Where once seaplanes were produced by "SIAI Marchetti", for sixteen years Leonardo has been training helicopter technicians and pilots from all over the world. There are at least 10,000 of them every year.
Inaugurated in 2006 in Sesto Calende, the "Alessandro Marchetti" Training Academy is located in Leonardo's Helicopter Division and is considered a centre of excellence for the education and training of specialist personnel. In fact, the training school offers the highest range of services, from basic VFR (Visual Flight Rules) and IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) training, to the highest level of qualification required by the complexity of modern helicopters used in both military and civil environments.
Leonardo Global Solutions (LGS) is an active participant in this process and supports the academy in the management and delivery of training to customers, including activities of programming and planning that allow the continuous daily operation and maintenance of the high quality level of the courses. To cope with the epidemiological situation, in addition to the traditional classroom lessons, over the last two years new ways of delivering distance training have been perfected thanks to the technological tools already at the Training Academy's disposal, meeting and favouring the needs of clients and at the same time guaranteeing all the measures to combat the COVID-19 health emergency.
"The collaboration between the Training Academy and Leonardo Global Solutions started in 2020, in a very difficult and completely unexpected context" said Michelangelo Fani, Head of the Purchasing Engineering and Performance Team. "This immediately represented a motivation to build a close, continuous and goal-oriented relationship, which, two years later, has been achieved exceeding expectations. The support provided to the training school represents a virtuous model of collaboration for our company, with optimisation and efficiency initiatives, such as ground training contracts and turnover management solutions - which can also be replicated in other areas and Divisions".
The investments in digital technologies made over the years, as well as ensuring the continuity and periodic updates of software developments (on training devices), have allowed new simulation technologies to be developed and adapted to the training paths of future helicopter operators. On the one hand, activities continue with historical suppliers who have strong product know-how, investing together on innovation projects such as Virtual Reality and 3D; on the other hand, LGS is supporting the Helicopter Division in the search for new suppliers to evaluate integration with new technologies, including those born in the gaming world and Augmented Reality applied in sectors beyond training.
In fact, in the hangars at Sesto Calende there is equipment that allows pilots to train on all Leonardo helicopter models: the cockpits of the simulators are set up like the originals, mounted on structures that move by means of an actuator system like the real aircraft, with shifts that cover the whole day.
"The relationship established with the LGS team proved to be one of fruitful cooperation. In addition to the usual procurement activities" said Commander Roberto Bianchini, Head of Flight Training Delivery, "we have implemented a series of shared initiatives aimed at optimising the management of resources and guaranteeing a high level of quality in training delivery, with the achievement of important results through the sharing of common objectives".
A job, that of the LGS people, carried out with commitment and passion to provide comprehensive support and training services and to guarantee safety, quality, effectiveness, and attention to costs and sustainability.