Montreal-based aerospace company eager to support new 15 Wing program

MOOSE JAW — Contractors, tradesmen, aerospace industry officials and other interested parties now have a better understanding of a multi-billion-dollar pilot training program coming to Moose Jaw and how they can contribute and benefit.

More than 120 people attended a luncheon at the Events Centre on Dec. 11 to learn about the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) $11.2-billion, 25-year Future Aircrew Training Program (FAcT) program, which will be operating at 15 Wing Air Base and two venues in Manitoba.

Officials from SkyAlyne Canada Limited Partnership — comprised of aviation companies CAE Inc. and KF Aerospace and overseeing the program — and construction company EllisDon spoke about how their companies would be contributing to the multi-decade initiative.

Scott Greenough, CAE’s director of the NATO Flight Training in Canada (NFTC) program at 15 Wing, spent 25 years in the RCAF before joining the Montreal-based aviation company 10 years ago and supporting its Moose Jaw initiative. He is now involved in the transition to FAcT.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for the air force. As an aviator, it’s not too often you get to fly a plane that smells like a new car, so they (pilot trainees) will be getting that opportunity,” he said. “All the planes that I flew … were decades old. So new airplanes are exciting.”

The transition to new planes — the PC-21 and Grob trainers will be based in Moose Jaw — will be complicated and complex, so that must be done safely while following all rules and policies, he continued.   

Furthermore, SkyAlyne will construct new infrastructure — such as buildings, hangars and runways — at 15 Wing to support the FAcT program, whereas CAE used existing infrastructure for the NFTC program, Greenough added. Infrastructure renewal is something with which the military struggles, similar to municipal officials in the City of Moose Jaw.

CAE — which has supported the Canadian Armed Forces since 1947 — is a high-tech company that aims to “make people better,” whether civilians or military personnel, Greenough remarked. There are thousands of pilots flying around the world, delivering millions of people safely to their destination, and those aviators likely trained on a CAE-built simulator.

“We’ll bring that mission (of safety) into the Future Aircrew Training Program,” he added.

CAE earned $4.3 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024, while it operates in over 40 countries in 240 locations with more than 13,000 employees. Of the revenue it earned, 57 per cent was from civil aviation and 43 per cent was from the defence and security industries.

Moreover, 49 per cent of its operations are in the United States, while 11 per cent are in Europe/the United Kingdom and 30 per cent are Canada/worldwide.

CAE was known as a simulator manufacturer for years, but the NFTC program marked its entry into living training programming, and the company has been growing ever since, said Greenough. It has also become experienced in providing military training.

The company will take what it has learned during the last 25 years with the NFTC initiative and apply that knowledge to FAcT, he continued.

The NFTC program has graduated more than 2,500 pilots since 2000, while those airmen have trained in CT-156 Beechcraft T-6A airplanes, which have accumulated more than 353,000 hours of flight time, the CAE spokesman pointed out.

The planes have been great and are solid training machines, although the RCAF has been using them for 28 years, they are showing their age and they are difficult to maintain, Greenough continued.

“We are looking forward to getting new planes,” he added.

With FAcT, students will start training in Moose Jaw instead of beginning in Manitoba, while they will commence basic training on Grob G 120TP turboprop, said Greenough. There will then be a selection process to determine whether the student should become a fighter pilot, a multi-engine pilot or a helicopter pilot.

Students designated for multi-engine or fighter plane training will then take advanced courses on the PC-21 trainer, which has three times as much horsepower as the CT-156s and can perform more advanced manoeuvres, he continued.

“The PC-21 is one of the most popular turboprops (on the market). We’re super excited to bring it on board,” Greenough noted.

Meanwhile, SkyAlyne has purposely overlapped the transition from the NFTC program to FAcT to minimize productivity losses, based on past experiences when it took six weeks to introduce the NFTC initiative in the 1990s, the CAE spokesman added. Officials at 15 Wing will be working hard during the next few years to build the new venue and implement the program.

For more information, visit SkyAlyne's website.