Daher's aircraft division has marked an important step in enhancing the flight training element for its Kodiak and TBM turboprop-powered aircraft with the appointment of Wayman Luy as director of training and standards.

In this newly-created position, Luy's priorities include developing a standardised training programme for both pilots and instructors, applying such tools as on-line learning, e-learning and computer learning, while leveraging computer simulation, for example with the Microsoft Flight Simulator.

He will also oversee the factory-approved flight training organisations: US-based Parkwater Aviation with Kodiak training courses and the world's only full-motion simulator for this aircraft type; SimCom Aviation Training, with its TBM courses and simulator centres in Scottsdale, Arizona and Orlando, Florida; as well as France's SimAero ATO, which conducts EASA-certified TBM training.

“With nearly 1,300 Kodiaks and TBMs now flying worldwide, we are more focused than ever on providing owners and operators with the knowledge and skills to operate their aircraft at the maximum level of safety,” comments Nicolas Chabbert, the senior vice president of Daher's aircraft division. “To be fully effective across the user base, this must be carried out in a standardised manner, and there is no one better suited to the task than Wayman Luy.”

Luy's training expertise includes 20-plus years of working with students and logging thousands of flight hours at the Wayman Aviation Academy in Florida, which was set up by his father in 1987, and sold by the family three years ago. Adding to this are 6,000 hours in the TBM as a mentor pilot and factory demo pilot since 2004, working closely with Daher's aircraft division and the Daher aviator community during the past 16 years.