interested in aviation. We’d been talking amongst ourselves that there is a need for more qualified entry-level technicians in aviation and felt this cockpit simulator with the latest technology could help ISU students become more experienced with real-world situations.”

Western Aircraft has a history of supporting ISU’s aircraft maintenance program financially as well as hiring airframe and powerplant technician graduates from the program. “Western Aircraft saw a need for our graduates to have more exposure to newer things,” said ISU aircraft maintenance program laboratory instructor Pete Stewart. “Our classroom instruction and hands-on training provides students the insight into where the industry has come from. This cockpit simulator gives the students the understanding of where the industry is heading.”