Flight instructor training school up and away

Northam could well be on the world map of professional pilot training.
A start has been made on an elite flight training facility dedicated to flight instructor training at Northam aerodrome.
At the south-eastern corner of the aerodrome two substantial flight training units with their attached sunscreen shelters for four aircraft are in place.
This is the beginning of a project which aims to have international significance.
The Australian Flight Instructor Training School is the initiative of retired Indian Air Force Wing Commander Barney Fernandes who has a track record of establishing three major flying colleges across Australia since he migrated here in 1967.
Barney is acutely aware of the critical pilot shortage in Australia and India and was a major force behind the establishing of flying schools at Jandakot and Merredin.
He believes the shortage is entirely due to the lack of well-trained career flight instructors.
The Australian Flight Instructor Training School will offer a course specifically designed for the education and training of professional flight instructors to standard suitable for employment worldwide.
Training will take place in the specially designed units with each unit able to accommodate 10 trainees and two instructors.
Also available for training will a full-motion 3D flight simulator.
“Well-trained pilots are desperately needed for the booming airline industry in India which needs 4500 additional pilots by the end of 2012,” Barney said.
10/04/08 Avon Valley Advocate, Australia