Young pilots jump at career nights

The Australian

The big response to pilot career nights aimed at young people has demonstrated how better federal government funding for pilot training could help the skills crisis.

Career nights around the country have been packed with would-be flyers after news spread that some government funding was available.

The career nights, sponsored and run by Qantas, had previously attracted an average of 15 to 20 people.

That number rose to several hundred in Sydney and Melbourne recently, and Qantas chief pilot Chris Manning believes the response is due to federal Government moves to help with training costs. “We have been more than pleasantly surprised by the response,” Captain Manning said.

“Publicity about what we’re doing has obviously worked.”

Pilot shortages are starting to bite, with airlines cancelling flights because of sickness or training requirements.

Qantas recently announced a new pilot training course with Queensland’s Griffith University that would see students receive abachelor of aviation and a graduate diploma in flight management.

The course attracts federal funding through a scheme called Fee-Help that could provide up to $80,000 towards the training.

The airline also said it would establish a new stand-alone flight training business by the end of the year, with the aim of training 3000 new pilots for the Qantas group over the next 10 years.

Transport Minister Mark Vaile has since revealed that he is lobbying his fellow ministers to get HECS-like funding extended to flying training, to help encourage young people into the industry.

“Fee-Help isn’t HECS, obviously, because with Fee-Help you’ve got to pay it all back,” Captain Manning said.

“But at least with Fee-Help, you might owe the money but it’s pretty cheap money.

“If you’re out in the western suburbs of Sydney and your father’s not a pilot or doctor, you can at least do it now.

“It’s access to the money.”

Captain Manning said the sheer cost of flying training was making it too restrictive.

He believed giving young pilots the same subsidies available to other students was the way of the future, but was unable to say whether the Government would come to the party.

He also admitted the industry had been complacent about the issue, particularly after the Ansett collapse.

“Because the pilots have continued to come and because, with the Ansett thing, there were pilots hanging around, I think we didn’t look too far into the future,” he said, noting it had taken four years to get this far.

“As you know, it takes a long time in aviation but it’s now a good story and I think it will be a better story.”