Un importante ruolo svolto all’interno del CAE MC è quello degli Istruttori del GIP (Gruppo Istruzione Professionale), essi curano tutta la parte didattica della Ground School e della simulazione.
Il GIP ha di recente aggiornato tutta la parte Ground School con un sistema innovativo denominato PROVADI (PROgettazione e Validazione DIdattica) che serve per “costruire” e valutare un intero corso con relativa certificazione. L’aggiornamento prevede diversi pacchetti didattici destinati al personale navigante con incluse anche attività LVP (Low Visibilty Procedure), necessarie per essere in grado di operare in aeroporti civili in condizioni di bassa visibilità, nonché diverse tipologie di avvicinamento agli aeroporti, come richiesto dalle nuove normative EASA del 2020, con l’utilizzo del GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Approach. Oppure corsi specifici come l’MTU (Manuale Tecnico di Utilizzo) del P 180, il CRM (Crew Resource Management) o il nuovo corso per il personale AV (Assistenti di Volo) sul P180, svolto dopo la fase di formazione degli Operatori di Bordo presso la Scuola Specialisti di Caserta. Un altro progetto è quello di creare un Syllabus Unico europeo per i piloti destinati alla linea Trasporto, in collaborazione con altri paesi aderenti al progetto TPTC (Transport Pilot Training Course) diretto dall’Agenzia EDA (European Defence Agency). Il CAE MC può giocare un ruolo primario da protagonista in quanto risponde alla quasi totalità dei comuni obbiettivi addestrativi, common requirements che il pilota dei velivoli da trasporto dovrà possedere in base ai contenuti dell’EUMTPT (European Military Transport Pilot Training). Un programma ambizioso che sta per essere attuato è quello di dotare il Centro di una nuova sede, con nuove infrastrutture che permetteranno di aumenteranno la capacità della Scuola di Volo, nonché di un nuovo simulatore allo standard del P 180EVO+, e soprattutto dell’imminente acquisizione di nuovi P 180 Avanti II+ e P 180EVO+.

English translation

The Centro Addetsramento Equipaggi Multi Crew (CAE MC or Training Center Multi Crew Crews) was created as a training unit under the Comando delle Forze di Mobilità e Supporto (Command of the Mobility and Support Forces) to facilitate the transition of pilots from schools and intended for multi-engine lines.
On December 12, 2013 it was transformed into a Stormo (Wing) and placed under the Comando Scuole/3ª Regione Aerea (Command Schools/3ª Air Region) based in Bari, but it remains designated as a Centro (Center), as it lacks all those articulations provided for a Gruppo di volo (Flying Squadron) of this rank. At the same time, the 204° Gruppo Volo (204° Flying Squadron), reconstituted for the occasion, is placed under his control. Gruppo di Volo previously submitted to the 32° Stormo of Amendola, at the time equipped with FIAT G 91T and placed in position "Quadro - Framework" on 20 July 1995.
Today’s 204° Gruppo is formed by the 415ª and 416ª Squadriglia (Flight).
The Centro has been located since its inception on the Air Base of Pratica di Mare (Pomezia), Mario de Bernardi Airport is one of the most important structures of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force), the local Comando Aeroporto (Command Airport) provides the Unit with the necessary technical and logistical support.
The aircraft supplied to the CAE MC are the Piaggio P 180 Avanti I (VC-180), the twin engine are used in communion with the 14° Stormo, also located at Pratica di Mare.
Although the P 180 was not designed for training, and is considered by the crews a very complex machine, it is at the same time very formative, as it allows students to perform different types of mission.
The main role of the CAE MC is the training of pilots assigned to multi-crew support lines, this training activity is commonly called Brevetto Pilota Militare (BPM or Military Pilot Licence) Phase III Linea Conventional (Conventional Line).
In Aeronautica Militare there are several flight lines equipped with aircraft of this type that can be accessed by pilots once obtained the Brevetto Pilota Militare at the Centro, specifically there are: C 130J, C 27J, P 180, KC 767A, A 319CJ, Beech King Air, G 550CAEW, ATR 72MP, Falcon 50, Falcon 900EX and Falcon 900Easy .
We remind that the pilots who are assigned to the Linea Convenzionale (Conventional Line) have previously carried out the Phase I at the 70° Stormo of Latina, where they obtain the Brevetto Pilota d'Aeroplano (BPA or Airplane Pilot Licence) and a Phase II at the 61° Stormo of Lecce, or alternatively at a School abroad (RAMI Kalamata (Greece), RAMI San Javier (Spain) or RAMI Sheppard (USA).
Instead, the BPM Phase III Linea Convenzionale can also be carried out by attending an equivalent course at the Rappresentanza Aeronautica Militare italiana (RAMI Italian Air Force Representation) in Avord (France). Avord’s RAMI was officially activated on 1 June 2018, following an agreement between the Aeronautica Militare and the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) in the field of flight training which began in July 2000, and further expanded in October 2017.
The BPM, according to an agreement signed in 2014 between the Aeronautica Militare and Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile (ENAC or National Civil Aviation Authority), is equated to the Commercial Pilot Licence or CPL-IR ME (Commercial Pilot License-Instrument Rating Multi Engine), thanks to the acquisition of theoretical contents during the period of stay in the Accademia Aeronautica (Air Academy) and for the hours of flight gained in flight courses. In fact, the military Flight Examiners are also qualified Type Rating Examiner (TRE) and perform the functions of Civil Examiners during the final flight examination of the BPM course allowing to issue the civil license to the frequent flyers.
The evolution of the BPM Phase III Linea Convenzionali, especially in recent years, has undergone a substantial metamorphosis; initially the course in Italy was carried out entirely with the P 180, with the arrival in leasing in July 2016 of three Tecnam P2006 (designation AM T 2006A), the course was divided into Phase IIIA, carried out with the P 2006 by 70° Stormo di Latina. The and Phase IIIB with the P 180 at the CAE MC.
Phase IIIA provided a training process with 32 flight missions carrying out the four basic forms of flight: visual, instrumental, low-altitude and in formation. Phase IIIB consisted of 35 flight missions, of which 11 were dedicated to the transition on the P 180 and, continuing the formation of a more typically military flight, four were reserved for tactical flight at low altitude. All the remaining missions involved IFR (Instrumental Flight Rules) flights on air, also frequent missions to foreign airports (Cross Country), in the Mediterranean basin and continental Europe. In these missions there is a particular attention to "who does what", in coordination and cooperation between crew members, also depending on the final moment for the achievement of the Brevetto Pilota Militare of the Linea Convenzionali.
With the closure of the leasing program of the three Tecnam has returned to the initial formula of a course carried out entirely with the "180".
In fact, since 2019 the course has returned to the previous designation of Military Pilot License - Multi-engine Multi-pilot Track Phase III Program or simply Phase III "Unique" to distinguish it from the now outdated Phase IIIA and IIIB.
During the course there are about 80 hours of flight, plus 60 hours of simulator, which result in about 85 real and simulated flight missions.
The forms of flight that are carried out are:
-Transition, the student performs a part of the missions in VFR (Visual Flight Rules) mode with visual maneuvers and traffic circuits plus a part of mixed IFR/VFR missions, with instrumental navigation for departure and arrival maneuvers, and more traffic circuits, this part of the training is carried out mainly in the local area.
- Low Level, with missions at low altitudes mainly carried out in Round Robin mode (return on Pratica di Mare) to the north and south of the Apennines, or in out&back mode with destinations Grosseto or Grazzanise.
-Instrument, this is the most important part of the syllabus, the student mainly flies using onboard instrumentation with Round Robin missions (take-off and landing on Pratica di Mare) and out&back with flights on domestic and foreign routes carried out throughout the day.
-Air Operation, where the student simulates the main forms of operational flight that will be able to fly in the Final Assignment Unit after the achievement of BPM.
The flight emergencies course is a further phase that is carried out on the Simulator of the P 180 in West Palm Beach (USA) before the end of the course.
The training period at the Centro is completed with the MCC (Multi Crew Cooperation) two-week course on the ALSIM ALX-12 simulator.
The ALSIM is a very special simulator because it is not the reproduction of a jet aircraft actually in service, as with all existing simulators, but it recreates a generic cockpit, it is classified by the European Aviation Safety Agency EASA as FNTP2/Flight Navigation and Procedures Trainer II). The course starts with a theoretical part that lasts three days, while the practical part includes a daily session in the simulator with a duration of four hours. Each session starts with a briefing where you plan the simulated flight activity to do and ends with a de-briefing to analyze the mission.
The MCC course takes its cue from pilot procedures, now consolidated in commercial aviation, based on pilot and co-pilot actions and interactions, defined as Pilot Flying (PF) and Pilot Monitoring (PM)which, in practical terms of collaboration, concerns the division of tasks (the so-called task sharing), decision-making (decision making) and in-flight command action (flying leadership), for which the relationship between the two pilots, hereinafter referred to as leaders and followers, is interchangeable depending on the situation, cooperation has become a primary requirement of the Armed Force as the management of the operational mission is no longer reliable to the individual but to the entire crew, In fact, communication between the different members plays a decisive role within a multi-crew aircraft. The primary objective of the CAE MC is to produce pilots with a high level of integration ensuring the standardization of the training of the different lines with multiple crew. A valuable support to the professional growth of sailor students is also given by the Centro di Formazione Didattica e Manageriale (Cefodima or Educational and Managerial Training Center) of the Istituto di Scienze Militari (ISMA or Institute of Military Aeronautical Sciences) in Florence.
The MCC course is normally followed by frequent Phase III, but also by other AM pilots of different order and degree and by sailors of other Italian and foreign Armed Forces and different State Corps.
An important role played within the CAE MC is that of the Instructors of the Gruppo Istruzione Professionale (GIP or Professional Education Squadron), they take care of all the didactic part of the Ground School and the simulation.
The GIP has recently updated the entire Ground School part with an innovative system called PROgettazione e Validazione DIdattica (PROVADI or Planning and Validation Teaching) that serves to "build" and evaluate an entire course with its certification. The update includes several teaching packages for seafarers with also included LVP (Low Visibilty Procedures) activities, necessary to be able to operate in civil airports in low visibility, as well as different approaches to airports, as required by the new EASA regulations of 2020, with the use of the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Approach. Or specific courses such as the Manuale Tecnico di Utilizzo (MTU Technical Manual of Use) of the P 180, the CRM (Crew Resource Management) or the new course for Assistenti di Volo personnel (Flight Attendants) on the P180, carried out after the training phase of the Operators on board at the Scuola Specialisti (Specialist School) of Caserta.
Another project is to create a Single European Syllabus for pilots for the Transport line, in collaboration with other countries participating in the project TPTC (Transport Pilot Training Course) directed by the Agency EDA (European Defence Agency). The CAE MC can play a leading role as it responds to almost all common training objectives, common requirements that the pilot of transport aircraft will have according to the contents of the EUMTPT (European Military Transport Pilot Training). An ambitious program that is about to be implemented is to equip the Center with a new headquarters with new infrastructure that will increase the capacity of the Flight School, as well as a new simulator to the standard of P 180EVO+, and especially the imminent acquisition of new P 180 Avanti II+ and P 180EVO+