Debrief

Dotars Contains Only an Aviation and Airports Division, and Atsb is Multi-modal, Unlike the Old Aviation-specific Basi.

When the Federal Government Offloaded Nearly 400 Country Airports to Local Governments, Fragmentation Compounded.

Federally, Once a Single Minister, Department and Director General Ran Civilian Aviation, Problems and Differences Normally Being Resolved Quickly by Direct Contact, Often in the Same Building.

Now Myriad Bureaucracies Rule/compete, Industry Endlessly Lists Casa Et Al’s Perceived Failings, and Word is Casa and Atsb Only Write to Each Other, It Taking a State Coroner to Trigger a “review of Relations” (Following the Lockhart River Metro Crash Coroner’s Report). Tax Cuts Aside Transport is the Biggest Pre-election Pork Barrel Handout – All to Fund Road, Rail and Port Infrastructure – but None (at the Time of Writing) for Aviation.

Evidently There Are No Votes in Aviation.

Pilot Training

Rex’s Recently Announced, Urgent Need-driven, Cadet Pilot Scheme Should Produce a Steady Feed of Base Level First Officers After One, Not Four, Year’s Training – Should There Be Suitable Applicant Numbers, a Reported Major Problem. The Scheme’s Loan Terms Are Competitive With Hecs Subsidised University Degree Schemes, Which Some Operators Reportedly Use Mainly to Cull Applicant Lists.

Flying Experience With Rex, and Other Regionals, is Very Attractive to Ravenous Jet Recruiters. Consequently Many Cadets Will Still Move on When They Can Pay Loans Out, There Being No Progression to Jets in Rex. Those Who Stay Will Be in the Box Seat for a Rex Command, a Couple of Years of Which Would Increase Their Jet Chances. But Either Way the Future Flow of Younger Career Captains to Rex and Other Regionals is Bleak, Pilots Being Ever Drawn by Jets, Money and Lifestyle.

When the Majors Operated Regional and Mainline There Was a Natural Progression From Dc-3/f27 First Officer Positions to Mainline Jet Commands, Demand and Ability Permitting. Qantas, Without This Development Chain, Used Second Officers as Entry Level Pilots and Operated an Experience Building Dc-3 and Hs. 125 Jet Training Operation – Similar to Singapore Airlines’s Learjet 45 Operation Based at the Sunshine Coast.

Later the Majors Separated Their Regionals, Leaving Them No Automatic Progression Path to Attract, Let Alone Hold, Pilots Long Term Against Far Higher Paying Competitors.

It Has Also Variously Been Thought Majors Took Applicants From Other Sources to Minimise Their Own Regional Training Costs.

Not Everyone Wants to Live in Foreign Lands or Capital Cities, Fly Long Haul or Spend All Night on Darwin and Perth Flights, but if Regionals Are to Retain Sufficient Suitably Experienced Pilots They Will Simply Have to Pay More – Lots More. Taxpayer Funded Civil Pilot Training is Not the Answer, but May Be Necessary to Plug the Far More Serious Nationwide Trade Skills/apprenticeship Shortage.

Regional Pilot Shortages, and an Eventual End to the Flow of Low Cost Used Aircraft, May See the Days of the Sub $100 Regional Fare Numbered.

The Raaf, When Its Full Complement of 737ng Based Types (Wedgetail, P-8 and Bbjs), Kc-30b Tankers and C-17 Airlifters is in Place, (Possibly 150/200 Pilots), Will Face a Similar Retention Problem on These State-of-the-art Highly Attractive Stepping Stones – Return of Service Sticks and Re-sign on Bonus Carrots Notwithstanding.

Aeronautical Engineers

if the Age of Airline Captains is Dropping Steeply, Particularly in New Operators, the Reverse Applies With Lames, With the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations Recently Adding Aviation Engineers, Not Pilots, to Its National Skills Shortage List.

The Adf Was Once a Steady Source of Engineers but This Dried Up With Extensive Outsourcing of Aircraft Heavy Maintenance.

Few Airlines Provide Anywhere Near Previous Levels of Inhouse or Sponsored Lame Training, With the Growing Use of Offshoring Heavy Maintenance Not Helping. But Beyond That, Younger People Have Far Greater, and Better Paying, Career Options Today With Smaller Numbers Seemingly Interested in Aviation.

Singapore With Three A380 Hangars – So Far – is Positioning Itself as the Regional A380 Heavy Maintenance Hub, and There Will Unlikely Be Sufficient 777s in Australasia to Warrant Local Heavy Maintenance Unless Air New Zealand Does It Regardless of Cost Imbalances. The Only Heavy Maintenance Bright Lights Are a Pending Virgin E-jet Centre at Brisbane and the 787 Fleets When the 787 Heavy Maintenance Regime is Decided.