FlightCom – July 2019

7 FlightCom Magazine

have a massive failure / lack of completion

/ unemployability rate, meaning that that

banks are less than enthusiastic to get

involved if the chances of repayment are that

s h a k y.

CAE’s presentation to the ACI-World

bank conference was warmly received, as

it offered a workable model to a complex

problem.

As I also have my own canine in this

conundrum, I can see two streams of future

candidates within the ab-initio training

space. Recreational pilots, who have no

intention of pursuing any higher licence

than a PPL, and those from the outset who

are intent on securing one of the two front

seats in an airliner.

Those that successfully complete

the battery of medical, psychometric,

personality profiling and aptitude tests will,

in the very near future, have certain banks

beat a path to their door to offer wads of cash

for their training.

This ability to repay, in a proper MPL

environment, will be assured by the future

airline employer from day one of the

training. The pilot training funders can be

guaranteed returns from that investment,

and the infrastructure developers and

aircraft financiers can breathe a collective

sigh of relief that the cash cow that is the

aviation industry may escape being throttled

by that (up to now), utterly unpredictable

pilot contingent.

The legislation necessary to enable the

MPL does not exist here in South Africa and

is a recurring finding during ICAO audits.

There is a lot of homework to be done, but

best we do it, and specifically do it without

our habit of re-inventing the wheel to

complicate things.

This ship is about to set sail. Let’s get

onboard.

Airline Ops

ABOVE: CAE - the next big force in pilot training.