Boeing has provided virtual and hardware-based training devices to the U.S. Navy’s P-8 maintenance training facility as part of efforts to prepare the P-8A Poseidon aircraft for fleet integration.
The Naval Air Station Jacksonville-based facility is designed to train Poseidon aircraft maintenance crew worldwide using mission systems software simulations and full-scale aircraft component replicas, Boeing said Thursday.
Robert Powden, head of the Navy’s P-8A maintenance training unit, said the new training center aims to equip technicians with the needed skills and knowledge to facilitate long-term operations for the P-8A.
The center features seven virtual and 14 hardware-based training devices, an ordnance load trainer and other facilities that work to help familiarize Navy maintainers with the aircraft and its systems as well as preventive, corrective and diagnostic maintenance procedures.
Boeing received a contract from the Navy in 2014 to supply P-8 training equipment to the Florida facility.