Training to restarting operations at an airline requires collaboration of pilots, cabin crew, trainers, regulators and others. CAT Europe Editor Chris Long, FRAeS, relates the story of how Emirates is meeting the challenges.

The world reeled at the speed and depth of the onset of Covid-19. As we all know, the aviation industry was one of the hardest-hit sectors, and the reaction to it also needed to be both rapid and profound.

Tim Clark, President of Emirates airline, made it clear that despite the challenges which the pandemic brought, the airline will not compromise on the safety of passengers or crew.

Emirates is in a unique situation as the largest operator of exclusively wide-body fleets, and in theory, could have taken the biggest hit. But, as Captain Martin Mahoney, Emirates SVP Flight Training says, whilst practically all the A380 fleet was initially grounded, the B777 fleet continued to operate.

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While new technology and training aids have vastly improved ab initio pilot training, the full benefit of that investment can only be realised if applied by excellent instructors. CAT Europe Editor Chris Long, FRAeS, solicited views on the process from three key individuals at an innovative ATO.

Build a passion in aviation into the process, and the result is teaching which yields the best quality of a new generation of pilots (who are more than quick enough to identify genuine quality and buy into it.) That is the drive for the whole team of passionate individuals at Norwegian-based Pilot Flight Academy (PFA), who have deep aviation experience and are wholeheartedly engaged in the enterprise.

Now equipped with modern Diamond aircraft, PFA has plans to convert to all-electric powered aircraft to achieve the goal of a complete “green” training solution.

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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.

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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.

Spanish carrier Volotea’s training curriculum in Barcelona is closely aligned with Toulouse. Chris Long outlines their approach.

This is the first of a series of articles to explore the full range of Airbus training courses across pilot, technician and cabin crew training. Before the virus lockdown took effect in France, Chris Long visited a new academy in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region.