CAT Editor-in-Chief Rick Adams, FRAeS, highlights the stories that caught his eye in a new Halldale feature titled Rick’s Picks.

As the Covid-19 pandemic persists, and students return to campuses across the United States, there has not been a significant decline in the number of students enrolled in pilot-degree programs, according to a survey of aviation educators. Nearly 90% of schools report “little or no change.”

Only one school reported more than 15% cancellations or degree changes. About one-quarter indicated a “melt” of 5-15% in students committed to attending (though up from 10% a month ago). One-third are seeing less than 5% change, and 26.47% indicated all enrolled students plan to attend.

Surprisingly, in the wake of the devastation in the airline industry, nearly 40% of the universities will have a higher number of students than started a year ago. Only 15% expect a lower number, and 36.4% are level with 2019.

Ken Byrnes, Chair of the Flight Training Department at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), who moderates the ad-hoc national group’s periodic Zoom discussions, cautioned, “As the airline industry slows, interest can start to wane,” but he reminded that the process of becoming an airline pilot “is a four- to five-year journey, and the industry is going to need a significant amount of pilots in the near future.”

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Editor’s Note: Last week, Portuguese investigators GPIAAF (Gabinete de Prevençäo e Investigaçäo de Acidentes com Aeronaves e de Acidentes Ferroviärios) released the final report of the harrowing Air Astana ERJ190LR flight KC1388 accident of 11 November 2018. The plane was on a post-maintenance flight, carrying three Air Astana pilots and three technicians from the operator.

Shortly after takeoff from Alverca do Ribatejo airbase, Portugal, the regional jet became uncontrollable. The pilots not only issued a distress signal, fighter aircraft were scrambled to escort them to the sea, where the Air Astana crew anticipated ditching their plane.

This exclusive narrative is from a detailed conversation CAT Europe Editor Chris Long had with the Air Astana flight crew, presenting their in-the-cockpit perspective.

The first that Captain Vyacheslav Aushev learnt of the task was whilst he was in another aircraft, having arrived in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where he was instructed to call crew control during checkout. He was then advised that he was planned to collect an Embraer 190 from the military airport at Alverca, near Lisbon, and return it via a refuelling stop at Minsk, Belarus, to the home base at Nur Sultan, Kazakhstan’s capital. This with no fare-paying passengers, but with three maintenance engineers returning to base. The aircraft was due out of a “C” maintenance check but, because of repeated delays totalling 11 days, the original aircraft captain was no longer able to take the flight, hence the short notice.