Black Hawk helicopter (source: Defence Ministry/TASR)
A new training centre for future helicopter pilots from across the globe has opened at the airport in Košice and will welcome its first students soon.
A total of 17 Afghanis, mostly aviation engineers and engineers with a technical specialisation, will start their preparation this week. They will spend 16 months there altogether, the Pravda daily wrote on March 1.
The training is secured by the Slovak Training Academy (STA), while the investors are the Slovak company MSM Group and the Czech firm European Air Services. The construction of the STA, including the purchase of helicopters, cost many millions of euros, and it was completed without any state help, the SITA newswire wrote.
Afghanis and other students
The centre was officially opened at the end of last year. The Afghan students have already undergone similar training in the Czech Republic, Ivan Rudolf of the STA said, as quoted by Pravda.
The Academy will expand, its head Juraj Lauš told a press conference on February 28 about four months after it had been opened. He did not specify, however, in which locality this expansion would take place.
“In a short time, we have recorded great interest in theoretical and practical training from several countries,” Lauš said, as quoted by SITA. “We are sure this region is worth investing in as it has historically been connected with aviation and there are hard-working diligent people here. I cannot specify the locality, as it has not been picked yet but it will ultimately be in eastern Slovakia,” he summed up.
It is good that after several years, eastern Slovakia is coming to the foreground as an important region of aviation, and of aviation – especially practical – training, the Dean of the Faculty of Aeronautics at the Technical University of Košice, Stanislav Szabo, noted.
New simulator, US helicopters to train on
On February 28, the Slovak Training Academy also presented its new simulator for the US Black Hawk helicopter. Apart from this, students from all over the world will have at their disposal a total of 15 helicopters, including four US Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks, SITA wrote.
“The theoretical part of the training will be in English, and it will continue with instruction on technical aviation subjects,” Peter Korba, expert director of the STA project said, adding that practical training in piloting with the Schweizer 269 and MD-500 will follow.
