NCAT: Aviation sector’s aging workforce in check

The rector, who spoke to Woleshadarenews in Zaria, Kaduna State, disclosed that the quality of teaching in NCAT had helped to adequately tackle fear of crisis in the sector going by the number of pilots, engineers, air traffic controllers and others that have been gainfully employed to replace those that are retired or nearing retirement.

He further explained that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recognised this and came up with a new set of aviation professionals programme called ENDGAP.

He disclosed that the college had signed up to this and have been attending all the ENDGAP summits since it started.

He said the aircraft would be ordered in phases. This is coming as the Federal Government has approved the acquisition of 20 aircraft for NCAT to improve training and development of young pilots.

A source, who pleaded anonymity, told our correspondent that to acquire the 20 Diamond 42 (DA42) and 40 (DA 40) trainer airplanes, government would need to spend over $300 million.
Investigation shows that DA40 is sold for $400,000 (2013 price) while DA42 Twin Star is sold for $500,000.

He also said the college has virtually concluded the installation of its Boeing 737 simulator to be located in Zaria.

“The approval we have from government is to acquire 20 Diamond aircraft; five of which are the two-engine DA42 and 15 Assembly engine DA 40 aircraft. When I assumed office in 2017, we took delivery of one DA 42 aircraft in April 2017,” he said.

According to Abdulsalam, an order was placed for more aircraft, but the supply was stalled because the manufacturer was bought by another company, which relocated the production line from Austria to Canada.

“That is what affected the delivery of the additional aircraft because we asked for additional four DA 40 aircraft, which is what we have on order now. That company is up and running in Canada now and we expect to take delivery of those four DA 40 aircraft before the end of this year.

“We also have additional DA 40 aircraft that was given to the college by an insurance company as part of an insurance settlement. So, by the time we have the four aircraft delivered, we will have one DA 42 and five DA 40.

“As of today, we have eight aircraft that are serviceable. These aircraft are not the same; we have the basic, advance and two-engine ones. So, depending on the stage of training of students, some of the aircraft that are serviceable may not be useful o students for instance who are starting afresh that need the basic and less complex aircraft and then they advance to more complex aircraft, with more instrument flying, before they now go into the multi-engine aircraft.”

“Sometimes, when you start with the new students, the multi-engine aircraft is actually parked and not doing anything until the students reach that time where they can now start multi-engine training. During that period, we use that for our instructors to maintain their proficiency. We encourage them to fly such aircraft.”

On the number of pilots and engineers trained yearly, the NCAT rector said it takes about two years on the average to train a pilot and engineer.

On the simulator, he said apart from the B737, another simulator is being installed for firemen and it would serve fire fighters across the country thus save Nigeria foreign exchange.

He explained that there is a limit to the number of students they can have in a class, stressing that for management and other courses; they are allowed to have huge number of students in a class.

His words: “For a typical pilot class, we limit the number to 20 in a class. Same thing applies to engineers. Sometimes, in a year, we have three engineering courses staggered, starting at different period, but they can’t be more than 20 in a class, I cannot readily give you the figures of pilots we have graduated in the past five years, but we graduate pilots regularly.”