Marinvent Corp. will train engineers to fly Bombardier Inc.’s CSeries.
The deal was part of a number of announcements Thursday by AÉROETS, the aerospace faculty of the École de technologie supérieure.
John Maris, founder and president of Marinvent, a small but leading-edge St. Bruno firm that’s done work with NASA and various air forces around the world, said that the partnership with Bombardier would be conducted under the auspices of AÉROETS.
Marinvent had already been chosen by Bombardier to develop flight-management software tools to be used for flight-test training, including for the CSeries due to fly in mid-2012.
The agreement now will help Bombardier certify its upcoming jetliner using the AÉROETS facilities.
Some work will also be done aboard Marinvent’s Piaggio 180 Avanti, a $7-million test bed aircraft that uses some of the most advanced aircraft technologies available.
In demonstration flights last year, Maris, a former test pilot for the National Department of Defence, described the flying-lab aircraft’s computer as a high-tech “plug-and-play” simulator on which the world’s most advanced jets can test and debug any system – avionics, electrical, mechanical, hydraulic.
NASA has flown the plane to conduct tests, and companies like CAE, Bell Helicopter and Pratt & Whitney “can use it later too,” Maris said.
In partnership with Daytona Beach’s Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Marinvent is also part of a large NextGen program by Washington’s Federal Aviation Administration to overhaul completely the air travel system.
“This (Bombardier-Marinvent agreement) is big for us,” said Hany Moustapha, a professor of mechanical engineering at AÉROÉTS and a longtime Pratt & Whitney Canada manager who still works there part-time.
The school also signed a partnership with Embry-Riddle for student and faculty exchange programs.
Richard Heist, executive vice-president and chief academic officer for E-R, said that he “discovered only a few months ago the wealth of (aerospace) expertise and know-how up here in Montreal. But we work fast, so here we are today. We know a good thing when we see it.”
Maris, a graduate of Embry-Riddle, said he had taught at five schools and universities and praised his alma mater and ÉTS for having “as very strong cadre of instructors and a vast tract of knowledge in all sorts of areas.”
In addition, the ÉTS will set up a Pratt & Whitney Advanced Propulsion Centre with three P&W engines and 17 faculty members.
Despite the relatively short time between now and the CSeries’ scheduled first flight next summer, Maris said that many engineers have vast experience and need little training. Others, he said, can be brought up to speed quickly, while relatively few will need training from scratch.
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