When Jim Armstrong and Ira Laughy began their company, they never dreamed that they’d be flying this high.

Mecca Media Group started humbly in St. Albert in 1995. With Jim’s background in education and Ira’s in engineering, the duo won contracts to build industrial training applications for plants including pulp and paper mills and oil and gas refineries, stressing quality, experience and technical innovation.

Their efforts launched them into a sky that seems to have no limit.

“In 1998, we won a fairly major contract with Bombardier Aerospace to build a computer-based training program for their flight and maintenance training – a million-dollar-plus contract,” which Armstrong, the president, says launched them into the big leagues.

Greg Gazin, Business Edge
Ira Laughy, left, and Jim Armstrong of Mecca Media Group check out their latest training product.

They were now on the radar screen as one of Alberta’s fastest-growing companies. “We’ve taken a fresh technical approach, very crisp, visual and creative – using advanced 3-D models of complex equipment and processes.”

Instead of having the instructor use a pointer and describe the landing gear of a plane, trainees could now see, virtually, high-resolution 3-D models and interact with them, creating a more effective and dynamic learning environment.

This approach helped them land the NATO Flight Training Canada contract, worth almost $3 million, to build courseware for the Department of National Defence and Bombardier.

The project included building a library of animations of fighter jets and interactive virtual reality cockpits that could demonstrate to the pilots the components of the aircraft.

They also developed instructor-led training, incorporating advanced simulation techniques and creating PC-based emulators and software simulators, so pilots could interact with them.

Mecca’s products not only enhance the training process, they reduce training time, which significantly cuts the cost of the training and lessens the impact of taking pilots out of service. Instead of using expensive flight-simulator (SIM) time, activities can be done on a PC.

Mecca’s courseware reduces the amount of SIM time required.

“A person can go through ground school on computer, spend time in the SIM, and then step out and fly an aircraft full of people without having ever been in the aircraft. Legally, they’re trained.”

For the future, Mecca is looking at PTT – Part Task Trainer systems.

In partnerships with engine builders, Mecca now has the ability to build devices that incorporate throttle sticks and cockpits. “Sort of like Microsoft flight simulator on steroids – except the MS software costs $50; the software we use costs us $250,000.”

Mecca has 65 people on staff. In addition to programming and design professionals, they’ve also enlisted air-force personnel – draftsmen, maintenance technicians and pilots. Col. Don Matthews, who was one of the commanders in the Gulf War and who has logged many hours in a CF-18, has joined their team.

While training the old way is still commonplace, the retired colonel is the No. 1 fan of Mecca’s technology. Having flown many missions, he recognizes the value in being effectively trained in ‘what-if’ scenarios.

Armstrong credits both their people and their home base – Edmonton – as part of their success. “We like Edmonton because the technical schools provide us with a very large population of skilled people that can plug into what we do,” he says.

Mecca’s staff turnover is less than three per cent. People stay interested and motivated.

Although operating independently, Mecca is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Calgary-based AxiaNet Media.

Axia is part of the team building the Alberta SuperNet – giving Mecca another medium for delivering its products and services. “We will have capabilities of delivering training on a high-speed wireless network.”

The City of Edmonton has also recognized Mecca Media’s achievements by bestowing upon it the Small Business of the Year award in 1999.

Web Watch:
www.meccamediagroup.com