Amparo Calatayud named as manager of FlightSafety West Palm Beach center

FlightSafety International named Amparo Calatayud as manager of the company’s learning center in West Palm Beach, Florida. Calatayud replaces Gil Schnabel who has been named regional director of regulatory affairs.

“Ampy’s proven leadership skills and experience with fixed-wing and helicopter training and operations will be greatly appreciated by our Customers who train in West Palm Beach,” said Greg McGowan, senior vice president, Operations. “We thank Gil for serving as Manager of the West Palm Beach Center since 2009, and look forward to his contributions as a regional director, Regulatory Affairs.”

Calatayud first joined FlightSafety in 1997 as an instructor at the San Antonio learning center. She was promoted to assistant manager in 1998 and to manager of the center the following year. Calatayud served in that role until leaving to raise her family in 2003. She returned to FlightSafety in 2008 as assistant manager of the Dallas learning center, and was then promoted to manager of the learning center in Lafayette, Louisiana.

She is a multi-engine rated fixed wing and rotorcraft pilot and is type rated in the Sikorsky SK-70 and Metro SA 227. Calatayud holds a Master of Science in Management from the Florida Institute of Technology, a Bachelor of Arts from Queens College in New York, is fluent in Spanish, and also speaks Portuguese and French.

Calatayud served in the United States Army with the 159^th Aviation Unit, Department of Allied Systems Training, and the Helicopter BN, School of the Americas.

The West Palm Beach learning center currently offers training using full flight simulators for the Sikorsky S-76C+, Sikorsky S-76C++, Sikorsky S-70/UH-60, Sikorsky S-92, Piaggio P180 Avanti, and Piaggio P180 Avanti II.

FlightSafety is building new simulators for the Sikorsky S-76D and Sikorsky S-70i that will enter service at the center in the coming months.