Online Program May Mark End Of Printed Study Materials

As Aero-News reported earlier this week, Diamond Aircraft and Jeppesen have joined forces to deliver an online private pilot training course that is tailored to Diamond airplanes. More details of that plan -- which also includes additional Diamond specific online course packages that will follow the private course -- were revealed Thursday at Lakeland 2007.

Representatives with Jeppesen state the course will provide a comprehensive suite of materials that will be delivered online to students, plus airplane-specific training on systems, procedures, real life operational scenarios, and advanced avionics like the Garmin G1000.

Instructors will also benefit from the course by using the Jeppesen Learning Center, which will offer a centralized location to manage, track and store student training progress and records.

“We are very excited to further develop our partnership with an innovative and forward-thinking manufacturer like Diamond Aircraft,” said Kevin Collins, Jeppesen executive vice president, General and Business Aviation. “Delivering custom courses to OEMs is something that goes back to the roots of our training business and Paul Sanderson himself.  Aircraft-specific ground training helps students to better retain knowledge and apply it to their flight training, and internet-based delivery will make the courses convenient for both students and instructors.”

“Diamond has always been about leading edge technology, innovation, quality, safety and making flying more accessible to more people,” said Peter Maurer, President of Diamond Aircraft Industries. “Jeppesen shares these values, in addition to being the recognized leader in flight training materials, and as such is the ideal partner for developing a new generation of flight training tools. The Diamond-specific training courses will be the perfect complement to our newly launched Diamond Flight Center Program. We are truly delighted to be partnered with Jeppesen in providing a modern basis for the training of future generations of pilots.”

The Diamond partnership points to Jeppesen’s strategy for transitioning its award-winning training products from paper textbooks to more flexible options that are delivered via various customizable methods -– be it web, CD, or a combination of printed and electronic media. The strategy also focuses on using innovative instructional design principles like objective-based learning, realistic scenarios, and pre-tests that identify exactly what subjects need additional study, and what subjects are already known.

With the added flexibility that computer-based training offers, Jeppesen says entire training systems can now be customized, and kept more current due to reduced production lead times.

FMI: www.jeppesen.com, www.diamondflightcenter.com