tomorrow, but we just don't have
suitable pilots to f ly them."
These dormant aircraft were
the reason I was in Darwin
in the first place. I found it
enigmatic that Australia now
has several f lying academies
pumping out streams of new
CPLs backed by government
funding, yet the Northern
Territory, once the polestar
for new CPLs wanting to build
hours, was now suffering from
no-one to f ly their aeroplanes.
Doing something
Cameron Marchant has been
aware of this developing issue
for years. As Chief Pilot at
Chartair in Darwin, Marchant
was constantly rejecting pilot
applications as he struggled to find
the right sort of person to fill the
company's roster.
"One of our frustrations was
procuring young pilots starting
out in the industry with the right
level of technical proficiency,
knowledge and skill set," he told
me over a coffee.
"As a result of that experience,
Ben and I designed a course
that identified the training gap
between a pilot who has just
completed their CPL training
at a f lying school or aviationcollege and what the Chief Pilot
of a general aviation company
is going expect of a new hire in
their first job."
"Ben" is f lying instructor Ben
Mackney, who with Marchant
broke away from Chartair in 2016
to set up Flight Standards, which
is now the only f lying training
organisation based in Darwin.
It was their charter pilot course
that drew me to Darwin; intrigued
by the chance to find out exactly
what it takes to be an NT charter
pilot, and why the skills gap exists
in the first place.
"Flying schools are often
marketed with the theme ofpreparing students for an airline,
whereas the reality of the industry
is different," Marchant told me.
"Pilots need to be prepared in
a f lying school for their first job,
not an airline job. The skills and
attitudes they need to have should
relate to that first job, which–like
it or not–is going to be remote-
area general aviation single-engine
VFR flying."
But as CPLs are trained and
qualified to the CASA syllabus,
what are they lacking that makes
them poor candidates for the most
basic of CPL jobs?
"Focused aircraft handling,"
Marchant reckons. "Experienceaustralianflying.com.au 45
July – August 2018 AUSTRALIAN FLYINGRafa (left) and Ben
discuss the condition of
the red gravel runway
at Howard Island.