Anset V BAe A Establish Flying Training Academy

The British Aerospace concept eliminates the old style pilot career path, where people learned to fly, then spent years in general aviation or the Armed Services accumulating flying experience before eventually graduating to airlines. Often, their experience was not at all applicable to airline flying. In fact, the demands of flying a modern airliner are such that pilots need to train for that very specialised role almost from the time of their leaving school. Consequently, the British Aerospace College is the first in the world to concentrate entirely on this degree of training specialisation.

The whole concept of airlines paying to train their pilots from the ab initio stage is a new one. Traditionally, the cost of pilot training up to the stage where the person concerned entered an airline was the trainee’s responsibility or was met by the Services. But the demand for pilots and the necessity for them to be trained specifically to meet airline requirements has created the need for the British Aerospace approach. The Scottish college has a capacity of 176 students and was sited mainly in existing buildings in and around Prestwick airport. By contrast, Tamworth college will take up to 256 students and will be purpose-built. It is expected to be in operation by February next year.

According to Tamworth City Council development officer, Dick Brown, who led the campaign to attract the college to Tamworth, the better weather and longer winter days enjoyed by the Australian city will bring many benefits. In particular, it will enable the 16 month Scottish course to be compressed into 14 months, with consequent cost savings. Tamworth’s weather is so favourable for flying that its airport is among the world’s top half percent in terms of low closure levels due to poor weather. Tamworth has a long aviation tradition. It hosted a major elementary flying training facility during World War II which produced hundreds of air force pilots. Subsequently, both East-West and Eastern Australian Airlines were formed in Tamworth.

The new college will train monthly intakes averaging 16 students. Students will be preselected by individual airlines, which will then sponsor them through the college. It is expected that airlines from various parts of Asia and the Pacific Basin, as well as from Australia, will send students to the college. The training will be highly specialised and simulators will be used to take students from light twin to airliner phases of the course. Students will be accommodated in large motel-style buildings on the Tamworth airport. Each will have his or her own room.

The college site at Tamworth airport is on high ground, with sweeping views of the Peel River valley. It is surrounded by farm land and grazing properties, yet is only 9kms from the Tamworth central business district. The college will have a large theatre, lecture theatres, a library, a swimming pool and tennis courts. Women as well as men will be eligible for training. Dick Brown points out it is significant that when the first course of 16 students graduated at Prestwick in March this year, the dux and runner-up were both young women. They topped their 14 male colleagues.

The consortium which will operate the college is still negotiating for aircraft. However, it is planned that students will begin on an aerobatic single engined machine and then continue on a more advanced single. The Piper Warrior is used for this second phase in the UK. Piper Senecas and turbine Beech King Airs are likely candidates for twin-engined training. A total of 50 aircraft will carry college colours.

Because of the pressures college aircraft will exert on Tamworth’s airport, municipal airfields at nearby Gunnedah and Quirindi will be used as satellites. Tamworth City Council and the NSW State Government have agreed to carry out works worth about $6m to upgrade aspects of the already outstanding Tamworth airport. This upgrading will especially cater for college needs and will include increasing the carrying capacity of the main strip parallel taxiway, sealing and lighting the cross strip, providing large areas of hardstanding and installation of an instrument landing system ILS. It is expected that East-West Airlines’ extensive workshops in Tamworth will provide at least part of the needed maintenance facilities for the college.

The college’s management will have little difficulty in maintaining communications with the capital cities. East-West Airlines operates four daily Tamworth/Sydney flights and another to Brisbane. Eastern Australia Airlines also flies daily out of Tamworth to Brisbane and a series of northern NSW ports.

Tamworth City Council had to fight hard to win the college. The consortium narrowed the contenders down to 33 cities and towns for final consideration. In the final stage, Tamworth had to beat very strong bids by Wangaratta and Bendigo in Victoria. However, Tamworth had a great deal in its favour. Not the least was the fact that East-West Airlines, which is an Ansett subsidiary, has its major maintenance and operational base in Tamworth. Another important factor was Tamworth’s outstanding lifestyle. It is also large enough to provide the high level of housing, education, health care, shopping, leisure activities and entertainment that will be demanded by the large numbers of flying and ground instructors and their families that the college will attract to the city.

Dick Brown says there has been a boom in house sales in Tamworth since Sydney metropolitan home prices went through the roof. But the demand has yet to have the same effect on local prices as has happened in Sydney. “Excellent four bedroomed brick and tile homes with swimming pools are selling for $140,000 in tree-lined parts of Tamworth at present. A home of a similar standard in a corresponding part of Sydney would cost at least $300,000.

“Factors such as housing and cost of living were most important to the flying college site selection team, as they were aware that lifestyle would have a big bearing on the college’s ability to attract the world’s best air and ground instructors,” Mr Brown said. It is expected the college will employ 58 flying instructors and 25 ground school personnel. It will also need 22 administrative staff and up to 37 engineers. More than 40 domestic staff will be needed to service the college’s accommodation facilities.