Where do you find new talent in the aviation industry – and particularly in the area of engineering maintenance of rotary aircraft?
According to Matt Corbett of Helicopter Logistics, the only way to grow this talent is to grow your own. And his conviction in this belief is demonstrated by adding 3 apprentices to the growing Helicopter Logistics team.
Matt Corbett said, “Growth has been strong over the last 12 months. We have more clients engaged with Helicopter Logistics to undertake engineering and maintenance work on their rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. In addition, client work for Helicopter Logistics is growing. As a result, our own fleet of rotary and fixed-wing aircraft is expanding. The time was right to invest in people to meet the growing demand from our clients and support the growth of the business over the coming years.”
One of the challenges is that there are very few apprentices in the rotary aircraft engineering maintenance area in Western Australia. Organisations really do not want to have their aircraft away from service for long periods of time – or have to send those aircraft to the east coast for maintenance. Growing the workforce is the only way to avoid that challenge.
The apprentices undertake training in aircraft engines and engineering from TAFE Ground School plus training from Aviation Australia.
A critical part of an apprenticeship is overseeing the tasks each apprentice is undertaking. It is the practical application of the training modules over the 4 years of the apprenticeship from start to completion.
It is very pleasing to see the passion and commitment that these apprentices are bringing to the team.