Questions in train

For those who have not been reading the mass media of late, there is much talk about new flight schools starting, mainly to cope with the numbers of new pilots said to be required for both local and overseas consumption.

Certain “city fathers” have been rubbing their hands as they see dollars signs before their eyes.

New starters said to be in the race for a flight school are Devonport, Launceston and Bendigo.

Did I miss any? Toowoomba West (Wellcamp) is yet to break dirt for its proposed Qantas Number One flight school.

The location of the second school is yet to be advised.

Unfortunately there is another side to the story that everyone seems to ignore: all the current and proposed future flight schools will need several things.

Students for one. It is inferred that there is an almost inexhaustible supply to come from China to fly airliners in the rapidly expanding Chinese aviation system.

Then there are the locals. Some will look at the requirements of cost versus initial pay rates, and will think twice.

Could it be that, after 10 years, the Chinese will have developed their own training system and will no longer send trainees to Australia? Next, aircraft. The Cirrus SR20 is probably not the type most suited to basic flight school operations. Cirrus aircraft are not cheap and a major slice of Cirrus production would have to be allocated to supplying bulk Australian flight school orders.

The aircraft most likely would be the Cessna 172, the Piper PA28-181 Archer or the Diamond DA40. Twins would probably be the Piper PA44 Seminole or the Diamond DA42 Twin Star.

Next comes the big ask: instructors.

Where will they come from? If you want top class students, you need top class instructors. Having constant remedial flight lessons is not usually factored into the training curriculum.

That comes from the quality of both the students and the instructors. Will these new, or proposed new schools, be able to obtain the instructors they will need? Not just new-be, inexperienced Grade 3 instructors straight out of instructor training but professional Grade 2 or Grade 1 instructors with all the tickets: serious instructors, competent and experienced.

Note those two words “competent and experienced”. These are rare items in today’s world of “grab it and run”.

To really teach commercial pilots one needs commercial experience.

That does not mean instructional work. Anything less is the blind leading the blind. As one parent said of his new CPL son: “he was underdone”.

He was not referring to a piece of steak.

With the new regulations there is a tendency for Grade 2 instructors to remain G2 instructors. As a G2 they can do most of what a G1 can do without having to do the expensive upgrade to become a G1.

That, in turn, has a domino effect.

EXPERIENCED INSTRUCTORS CAN BE HARD TO FIND

A decrease in numbers of G1 instructors means fewer Heads of Operations (HOO) which, in turn, means fewer people that CASA can recruit into the fold of the regulator. It is a problem that the regulator created.

Pay and conditions will play a big part in obtaining the required number of instructors. The Pilots Award is just a safety net, not something a pilot aspires to given the cost of training and the responsibilities carried by an instructor.

‘If you want top class students, you need top class instructors’

Next comes the issue of engineers.

For each fleet of training aircraft there needs to be a band of engineers (LAMEs) able to look after that fleet.

In case you have not noticed, there is a shortage of LAMEs right now. For example, it can be hard to find a country maintenance shop.

Longreach, Bendigo and Emerald, at last count, no longer have a resident maintenance shop. Apprentice training is almost at zero and the problem will only get worse. Try and get an aircraft booked in for even routine work and you will find there is a lack of LAMEs. Try even harder for an electrical or radio guy.

Pay and conditions are said to be two of the major reasons why there are few new engineers coming into the system. This writer heard of two guys who had done an apprenticeship and then dropped out of aviation. One said he could make more money as a refrigerator mechanic and could go home without the thought that CASA or the coroner might want to talk with him. The other went to become a concrete paver.

The majority of flight schools are not geared to train the weekend or PPL student. They are looking to turn out a commercial pilot who aspires to be an airline pilot.

Some will make it, some will not.

The next few months, and the proposed opening of the new big flying training operations, promise to be an interesting “watch”.

Instructor tip of the month

At engine start, do use the loud call of ‘Stand Clear, Starting’. Easier to understand than ‘Clear Plop’ (yes, Clear Plop), which is what so many non-aviation people hear.

Even then, visually check that the prop area is clear. For the actual start, do not put the headset on until after you have an actual engine start. That way you can hear engine starting noises, normal or abnormal, or a lack of noise – for example the electric fuel pump or starter motor. Additionally you can hear that last minute warning call from a person outside the aircraft.