Cessna is hoping to add onto its customer support services through an expansion of its partnership with FlightSafety International.Cessna and FlightSafety currently offer Citation and Caravan customers training on 44 flight training devices. Of these, 20 are certified by the FAA to Level “D,” the highest certification to date. Since January 2003, Cessna and FlightSafety have added four new such simulators. Now, the agreement will include the ability to train in flight simulators on aircraft not yet certified by the FAA. With new aircraft like the Citation Sovereign, this means Cessna is working on simulator certification simultaneously with aircraft certification. Historically, they have certified flight simulators several months after the delivery of a brand-new product.”With the Citation Sovereign, we expect to have it in operation before the delivery of the first Sovereign,” said Chad Martin, Cessna’s Manager of Training.Cessna’s FlightSafety partnership began in 1980 and was renewed with a new 15-year agreement signed in April 2002 that continues Cessna’s recognition of FlightSafety as the official factory-authorized training organization for all Citations and Caravans. With the increasing fleet of Citations, and the three newest Citations, the Mustang, CJ3 and Sovereign, Cessna projects the need to add eight simulators as the new products reach the customer delivery phase.
