The Interim Basic Flying Training (IBFT) course that BAE
Systems Australia runs at Tamworth has turned out to be more than just a gap
filler as the ADF brings together Air 5428. The site is now home to a
multinational cohort of students for both rotary and fixed wing training.
The training facility at Tamworth airport was originally
developed in the early 1990s by then British Aerospace in conjunction with
Ansett Airlines as a civil flight training academy, with live-in accommodation
and comprehensive operational and maintenance infrastructure.
Tamworth was chosen because of its uncongested airspace,
stable weather patterns suitable for ab-intio flying training, and the
proximity of generous flight training areas. Government funds were obtained for
the construction of a parallel runway, which allows intensive flight training
operations to be conducted without disrupting regular passenger transport services.
Basic Flying Training was conducted on behalf of the Army
from 1992, as the RAAF move to an all-through PC-9 syllabus was not felt to meet
the needs of Army candidates. Eventually the all-through PC-9 syllabus was
deemed inadequate and so RAAF and Navy candidates now conduct Basic Flying
Training alongside their Army colleagues at Tamworth. There were also concerns
about the longevity of the PC-9 being able to meet their planned withdrawal
date (June 2016) given the large number of hours the fleet was flying.
Today the facility has a mix of civilian and military
instructors, who conduct Flight Screening and Basic Flying Training for all three
services. The military side of the house is administered by the ADF Basic
Flying Training School, which has its own facilities within the operations
building.
Training is conducted on 30 Pacific Aerospace CT-4B
Airtrainers, which are fully aerobatic up to 6G and capable of fulfilling the
ADFs training requirements until the advent of the Pilot Training System, to be
delivered under Air 5428. The whole fleet has been upgraded to meet new crash
compliance that the ADF demanded as part of the IBFT contract. The fleet flies
anywhere between 16,000 and 18,000 hours a year. The majority of maintenance
for the fleet is also done on site with only propeller, crank shaft and
cadmium-plating work sent off site.
A pair of Bell 206 JetRanger helicopters has been leased
from Fleet Helicopters in Armidale to conduct rotary wing training on behalf of
international customers and a pair of twin-engined Piper Senecas are also used
for Papua New Guinea and Brunei. There is also a large contingent of Singapore
students at the facility for air grading only, a five-week course.
“The agreements with these three militaries are direct
commercial contracts,” John Quaife, general manager of aviation solutions at
BAE Systems Australia said.
Flight screening
BAE Systems Flight Training carries out Flight Screening
activities in conjunction with the ADF to determine whether pilot candidates
have the aptitude to progress to Basic Flying Training. Around 300 candidates
are screened every year in conjunction with the ADF’s Pilot Selection Agency
and although most are in the school-leaver demographic, the oldest candidate so
far has been 47.
Depending on the individual experience level, between six
and eight flights are flown with each candidate, either by ADF or BAE Systems
instructors. Each will fly with two different instructors to ensure a fair
assessment. General handling skills and airmanship are demonstrated by the
instructor on each sortie and expected to be repeated by the student. Each
candidate flies only once per day over a two-week period to avoid saturation
and between seven and ten hours of instruction are the result.
After completion of the screening process a progress report
is presented to the ADF Pilot Selection Agency and successful candidates are
then offered a commission in one of the three services and a position on a
future Basic Flying Training course. There are instances where students are
offered a place without having made a decision as to which service they will
eventually call home but this is rare.
IBFT course
With Air 5428 on the horizon, BAE Systems was awarded an
$88.6 million IBFT contract in 2011 for six years, beginning in 2012. This will
guarantee ADF basic flight training at Tamworth until at least 2017 and to
insure against any delays to the new Pilot Training System, there are
provisions for six one-year extensions in the contract.
The BFT syllabus is standardised across all three services,
though Army candidates populate even-numbered courses and RAAF/Navy students
the odd numbered courses. The BFT course is 23 weeks long and each student
flies around 64 hours.
Eight courses are run each year, training up to 152
candidates and instructors can be either ADF BFTS personnel or BAE Systems
employees. The company has nine full-time instructors dedicated to IBFT and
each course begins with five weeks of ground school and then progresses to an
integrated flying program which rotates between morning and afternoon flying,
alternating with lectures.
During IBFT each student undergoes a general flying progress
test and it is at this point where most unsuccessful candidates are removed
from the course. Upon successful completion, RAAF and Navy students progress to
No.2 Flying Training School at Pearce for advanced training on the PC-9.
Army candidates remain at Tamworth for an Intermediate Pilot
Training (IPT) course, which has no ground school element but an increased
flying rate to maintain pressure on the student. The IPT course runs for 10
weeks, after which the successful students move to Oakey for helicopter
training at the Army Aviation Training Centre.
BAE Systems also acts as the program scheduler for flight
training activities. This also allows the company to schedule their fleet
maintenance around the flying program. This is set to change under Air 5428 as
will the instructor make up which will be drawn exclusively from military
personnel. Civilian instructors are currently used in both the ADF and
international programs at Tamworth.
International
contingent
Tamworth is also home to various screening and flying
courses for Singapore, Brunei and PNG. A rotary wing course for PNG began last
month. The Singapore course ends next year but has the option to extend for
another five years. The Singapore course is run almost as a separate entity
within the school, with the RSAF providing their own instructors for parts of
the course. Once they have successfully completed their time at Tamworth they
head back to Singapore for continued officer training before heading to RAAF
Pearce for their Basic Wings course. The contract was run via competitive
tender for a turnkey solution, first in 1999 and again in 2009.
“For Brunei, all students go through a basic flying training
course, then multi-engine training or helicopter training,” Pierre Steyn BAE
Systems Australia program manager for IBFT said. “We’ve also done flight
instructor training for them in the past.”
Students from PNG depend on demand from the country, with
peaks and troughs in student numbers accordingly. PNG students go through a
longer course of 120 hours to reflect different graduation competency
requirements and training levels.
“Based on the downturn in defence spending worldwide, we are
looking at broadening our horizons at Tamworth, in both the military and civil
markets,” Steyn said. “But I think our focus will remain on the military side
of the business, as that is where our experience and expertise lies.”
NZ has gone out to tender for their military pilot training
option and a decision is expected at the end of the year.
Connections to Air
5428
“The RAAF customer has been undertaking flying training for
100 years now and they have set some constraints around how the training design
is to take place under 5428,” Matt Sibree, Air 5428 project manager at BAE
Systems Australia explained. “This is not necessarily to cater for the next
generation of pilots but to make sure that they don’t diverge too far from the
path that has worked so well for them in the past. For example, the
Commonwealth has stipulated that no more than 25 per cent of the training will
be conducted on synthetic training devices.”
BAE Systems is working on how they balance teaching modes
(face to face classes, simulators, flying time, computer assisted exercises,
web support with subject matter experts etc) that will best suit the students
and the needs of the ADF to push more students through the pipeline to the
services. The flight screening element mentioned earlier on is envisioned to
become completely synthetic under Air 5428, much like commercial pilot
training.
The draft RFT was released in January of this year and
industry responded by the end of February. Contenders are still waiting to be
engaged by CDG and DMO on these responses before a final RFT is released
somewhere in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Given the long gestation
of the program, industry was given a relatively short time to engage under the
draft RFT process.
The process under 5428 is cu rently examining the business
models put forward by the tenderers that includes both an off base and on base
(RAAF East Sale) option. The commercial options for ownership of the aircraft
are also on the table but ADM understands that a public private partnership
framework has been specifically ruled out.
“We’re also looking at how the work that we’ve won on the
aircrew technical training maintainers course down in Wagga can help with what
we’re trying to do on Air 5428,” Quaife said.
Note: The writers travelled as guests of BAE Systems to
their Tamworth facility.
Most CT-4B maintenance is done on site.
