Training
Qantas pilot academy ready for first student intake
September 1st 2019
Qantas’s first pilot training academy will accept its inaugural cadet intake this month although the south eastern Queensland Wellcamp Airport campus will not formally open its doors until January. Read More » For the final months of this year, students will be based at the University of Southern Queensland while construction of the complex of hangars, classrooms and student accommodation is completed.
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Training at the Toowoomba academy will be conducted by Flight Training Adelaide (FTA), which was established in 1982 to focus on producing future airline captains. When plans for the academy were announced a year ago, L3 Commercial Aviation was named as the training provider for the academy, but the U.S. company withdrew from the project last March and FTA was awarded the training contract. Senior Qantas pilots will participate in the mentoring program, the airline group said.
The academy aims to produce cockpit crew for its three airlines, Qantas, Jetstar and Tigerair, but also attract third party training customers to its courses. FTA will manage the student selection process, conduct ab initio and advanced training courses and operate the student accommodation facilities.
FTA will use Diamond DA40 single engine and the DA42 multi-engine aircraft for the training program.
In July, Qantas confirmed it had chosen Mackay, also in Queensland, for the pilot academy’s second campus. The far northern Queensland coastal city “offered uncongested airspace, access to support infrastructure, a high proportion of good weather days a year, optimal flying conditions and a sunny Queensland lifestyle which makes it an ideal place for a pilot academy”, a Qantas Group spokesman said.
Qantas aims to graduate industry ready pilots and will offer students the option to join the Qantas Group Future Pilot Program, which gives access to career development support and mentors. To support diversity, three-year scholarships are available for women in aviation and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
| Training trends • Pilot training is evolving to proficiencies and competencies rather than a standard syllabus to ensure pilots are effectively trained to handle operational risks and are assessed for key skills all pilots must possess. • As new generation aircraft arrive in the global fleet. advances in airplane technology will demand a new set of skills from aircraft technicians, including digital troubleshooting and composite repair. • Mobile and distance learning are supplementing traditional classroom instruction which allows students to continue their studies outside instructor-student classes. • Demand for cabin crew will increase as airlines up-gauge aircraft, operate denser seat configurations and multiple cabin interior layouts. • Scenario-based training and mobile learning technologies will increasingly support continuous learning for cabin crew. Source: Boeing Pilot & Technician Outlook 2019-2038 |
