Australian Aviation College Set For Growth

In 1988 the college became part of the Hawker de Havilland organisation and this led to unprecedented development and initiative. Since then, the AAC has been deliberately structured to create a stimulating and productive learning environment. The facilities, the aircraft and staff have been carefully selected and the syllabus has been closely reviewed.

The college now has the scope to offer unique and highly competitive training programmes to cater for the most selective and the most specialised customer requirements. The college is also in the process of a building and equipment acquisition programme that will offer the most efficient and productive training course which will produce a uniquely qualified graduate – a person who is well prepared to take the position of first officer in a modern, multi crew and multi engined, turbine aircraft.

The college is located at Parafield in South Australia. The college has its own substantial hangar and maintenance facilities with adjoining operational and training areas. Student accommodation is provided on site in newly constructed, Australian style bungalows. Each bungalow houses eight cadets with paired shower facilities and a common lounge area. This configuration has been found to be the optimum compromise for both privacy and mutual development and is popular with the cadets. Meals and recreation are provided in a central building which offers games, study, library, television and video facilities.

In fact, this writer found the ambience of the college promotes a relaxed yet disciplined learning environment where motivation and encouragement of self reliance and personal development are paramount.

The College enjoys the unique combination of climate, airspace, geography, topography and atmosphere that only South Australia can offer. Parafield has three sets of parallel runways with both sealed and unsealed surfaces. The aerobatic area is within gliding distance of the airfield and the VFR training areas are less than ten minutes away. Terrain for remote area navigation is within twenty minutes flying time and overwater flights are routine. . The college also makes use of several short and demanding ALAs for development of piloting skills.

Instrument flying includes en route navigation, operations in primary controlled airspace and instrument arrivals and departures from Adelaide International airport. This airport is fully equipped for NDB, VOR, DME, ILS and twin locator approaches via radar direction and pilot interpretation.

The college offers two courses on which an individual customer’s requirements are superimposed: • the commercial pilot/instrument rating course; and • the airline course. The CPUCIR course is a 50 week course designed lo the stringent requirements of the CAA. It is a fully integrated course leading to the award of the Australian CPL and Command Instrument Rating. Airlines who wish to develop their cadets onto higher performance equipment within their own organisation find that this course provides a sound and economical basis for further training. The airline course is the result of much research by the college and represents the latest proven concepts in professional pilot training Graduates from this course not only have the skills and knowledge equivalent to an Airline Transport Pilot Licence but also have been fully exposed to the intricacies and difficulties associated with multi crew operations. The students have been trained as members of a team in what is the single, most demanding and critical environment for human interrelationships and interdependencies.

The college takes pride in the staff that it has attracted and it recognises their vital importance in the successful future development of the courses. The General Manager of the AAC has reporting to him, a Director of Air Pilot Training and a Director of Marketing and Course Development. In this way the operational statf are left ta ensure the highest standard of training while the separate development cell is free to research and co-operatively develop tailored courses to suit individual airline customer requirements. A staff to student ratio of not less than one to four is rigidly maintained and course tutors are appointed to act as caretakers and focal points for all activities associated with each individual group of students.

The ground school is under the direction of a full-time lecturer who is supported by both dedicated lecturers, seconded flying instructors and a comprehensive schedule of guest lecturers lrom all facets of the aviation industry. The lecture programme is supported by a range of training devices and part task trainers and the students are encouraged to reinforce the formal programme by use of readily available audio/visual programmes, computer ‘games’, a broad library of reference material and mutual study projects.

The college places an emphasis on innovative training systems and vehicles where they can be shown to offer more efficient or more thorough training. To this end, the college has and will continue to undertake research into this area and has not been reluctant to experiment. Several programmes are being conducted with specialist advice from such organisations as the Hawthorn Institute of Education, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and the Adelaide College of Technical and Further Education – to refine and develop part task trainers and teaching programmes.

The aircraft fleet of basic, advanced and multi engined aircraft Is

constantly reviewed to best suit the customer requirements. The current fleet consists of the Grob 115 basic trainer, the beautiful Socata TB20 Trinidad advanced trainer and the Beech Duchess

multi engine trainer. A major, innovative restructuring of the fleet is about to be announced.

The simulators already include the GAT procedural trainer and AST 300 multi engine IFR trainers and the college is currently finalising its selection of advanced training aircraft and supplemental simulators.

The Australian Aviation College is unique in having evolved from a proven basis and yet is innovative and forward looking. Because of this outlook and the support of the largest aircraft and aeroplane manufacturing organisation in the southern hemisphere, the AAC Is now able to offer the airline customer the ultimate in tailored professional pilot training.

The college represents an innovative and exciting new development in flying training for airline customers and will ensure that Australia and more particularly, South Australia, remain at the very forefront of aviation development. Hawker de Havilland and the South Australian government are to be congratulated for their foresighted and lateral thinking