Fiji’s National Airline, Fiji Airways has acquired a best-in-class A330 Multi-Function Training Device (MFTD) to train A330 pilot training at its Head Office in Nadi.

The airline has spent $1 million on the acquisition which will reduce training costs significantly.

The MFTD has been approved by the Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji (CAAF), and an approval certificate was officially presented to Fiji Airways yesterday following which the first training of pilots was conducted.

The MFTD will be used as the initial stage for A330 pilot training before progressing to full simulator training, which is conducted at overseas training facilities.

Having this facility in-house will thus result in the acceleration of pilot training time.

It will be utilised for mainly procedures training, replicating aspects of the cockpit.

It also reproduces, with some degree of visual realism, the visual environment flights encounter, including clouds, thunderstorms, and the landing approaches of airports around the world. 

The device also recreates emergency situations that the cockpit crew has to be trained for.

The use of the MFTD greatly reduces the cost of training, which otherwise would have to be incurred by practice on the actual aircraft or a simulator.

It will also allow for development and continuous progress of the cockpit crew, enabling testing and implementation of improvements identified by the Flight Operations Quality team. 

Fiji Airways Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Andre Viljoen said the device will enable capacity building and skills development at a reduced cost.

“At the moment we send our crews to eight different training facilities around the world. By making this investment and bringing this part of the training in-house, we are able to eliminate a significant amount of expenditure.”

“From a quality perspective, this device allows us to develop, test and implement improvements that have been identified by our Flight Operations teams as part of our continuous improvement policy. It will also help us to achieve our flight safety requirements,” he added.

By Reginald Chandar