Airline pilot training organisation, Virtual Aviation, based in Cambridge airport, invited MP for South East Cambridgeshire, Lucy Frazer, to meet with their Chief Commercial Officer, Ben Boness. The premise for the meeting was to discuss what government can do to assist trainee pilots and, consequently, benefit the aviation industry both locally and nationally.
The cost of training pilots is considerable. Virtual Aviation use a Boeing 737 flight simulator to train pilots for airline jobs and, having recently secured funding, this week, invested millions of pounds in a new simulator which will enable them to train more pilots at the same time.
The MP was given the opportunity to fly the simulator during her visit and also spent time discussing ways of addressing the shortage of pilots and helping young people into aviation.