TrainingPort Keeps Aviation Personnel Current

Canadian online business aviation training companyTrainingPortis at the NBAA show (Booth N924) to acquaint flight managers with its online source for customized safety training. Based near Vancouver, the company was founded in 2005 by Scott Macpherson, a 25-year corporate aviation pilot and manager. TrainingPort was designed to meet operators’ needs for a straightforward, online method for pilots to maintain currency, and it does so by offering concise, 15-minute lessons accessible on any computer platform.

Macpherson was responsible for helping his own flight department receiveIS-BAO registration from the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC).As an aviation manager and chief pilot, he saw the need for a single source for all the recurrent safety-training elements found in standards such as IS-BAO’s, and also required byregulators and insurance underwriters. Macpherson is vice chairman of the IBAC governing board, a past director of the Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA) and currently captains a Falcon 900LX. He launched TrainingPort in 2006.

The availability of online training has helped Canadian business aviation operators navigate a series of regulatory changes, which first saw the CBAA gain business aviation certification andoversight functions and now will have Transport Canada reassert oversight of operator certificates by May 2016. Canada isthe only jurisdiction that requires operators to have a safety management system (SMS), and this means that regular training is required.

TrainingPortworks with an international team to develop and update its course offerings throughout the year to meet new regulations orstandards. Historically, much aircraft and non-aircrafttraining is concentrated into one or two annual training sessions at a flight simulator training center or at home base whenever all the pilots could be gathered together. With TrainingPort, flight departments can offer training at any time, whenever it’s convenient for pilots, whether at home base or while waiting at an FBO pilot lounge on the road, turning fallow time into productive time.

TrainingPort isn’t just for pilots; the company also offers training for ground handlers, technicians, cabin attendants, flight coordinators and flight operation managers and other personnel.

TrainingPortmanages all the course scheduling and training records (including test scores and other metrics), and these are available to flight department managers for audit purposes.