Nordic Aviation Solutions is based at Jönköping Airport, Sweden and is an FSTD organisation operating a B737 FNPT II MCC simulator. A wealth of knowledge has been combined in this new company alongside experienced flight instructors, ranging from a PPL holder to type rating examiners. Their team of instructors has many years of experience flying short-haul and intercontinental flights on aircrafts such as the SAAB 340, Boeing 737/787 and other similar types. We had an interview with Charlie Ljungström, the CEO.

For Charlie, the interest in aviation started at an early age. As a teenager on holiday in Miami, he was lucky enough to get hands-on experience in a real flight simulator and from that moment, as Charlie put it: “Then it basically kicked-off, I knew one hundred percent what I was going to do for the rest of my life.”

By seventeen, Charlie had achieved his PPL and after studying for his Social Science degree, joined flight school at nineteen. Soon after, he realised his dream and became an airline pilot, working for Ryanair and Norwegian Airlines where he would have spent the rest of his career had it not been for the COVID outbreak.

As a side-line to piloting a Norwegian Airlines 787 Dreamliner, Charlie got into pilot training and worked as an MCC instructor for a close friend who had previously started a flight school. Unfortunately for Charlie and the flight school, COVID struck again.

The COVID-19 pandemic also put the already heavily indebted Norwegian Airlines into a crisis in early 2020 which, unfortunately, put Charlie out of a job. Following the bankruptcy of Norwegian Airlines, a successful bid was made on a Boeing 737 simulator and together with Alexander Utahs and Erik Johansson, Nordic Aviation Solutions was formed.

Once certified and approved, both ware able to start working again. ‘’It felt good to create a job for ourselves, but also to get our unemployed ex- Norwegian colleagues back into the industry as well.’’

The software used at that time didn’t meet their standards and after researching other software providers, Charlie got in contact with ProSim, and their partnership began. Referring to the ProSim Professional Class B licence for generic MCC 737 software, ‘’As a type rated Boeing 737 pilot, it’s as close as you can get to the real thing.’’ Charlie particular likes the user friendliness of this software.

With the perfect software in place, different types of training solutions are provided for holders of an AOC and for private individuals. They include Integrated Flight Training – in cooperation with Aero Locarno Switzerland – to provide the candidate with the maximum competence before entering the world of aviation as a pilot. In addition, and for the B737 type rated, Simulator Assessment Preparation for experienced 737 pilots who do not require an instructor, Supervised Training for jet experienced pilots with no B737 experience and Instructed Training for pilots who have completed their MCC and CPL but with no experience in a real jet aircraft.

In the future, Nordic Aviation Solutions aim to continue in their consultancy role and become a ‘marketplace’ of support, providing services such as Psychometric tests for advanced pilot selection, pilot interview training and tailor-made simulator assessments.

For Charlie, he can’t wait to get back up flying again, ‘’The market is finally opening up.” Good that he has his own flight simulator for practise. ’Through the summer thunderstorms of the Asian monsoons to the Northern Lights in the winter sky over Canada and Greenland, it’s been spectacular. Until the cockpit window reveals the awe of nature again, with new customers on the horizon, the main focus now is to get Nordic Aviation Solutions off the ground.”