Kelowna’s KF Aerospace announced last week (Nov. 19) the makeup of the five fleets of aircraft it will acquire on behalf of the SkyAlyne consortium (made up of KF Aerospace and CAE) as part of the 25-year-long Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) program. The five fleets incorporating 70 aircraft will be based at three different training bases on the Prairies – Southport and Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.
They aircraft types are:
- Grob G120TP for basic flight training (BFT)
- Pilatus PC-21 for advanced flight training (AFT) and advanced flight training – jet (AFT-J)
- Beechcraft/Textron King Air 260 for advanced flight training – multi-engine (AFT-ME)
- Airbus H135 helicopter for rotary-wing training (AFT-RW)
- De Havilland Dash 8-400 for training air combat systems officers and airborne electronic sensor operators (ACSO/AESOp)
KF Aerospace will continue to run the Southport base and will manage the AFT-ME training program. The BFT program, previously managed by KF Aerospace, will now be run by CAE at the Moose Jaw base. The Dash 8s will be based at Winnipeg. The Kelowna company will also be responsible for maintenance and airworthiness of all five aircraft fleets and will oversee the construction of new facilities at Southport to house and service the fleets.
NB: For our Newsletter subscribers, see this week’s featured video for an overview of KF Aerospace and SkyAlyne.