SimCom international has entered a partnership with New Piper to build the training facility for the Saratoga II HP, Saratoga II TC, Seneca V and Malibu Mirage aircraft at the New Piper factory in Vero Beach, Florida. In addition, SimCom will train maintenance technicians for New Piper service centres.\rThe partnership will also develop pilot and maintenance courses for the Malibu Meridian, involving the construction of a simulator, scheduled to come on-line in late 2000. Meridian customers will receive a training course which is said to be extensive and will include aircraft systems training, simulator training and flight training. Additionally, early in 2000, SimCom will complete a revised Malibu Mirage simulator, fully equipped with the Mirage avionics suite.\r"New Piper has partnered with SimCom to provide our customers with complete technical and operational understanding of the advanced performance, capabilities and technology of their new aircraft," said Larry Bardon, New Piper's vice president of marketing. "In searching for a training facility for the Meridian, we were highly mindful that we were putting our customers in the hands of a new training company. We sought out SimCom for their highly effective and innovative flight and ground training."\rNew Piper reports long-term plans for training facilities across North America, with the next centre to be at SimCom's facilities in Phoenix.