Le Bourget, June 23rd, 2023 – Fondaher, the corporate endowment fund set up and supported by the Daher family, the company and its employees, has signed a sponsorship agreement to support the Les Ailes de l’avenir (Wings of the Future) integration and training program for young people who have dropped out of school.
The Les Ailes de l’Avenir social and employment integration program involves socially disadvantaged young people in building an aircraft
In December 2020, with support from Fondaher, Aviation Sans Frontières launched a pilot project to help young people who had dropped out of school by involving them in building a two-seater aircraft to introduce them to a range of career options, including mechanical engineering, metalworking, upholstery, plastics processing, electrical engineering, IT and paint finishing.
The ultimate aim of this training camp was to help these young people integrate into society and employment through work experience, but it also provided a pre-qualification environment from which trainees can find employment directly with local companies, or enroll in further training to obtain qualifications and/or diplomas.
The young learners were then able to experience the ultimate achievement of their work by taking a flight in the aircraft they had helped to build.
The pilot project, which launched in Toulouse in March 2021, ended in spring 2022. By this time, a total of 15 young people had completed the training and contributed to building the Nynja microlight, which finally took off for its maiden flight on September 20th, 2022 from the Toulouse Lasbordes airfield… with trainees on board!
Extending the training camp initiative
Encouraged by the success of this pilot project, Fondaher took the decision to support the wider rollout of these training camps. So Fondaher and Aviation Sans Frontières have now extended their partnership for a further 2 years to expand the Toulouse-based program and launch a new program in Marseille. To mark this new partnership, Fondaher has presented Aviation Sans Frontières with a check for €100,000 to support both projects.
Discussions are now underway to continue scaling up and developing further programs in Hauts de Seine, Verdun, Valenciennes and Clermont Ferrand, which could start as early as 2024.
Using humanitarian mission simulation to promote Aviation Sans Frontières at the Paris Air Show
From its original focus on social and employment integration with the Les Ailes de l’Avenir training camps, the Fondaher/Aviation Sans Frontières partnership quickly developed into the world of gaming as part of raising the profile of the organization among the wider community of aviation enthusiasts.
So the teams at Daher put Aviation Sans Frontières in touch with SimWorks Studios to develop an Aviation Sans Frontières add-on for Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. The result was 4 humanitarian missions developed around Daher Kodiak aircraft model.
This support has enabled Aviation Sans Frontières to develop a new extension of this project: 12 landing challenges on 3 airstrips.
So as part of promoting the work of Aviation Sans Frontières at the Paris Air Show, Daher has created a space with two simulation workstations running these landing challenges. Visitors to the Daher stand can test their landing skills on one or other of the simulators, and the best score of the day will receive a prize.
Focus – The TBM and Kodiak: two iconic aircraft particularly well suited to humanitarian missions
Daher is the world’s longest established manufacturer still producing aircraft today. The Group now leverages its wealth of experience and expertise through the design, production and maintenance of two families of legendary aircraft.
- The TBM single-engine turboprop aircraft; one of the world’s fastest and an international aviation industry benchmark
- The Kodiak all-terrain mission aircraft used right around the world by air taxi operators, corporates, owner-pilots and humanitarian organizations
These two small, agile aircraft are used on a daily basis by organizations for humanitarian missions, including repatriating people in danger and military personnel. Both aircraft are also used for aerial monitoring of danger zones and forest fires.
Daher is convinced that aviation is an indispensable resource for delivering humanitarian missions and those that serve the best interests of society.
