A multi-engine, instrument rated pilot, James Wynbrandt has been an AIN and Business Jet Traveler contributor since 2003. His in-depth reporting and insightful features have won more than a dozen editorial honors, including two National Business Aviation Association Gold Wing Awards (2019; 2021), and his articles have also appeared in the New York Times, Barron’s, Fortune, Forbes, and Smithsonian Air &amp; Space. He has flown his Mooney M20K 252 on assignments throughout North and Central America and the Caribbean. Wynbrandt is also the author of Flying High (Wiley &amp; Sons), a biography of Jet Blue founder David Neeleman, as well as histories, references works, and books on a variety of other topics from major publishers. He lives in New York City.

Contributor - Business Aviation

James Wynbrandt

If the Series 400 Twin Otter turboprop that Canada’s Viking Air Limited has on static display here at Farnborough (Outdoor Exhibit 28) catches your fancy, buying and training to fly it will henceforth be much easier. Viking announced here it is teaming with Longview Aviation Asset Management to provide Twin Otter customers with new financing alternatives, and also unveiled plans for a new training center with the world’s first Twin Otter level D full flight simulator, set to open in Calgary in March 2017.

 


Under the financing agreement, Longview will offer leasing and financing packages for new and used DHC-6 Twin Otters. Longview will also buy six new-build Series 400 Twin Otters, and has secured the used Series 400 Twin Otter on display here, all of which will be offered on lease.

 


More than 100 Series 400 Twin Otters have been manufactured since 2010, and the new arrangement aims “to place more aircraft in service around the world,” said Dan Tharp, Viking’s chief operating officer. David Curtis, chairman of Longview Aviation Capital, parent of the newly formed Longview Aviation Asset Management, noted that the Twin Otter “has the highest and best residual values of any turboprop in its class.”

 


Meanwhile, Viking’s sister company, Pacific Sky Aviation, will install a Twin Otter level D Full Flight Simulator (FFS) and Seaplane Trainer, along with a Flat Panel Procedures Trainer (FPT) at the newly announced training facility. Made by Montreal’s TRU Simulation + Training (a Textron subsidiary), it will be the world’s first FFS to feature a seaplane configuration, simulating takeoffs, landings, and docking operations in a range of sea states, thereby reducing training time and costs.

 


The training center will be housed at Viking’s final assembly facility at Calgary International Airport, providing convenient access for customers traveling from Asia, Europe and the Americas.

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