FlightSafety Opens State Of The Art Broken Arrow Facility

Dan Bewley, News On 6 and Staff Reports

BROKEN ARROW, Oklahoma -- Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin spoke at the grand opening of a new flight simulation facility in Broken Arrow Tuesday afternoon.

FlightSafety International held  the ceremony at their new building at 700 North 9th Street.

The company makes flight simulators from the ground up in a new state-of-the-art 375,000 square foot facility.

FlightSafety sells the simulators to airlines, private individuals, and the military.

They mimic all kinds of aircraft, from Gulfstream to Airbus, and can get as exact as a specific tail number.

The simulators can do everything the regular aircraft can do but get off the ground.

"If you train in this simulator you do not need to train in the aircraft. You can get out of the simulator when your training regime is complete, get in the aircraft, and fly it home," said John Slish of FlightSafety.

FlightSafety began in Tulsa in 1978 with 110 employees, now there are nearly 700 people that work here churning out 31 simulators every year.

Gene Harvey has worked for FlightSafety for eleven years. It's his job to make sure the people who put the simulators together have the correct parts.

He says this new facility has done wonders for employee moral.

"Absolutely, look around it's just beautiful, everybody really enjoys being here," he said.

FlightSafety is one of Broken Arrow's largest economic drivers.

The company generates a $35-million payroll every year out of their Broken Arrow facility and spends another $45-million a year with local vendors.

The goal is that this new facility will help generate a buzz and keep the company growing in Broken Arrow.

There are no immediate plans to hire more employees but FlightSafety officials say as its business grows in the new facility they do expect to hire more people in the future.