By Derek Royal 

After almost a decade of unprecedented industry growth, Queensland has swiftly emerged as a crucial aviation and aerospace hub for the Asia Pacific region. Boasting a long and proud history of excellence in both industries and with almost 30 percent of Australia’s aviation firms located in the sunshine state, Queensland-based businesses are commanding due respect for delivering sophisticated products and services both at home and overseas.

Queensland is characterised by commercial success, a strong commitment to innovation and a willingness to collaborate through networks and supply chains. In support of these organisations, the Queensland Government has been a major influence, encouraging economic growth by fostering a positive environment for business and industry through promoting sustainable regional development, actively pursuing strong partnerships with key industry sectors, and aggressively seeking new opportunities to assist the state's future development.

Queensland’s aviation, aerospace and defence industry consists of approximately 900 firms ranging in size from global corporations to small and medium sized enterprises. The industry boasts 16,500 jobs and includes commercial airlines, general aviation and defence activities. Also represented are organisations specialising in civil aircraft and component design, manufacture, modification and repair, aviation services, research and development (R & D), and all levels of technical and services training and education.
One area currently booming in Queensland is the training and education sector, which boasts several quality institutions offering training in a full spectrum of jobs, including air traffic controllers, aircraft mechanics, flight or aerospace engineers, pilots and cabin crew.    

AVIATION AUSTRALIA

So why is Queensland the place to be?

“In a nutshell the Queensland Government put out the welcome mat to aviation and aerospace companies in the late nineties, and although aviation no longer has the same focus today, doing business in Queensland is generally much easier than every other state,” says Aviation Australia CEO Paul Bredereck. 

“Industry in Queensland has also reached a level of critical mass that has its own gravitational attraction to other companies and customers. Companies here seem to be able to work together which seems to create greater synergies and business. Besides, in the last decade while Sydney and Melbourne were coasting, Brisbane grew from a sleepy big country town into an exciting cosmopolitan city that just happens to have a much better climate than just about anywhere else. As a result it is much easier to attract and retain quality staff because of the more relaxed lifestyle.”

Aviation Australia is primarily an aviation vocational training organisation specialising in basic aircraft maintenance or apprentice training and cabin crew training. The business, which employs more than 112 staff, is recognised as the leading basic aircraft maintenance training in Australia and one of the top two or three in this field worldwide.

Aviation Australia was the first non-European company to obtain EASA Part 147 accreditation for Part 66 basic maintenance training, and the first organisation accredited by CASA to deliver CAO 100.66 training.

“These approvals have proved to be a significant advantage in growing the business and markets, particularly in Asia and the Middle East,” Bredereck says. “The business model has been to leverage the core state-based apprentice training capability to develop a wide range of commercial training services. The organisation is a private not-for-profit company, so any surpluses we make are reinvested in training and related services, but we are 100 percent owned by the Queensland Government.”

In 2010 Aviation Australia will provide some form of training service to about 7,000 people. Of these, about 220 will be domestic Aeroskills students (apprentices), and about 120 will be full time international engineering trainees.

But while everything looks rosy, Bredereck says the reluctance of industry employers to hire adequate numbers of apprentices is proving to be a major challenge.

“There is a growing reluctance by employers across all sectors in Australia to hire adequate numbers of apprentices,” Bredereck says. “Despite virtually every State Government in Australia providing adequate VET sector funding for apprentice training, there is not a corresponding adequate take-up of apprentices. There are still companies who believe it is sustainable to poach experienced engineers without training apprentices.”

Bredereck says there are three emerging challenges that need to be addressed:

1. Ensuring apprentices are able to attain all their practical competencies in the heavy maintenance environment as new generation aircraft require vastly less maintenance. New engineers in the future will not have access to the sort of maintenance events necessary to gain competence. More simulation will be required.
   
   
2.  Ensuring adequate management capability in the aircraft maintenance environment, as older managers retire. To address this Aviation Australia is developing higher education pathways in maintenance control, production planning/management, and in logistics.
   
   
3. Programs to meet future emissions targets.  Although graduates as aircraft maintenance engineers will not be the instigators of new technology they will be responsible for improving the performance of current technology and maintaining new technologies as they enter service.

“We are acutely focused on ensuring we have the skills to meet these challenges,” Bredereck says.

When asked what have been the major changes in the business in the past 12 months, Bredereck said there had been no major changes.

“Mostly we have an outstanding team of highly experienced passionate people so operationally we feel we are able to provide a really good service to our customers,” Bredereck says. “However the organisation continues to grow and mature and with that comes the usual growing pains such introducing new systems to cater for growth and continuous regulatory changes.”

Because Aviation Australia had deliberately diversified its customer based both geographically and by industry sectors a few years ago, the industry cycles and trends have not had a significant impact.  However adapting to the changing priorities of the company’s shareholders and industry needs has been a challenge.

“Aviation Australia has a very strong future provided it continues to focus on providing flexible, innovative training services and adapting pre-emptively to evolving industry needs,” Bredereck says. “In the coming years we will develop vertically into more higher education programs and programs to meet additional managerial needs, and environment needs, as well as laterally to provide a wider range of services to the 60 or so airlines and aerospace companies we serve today.”

AVIATION HIGH SCHOOL
In March this year, the then Minister for Education (and at the time of writing, current Prime Minister), Julia Gillard; Queensland Minister for Education and Training, Geoff Wilson; and Member for Brisbane, Arch Bevis, officially opened the new Trade Training Centre at Aviation High School in Brisbane as part of the Federal Government’s $2.5 billion program to teach trades skills in high schools around Australia.

Aviation High is designed to provide direct pathways for students seeking careers in the state’s aviation and aerospace industries and over the past two years has undergone a significant upgrade and refurbishment of its facilities. New facilities include the Federal Government-funded Aeroskills Trade Training Centre; a radio room; a wind tunnel; new science laboratories; an aircraft-themed restaurant/catering facility; a graphic arts lab; an aircraft control systems lab; and improvements to amenities, sporting areas and landscaping.

Work programs for Years eight, nine and 10 in all subjects have been rewritten to consolidate the aerospace-related curriculum and to strengthen the school’s relationship with the aviation and aerospace industries.

Ms Gillard said Aviation High School received $1.5 million to construct the new state-of-the-art aeroskills workshop in round one of the 10 year Trade Training Centres program that will see every high school in Australia eligible for between $500,000 and $1.5 million. Schools can also pool their entitlement with other local schools to create larger, shared facilities.

Ms Gillard added the Trade Training Centres program was a part of the Government’s moves to reduce future skills shortages by integrating high school studies with the training needed to acquire a trade.

Mr Wilson said the Queensland Government had invested $6 million in a redevelopment of the school and this new Trade Training Centre was another example of Feederal and State Governments working together in Queensland schools.

The Trade Training Centres program has already awarded more than $800 million to 230 projects which will benefit 732 schools throughout Australia with applications for round three of the program open until 4 June 2010.

In Queensland to date the program is providing $115.5m for 120 schools.

By the end of 2010 the Government expects that 68 Trade Training Centre projects will be completed, benefiting 173 schools and ready for the 2011 school year.

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY
Students with ambitions of becoming airline pilots need to make an important decision about their future. Pursue a university degree or a diploma while clocking up the necessary flying hours; invest all their time and money on accruing flying qualifications and experience; or, go for an intelligent blend of both.

It’s a difficult decison to make but with more airlines emphasising tertiary education and cadetships, the value of the diploma or degree is increasing. In fact Australia is likely to one day demand tertiary qualifications for those in the cockpit, much in the way US pilots are required to hold a suitable university degree to qualify for the sharp end of an airliner.  

Dr Paul Bates, head of Griffith University’s aviation department, believes that tertiary education in aviation is the way of the future.

“There is no other profession (but aviation) that is not linked to tertiary education,” Bates says. “But as the graduates prove themselves in the industry and as the research we do with industry provides the industry with the assistance it is seeking, the value of tertiary education in aviation will become not just a nice (qualification) to have, but mandatory.”

Despite Bates’ view and the fact that several airlines are currently offering pilot cadetships, some in the industry would disagree that tertiary qualifications are necessary to achieve employment as an airline pilot.

As a comparison, it takes a student three years of fulltime study to complete a Bachelor of Aviation degree, whereas it takes around a year to complete a Commercial Pilots Licence with Instructor Rating and/or Command Instrument Rating. Within three years the student who takes the latter path can build up hundreds of hours and real-life commercial working experience. Bearing this in mind, what is the advantage of completing an aviation degree?  

“The question is what value is there in this ‘working experience’? Bates replies. “No one in the industry seems to know what pilots get out of flying light aircraft around in generally rural Queensland. We can have many years of “experience” but what value does this really add to airlines? Airlines are looking for people certainly who can appropriately manipulate the aircraft but being a professional is much more than this.  Professionalism involves leadership, communication, understanding and adhering to SOP's, business knowledge, etc. At university we concentrate on building these skills specifically, so as well as the manipulative skills our students develop the other skills we know pilots need under controlled and defined conditions.”

The Griffith Bachelor Degree of Aviation and Graduate Diploma of Flight Management is designed for applicants with limited flying experience who wish to gain a Bachelor degree and graduate diploma qualifications in addition to flight training up to and including a Command Instrument Rating and ATPL .

This course is run in conjunction with Qantas Airways, Griffith University, and the Airline Academy of Australia.
To be eligible to apply for the Qantas Cadet Pilot Program, students must be enrolled in the Griffith University Bachelor of Aviation and have successfully completed three semesters of prescribed academic courses.
All eligible students undertake the full Qantas Cadet recruitment process and positions on a cadet course are not guaranteed.

Those students successful in becoming Qantas cadets commence flight training at Archerfield Airport’s Airline Academy of Australia. Qantas will monitor cadet training and performance on course, and will provide ongoing assistance to ensure that any training development needs are identified and allocated the appropriate corrective training assistance from dedicated flying instructors. Academically, Qantas jointly manages cadets’ remaining university studies with Griffith University. In addition to flight qualifications gained, students graduate from this program with a Bachelor Degree in Aviation and a Graduate Diploma in Flight Management.

Although there is no guarantee of future employment within the industry or with Qantas, the aim is to provide cadets with the skills, knowledge, and opportunities to fulfil their ambitions to be airline pilots. Since the cadet program began in 2008, two cadets have graduated.

When asked what challenges presently faced the industry, Bates said that as the industry expands, instructors will again be in short supply. The other major issue, he said, is the ageing fleet of training aircraft. 

So have there been any changes in aviation tertiary education in recent years? 

“Other than Griffith (University) leading the way with cadetships into airlines and using FEE-HELP to help defray the cost,  it is the fact that now there are enough students at Griffith we are changing attitudes of the industry,” Bates says. “We are able to include more research doctoral students so that high quality research into real life industry issues can now be attended to. This helps industry with evidence-based decision making and will lead to a stronger and more sustainable aviation industry in the widest use of the term sustainable.”

To achieve such sustainability and success, Bates said the Queensland Government has been very supportive of aviation.

“With aviation-specific schools and subjects, Aviation Australia and Griffith (University) all working together with the industry and Government, it was inevitable that a strong aviation industry in this state would result.”

Other state governments should take notice.