boosted by the training and
philosophies of Sharp and Sobey,
and every year another 14 students
get the very same chance.
“Our cadet intake is completely
controlled by the number of First
Officers that we require,” Sobey
explains. “Mal and I both did it the
tough way: got our CPLs, then,
where would we get a job?
“It’s probably more difficult to get
a job now than it was 25-30 years ago
and it was tough enough then!
“We were interested in setting up
this cadetship only if we could train
and guarantee a job at the end of
it. As far as I know, we are the only
cadetship in Australia that guarantees
a job at the completion of the course.”
That guarantee has the side effect
of increasing the standard of training
at Sharp. Afterall, a Metro is not
a toy aeroplane and Sobey the last
thing Sobey needs is to be committed
to employing a pilot as FO who has
not really made the grade.
Part of the polishing needed to get
them to FO standard is the Metro
endorsement itself.
“We do a two-week ground school
that’s conducted here [Hamilton]
by a couple of our senior pilots, then
they go down to the Metro simulator
at Ansett in Melbourne for about
a week. Then they have to do three
circuits in the Metro; a few handling
skills, then they start on line.
“They stay with us for about nine
months as FOs, doing RPT, a bit
of charter work, fly-in, fly-out; and
they could be flying either Metros,
conquests or Citations.”
It sounds like a great start to
a commercial career, so there’s
no wonder at all that Sharp
Airlines has plenty of applications
for their cadetship.Carlie and Tristan
Carlie Vanclay and Tristan Dinning
typify the sort of people Sharp
Airlines is looking to cultivate. Young,
personable, confident and addicted
to aviation; both were taken on board
clean of any previous flying instruction
that Sobey might have to scrub off.
Twenty-year-old Vanclay hails
from Upwey in the Dandenong
Ranges. She found her way to
Sharp’s cadetship after her boss,
a private pilot, recommended she
check it out. Dinning, on the other
hand, is a Hamilton local, coming
from the hamlet of Merino, 47
km west of the town. He’d already
known of Sharp Airlines, but having
Helen Sobey as a cooking teacher
only whetted his appetite further.
For both of them, their first contact
with Sharps was an eye-opener.
Expecting the grilling of a selection
panel, they got nothing of the sort.
Vanclay: “I was surprised by
how casual the interview was. I was
expecting to have a formal chat with
several of the [Sharp] people, but it
was much more casual and relaxed.
Helen and Peter were there and we
just sat down and had a coffee and aaustralianflying.com.au 71
January - February 2015 AUSTRALIAN FLYINGTOP: Carlie Vanclay and Tristan
Dinning have a head start on
aviation with a guaranteed job
waiting when they graduate.
ABOVE: Sharp FOs get plenty
of experience in twin turbines
on RPT operations, complete
with supervision from an
experienced Captain.BOB HARRIS’
FLYING SCHOOLFLYING TRAINING SPECIALISTS
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courses
- GFPT, Private Licence.
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LOC/VOR/NDB/DGA/RNAV(GNSS). - Instructor Rating.
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Twin Endorsements.
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