Piper Aircraft has sold 35 single-engine and twin-engine training aircraft to CAE, which will add the airplanes to the Oxford Aviation Academy fleets in Phoenix, Ariz., and Oxford, U.K., the companies announced Tuesday at Sun ‘n Fun. The agreement includes firm orders for 22 single-engine Archer TX training airplanes and 13 twin-engine trainers, as well as parts and service. Deliveries will start this spring. All of the aircraft will be equipped with Garmin G1000 avionics suites and Garmin traffic advisory systems. The airplanes will also be equipped with CAE-designed flight data analysis and cockpit video recording systems.
The systems will record data, audio and video that can be replayed immediately after the flight to help debrief students using flight animation with synchronized audio/video. The systems also will enable CAE to gather data for statistical analysis that should help to improve safety and performance.Piper also said it’s beefing up its global sales force to focus on fleet sales of trainer aircraft as well as the M-Class and Twin-Class lines.
