Skilled flight instructors scarce

WELLINGTON: A decline in the number of experienced aeroplane and helicopter pilot trainers is raising safety concerns in the airline industry because of the loss of their skills.

A Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report said there had been an overall 13% drop in flight instructor numbers in just two years, and a decline in the number of experienced instructors.

It warned the figures were a ‘‘continuing cause for concern’’ and could make it hard to sustain the quality of training.

The number of pilots trained in New Zealand has dropped substantially in the past decade, and there is a global shortage of pilots.

Tony Page, the president of Flying New Zealand, which represents aero clubs, said the drop in instructor numbers was a crisis.

He said the loss of the most senior instructors meant their skills would not be passed on to the next generation.

‘‘They’ve got [flying] in their soul, and they’ve learnt over a long period of time [all the] different things that [can] happen. They have all the skill and technique to recover from most things.’’

CAA report author David Harrison said the authority was keeping a close eye on the situation.

‘‘Clearly, more experienced instructors will tend to deliver betterquality training.

‘‘So we have to be careful that with reducing experience levels, we maintain a level of supervision such that that quality of training is not diluted.’’

The report said that between 2012 and 2016, there had been a ‘‘significant rise’’ in the number of accidents and incidents during training where pilots did not follow proper flying procedures.

This had since plateaued, and Mr Harrison said the increase was probably driven by better incident reporting.

But the report also said there was anecdotal evidence that instructor inexperience had played a role in recent incidents.

Mr Harrison said: ‘‘When we have the issue we have currently, where experience levels are dropping . . . there is a potential, and I’ll stress potential, for that to increase risk.

‘‘So by identifying that we can now work with the industry to ensure that we tackle that issue so the risk does not eventuate.’’

Tim Robinson, of the Air Line Pilots’ Association, said as long as the less experienced trainers were properly supervised, the risk could be managed.

‘‘There’s always a concern that the experience levels have dropped, and . . . that is a safetyrelated issue.

‘‘But that can be mitigated by good supervision and making sure the more inexperienced instructors are monitored and they’re training to the highest level that they possibly can.’’

The airline sector worldwide has been growing rapidly, increasing the demand for pilots, and airlines in New Zealand have been snapping up flight instructors.

Mr Page said the airlines were making offers that the less experienced instructors could not refuse.

‘‘The instructors [that work with the aero clubs], the junior ones, basically we’re lucky if we can keep them for a year to 18 months.

‘‘It takes a lot of time and effort in development to get the instructors to the level where they [are close to becoming senior instructors].

‘‘By the time we get them near, the airlines are grabbing them.’’

Mr Harrison said the CAA was working with the industry to ensure the less experienced instructors got the training and supervision they needed. — RNZ