FSI Selects Sites for Unmanned Systems Training
Flight training at the two FlightSafety sites will be offered in partnership with Praxis Aerospace Concepts.
FlightSafety International will begin offering flight training in unmanned aerial systems as part of the development of its unmanned systems training and sites. (Photo: FlightSafety International)

FlightSafety International will establish unmanned systems training centers in the Las Vegas area and Wichita, it announced yesterday, nearly a year after unveiling plans to enter this market. Its unmanned systems training catalog also will be expanded to include practical training in operating unmanned aerial systems (UAS). 


The FlightSafety UAS Learning Center near Las Vegas will have operations in the suburb of Henderson, as well as at Searchlight Airport (1L3), about 50 miles south of Henderson. FlightSafety has not named a specific location for the training center in Wichita, though it will be established “before the end of this year,” FlightSafety director of unmanned systems training for commercial and government Nora Ann Mishler told AIN.


Both centers will be led by manager Clinton Strong, who has been with FlightSafety since 2008, starting as a Cessna Citation Excel instructor. He was most recently assistant center manager of the Wichita East Learning Center.


Mishler said the company’s unmanned systems flight training will be offered in partnership with Praxis Aerospace Concepts, which has a “wealth of UAS experience in military and commercial.” She added, “[The partnership] helps us move into this space and do it with the expertise and quality that people come to expect from FlightSafety.”


The first “hands-on” flight training course at Henderson, a 10-day-long Professional Remote Pilot Fundamentals course, will begin March 18. The course is designed to ASTM standards, Mishler noted.


Plans for FlightSafety’s unmanned systems training were announced in May 2018. It currently offers unmanned systems electronic learning courses in resource management, fatigue management, safety management system, and Part 107 exam preparation. Those will expand over the next few months to include remote pilot fundamentals, as well as courses in aerial photography, weather fundamentals, and basics on batteries, Mishler said.