• Pacific Aerospace CT-4B Airtrainer aircraft from the Basic Flying Training School prepare to take off from the Tamworth Airport.
Defence
    Pacific Aerospace CT-4B Airtrainer aircraft from the Basic Flying Training School prepare to take off from the Tamworth Airport. Defence
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BAE Systems Australia will lease part of its Tamworth ADF pilot training facility to a civil airline training company, as it readies for the loss of a 20-year defence flight training role to Air 5428 winner Lockheed Martin at the end of 2019.

CAE Oxford Aviation Training Academy Melbourne, a joint venture between international training organisation CAE Oxford and China’s second largest carrier China Eastern Airlines, will take over part of the purpose-built facility which includes an accommodation block, training facilities and undercover aircraft parking at Tamworth Regional Airport in north eastern NSW.

BAE Systems has provided ADF tri-service pilot candidate flight screening and basic flying training at Tamworth since 1999, with its 30 CT-4B aircraft flying around 15,500 hours per year. Pre-selection ADF candidate pilots fly around 10 hours on a two-week course designed to assess their suitability as pilots and officers; while selected candidates also conduct basic flying training at Tamworth, typically consisting of around 60 flying hours covering basic, instrument, night and navigation flying.

In 2016, the fleet surpassed 250,000 flying hours, graduating more than 5600 students since the contract began. From 2019 both programs will move to RAAF Base East Sale as part of Air 5428, where pilot candidates will be screened in simulators and successful candidates will begin basic flying training on the new Pilatus PC-21 turboprop trainer aircraft.

BAE Systems has also trained around 220 Republic of Singapore Air Force Air Grading Course (AGC)  students per year at Tamworth since 2000. The four-week, 25-flying-hour course includes constructive, synthetic and live-flight systems designed to grade RSAF students before they progress to Basic Wings training. It has also provided ‘turn-key’ fixed wing and rotary wing pilot training for the Royal Brunei Air Force and the Papua New Guinea Defence Force.

Expected to begin operations at Tamworth in 2018, CAE Oxford bills itself as the largest ab initio pilot training organisation in the world, operating more than 165 aircraft with the capacity to train 2000 cadets per year from sites in Europe, the US, India and Australia. CAE Oxford has indicated it will expand the training facilities at Tamworth to meet a future Asian demand for airline pilots, with aircraft manufacturer Boeing projecting China alone will need more than 110,000 pilots by 2035.

As a purpose-built site at a well-equipped regional airport, BAE Systems believes there is life in the Tamworth facility yet.

“We are working collaboratively with local community leaders to consider options for the site that will maximise the use of the facilities,” BAE Systems chief executive Glynn Phillips said. “We are also engaging with our current customers and the Australian Defence Force regarding the provision of military training at the site.”

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