Aviation’s big opportunity

The industry’s talent shortage and a shift to sustainability have opened the door to those trained to think critically. UNSW’s School of Aviation discusses how its students will take advantage

ON THE surface, aviation’s stuttering recovery from COVID-19 has been hugely problematic for the industry. Today, passengers face the worst fl ight delays in history, lost baggage, and call-centre wait times that stretch for hours. Chaotic scenes at airports, with queues snaking out of the terminal, are frequently national news. It’s been caused by a lack of talent as the Baby Boomer generation took early retirement during lockdowns and major companies cut roles to survive. But this disruption is also quietly providing a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the best and brightest at the start of their careers.

UNSW’S INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS UNSW was the launch partner for the Qantas Future Pilot Program in 2017, providing a bridge between regional subsidiary QantasLink and the best students. It means the Flying Kangaroo monitors selected students throughout their training, with many progressing to jobs within the company. A key perk of the deal is that candidates accumulate fewer flying hours than those who enter directly. “Qantas acknowledges the quality of the training and, in essence, provides some credit,” says Molesworth. “The airline would typically expect pilots to have in excess of 500 flight hours, but moving on from our training, they only need approximately 250.” In addition, UNSW has key partnerships with Sydney and Western Sydney airports, Tourism Australia, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service, opening up opportunities for both management and flying candidates.

It’s not just that airlines and airports are scrambling to recruit and train employees, but that we’re on the brink of a revolution perhaps not seen since the advent of the jet engine. In Logan, Queensland, for example, Google is conducting hundreds of thousands of drone deliveries each year in a move that will transform how we shop and live. So-called ‘fl ying taxis’, or eVTOLs, are only months away from taking flight, opening up a whole new aviation sector. And a push toward sustainability – kicked into the long grass during COVID-19 – is finally powering on in earnest. It will require innovation to allow Australians to keep flying from state to state without destroying the environment.

UNSW’s School of Aviation is watching this transition happen fi rst-hand as it prepares its students and graduates with the unique skills they need to thrive. “We’ve sat down and revisited our program to look at the inclusion of emerging technologies and sustainable aviation,” says Brett Molesworth, an associate professor in human factors and aviation safety. The key to the transformation, he thinks, has been going beyond tests and licences to nurture young people to think critically. “We want to develop leaders who can solve today’s and tomorrow’s problems. Alongside flight and management training, students complete academic courses to ensure the graduates we produce are well-rounded and have knowledge about the industry as a whole.

“Critical thinking involves extracting key and pertinent information from the environment, processing that information quickly, and formulating a decision. Neglecting to do that means you potentially risk a risk-taker who makes uninformed decisions. And that’s not an individual that we want. It’s not someone that we want to lead and take the industry into the future.”

Chris Torta, a regional director at GE Aviation, agrees modern airlines are increasingly looking for recruits who understand how something works rather than “not just accepting it will”. “Most of all, they are looking for people that can be part of a successful team,” he adds. “Working as a pilot for an airline means you are part of a team within teams. Multi-crew environments expand to the cabin crew, ground staff , and the wider airline. You need to be able to play a part in all of them to make sure everyone is working as safely and efficiently as possible.”

“There’s always going to be a need for pilots,” says David Chitty, a UNSW casual lecturer and manager – operational compliance at Qantas. Chitty’s extraordinarily varied career saw him shoot at the ranks at the Flying Kangaroo, with experience as a simulator instructor, 767 fl eet manager, and member of the NSW bar.

“Everyone is scrambling at the moment for crew across the globe, whether it’s freight companies in the US or going into that corporatetype environment. My advice to students is to pick an area of interest that appeals to you, but also one that has a degree of presence on the global stage.”

At the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS), the issue of hiring talent is even more acute because of the unique set of skills required by its pilots, medics, and professionals. “It’s a six-month process to find a pilot, even if they’re very experienced in flying solo in remote communities,” says Justin Marr, a general manager of aviation. “It’s different to flying point to point like a major airline because they’re flying short distances with limited lighting. So we ensure we have extra safety measures and more training to get them to a point where they’re comfortable landing in those strips. It’s 2am with no lights when it’s very dangerous. It’s a challenge because Qantas could come in tomorrow and say we want 1,000 pilots. There’s a good chance some of ours would put their hand up and want to move over.”

If there’s a recurring theme, it’s that the candidates he desires must have the right mentality to survive in what is a rewarding but mentally challenging job. “We need the correct attitude and cultural fit in our business. We’re an outback organisation supporting regional and remote communities, so we look for people willing to go the extra mile. People who say, ‘It’s not my job’ are not the kinds of people we’re after. Our pilots are also heavily involved in transferring patients. They sometimes see things we wouldn’t want anybody else to see. When we talk about emergency referrals, they can witness some pretty horrific things. But it’s a rewarding role, and you can see the passion in their eyes.”

A Proud History The UNSW School of Aviation began in 1995 with only 11 students but today enrols more than 500 with a network of 3,000 alumni worldwide. The first aviation program was built on the idea of Professor Jason Middleton, a maths professor covering oceanography. A commercial pilot and aviation enthusiast, he saw a gap in the market for equipping students with more advanced industry knowledge. Within three years, the school had grown so quickly that UNSW acquired its own Air Operator’s Certificate, allowing it to teach pilots without requiring a private provider. Fast-forward to 2010 and it was confident enough to purchase a fleet of Diamond DA40 and DA42s for training, and commission a scanning lidar for its Piper Seminole. In the years since, its secured a  pioneering linkup with Qantas, its own offices at Bankstown Airport, a human factors lab, and CASA-approved air operations to be used for flying training and aerial surveying.

It’s another unique dilemma witnessed by Lachlan Slatyer, a flight examiner and rescue pilot at Toll and also a human factors manager at the ACE Training Centre. Human factors in aviation relate to the issues affecting how people do their jobs, such as communication and decision-making. “The best option is to recruit internally; people already in the organisation with the right skill set. But not many do. I want people to go to an organisation like UNSW and say, ‘I’ve been flying police and rescue helicopters for the last 12 years, I’m a senior instructor, but now I need that formal qualification to get that skill set, so I can go and be more productive.’” Slatyer is now encouraging recruits to go out and get that training. “I might have 30 pilots, and 25 of them are ex-instructors. That’s great. But maybe only two or three have a background in human factors training or safety management systems. That’s where the shortage is.”

Yet even during the worst pandemic restrictions, UNSW never saw a lack of interest from recruits. “The hunger was still there,” says Molesworth. “As a whole, we roughly broke even on numbers. Our flight operations unit out of Bankstown actually increased student numbers during COVID-19. We saw a reduction in international students due to restrictions imposed by the federal government. At postgraduate level, though, numbers significantly increased as industry personnel, some laid off or furloughed, used the time to increase their skill set.” UNSW’s School of Aviation was also in the right place at the right time: it’s the Sydney basin’s only tertiary school of education offering degrees in management, flight training, and research opportunities. It’s also the highest-ranked university globally to offer such a combination.

Part of that demand came from the pandemic supercharging the development of ‘uncrewed’ aircraft such as drones and eVTOLs (electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles). Google Wing drones, for example, launched in Canberra and Logan in 2019 but completed more deliveries in the second quarter of 2021 than all of 2020 as demand for contactless service peaked. The program has now expanded to pick up packages from retailers based in shopping malls, rather than forcing them to be located in its distribution centres. Meanwhile, planemaker Embraer has signed a swathe of deals to bring ‘air taxis’ to Australia, and plans are afoot for the tech to be a form of transport for the Brisbane Olympics. “The industry is at an important point,” says Molesworth. “Not only is there a demand for pilots at a local and international level, but also those moving into urban air mobility and drone operations.

The industry as a whole is looking exceptionally positive for pilots.”

The transition, too, will be less about man vs machine, so much as operators having the know-how to decide when each aircraft would be more appropriate. “Sending an aircraft up into the mountains to find someone at 3am, when the weather is bad, is high risk,” says Toll’s Slatyer. “We are certainly considering sending up a UAV (uncrewed aerial vehicle) with thermal cameras that could make contact with a victim to find out if we need to dispatch a rescue helicopter now, or if we can wait until daybreak. It allows us to weigh up that risk.”

Think, too, of the work required to adapt our air traffic management and laws for a world where hundreds of aircraft in our skies quickly become hundreds of thousands. “It’ll affect the laws of nuisance, torts, liabilities, and security, which is currently state-based legislation,” says UNSW lecturer Chitty. “You’ve now got local councils making rules for drones not to be flown in Royal National Parks.” That inconsistent approach to rulemaking, both here and abroad, will become a significant challenge for new industry talent.

Perhaps there can be no better example of that one-world philosophy than the challenge of fi nally achieving sustainability. Aviation currently emits more than a billion tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. And while that may only amount to around 3 per cent of all emissions, that share is set to rise exponentially as other industries clean up their act. It became more actionable last year when IATA — the global industry body — committed its members to achieve net zero by 2050. “How do you protect the industry alongside the planet and the places we live?” says Chitty. “How do we protect the wonders of travel that we’ve enjoyed for the last few generations for future generations?” Tackling it will require recruits with fresh ideas and critical thinking to manage a transition from traditional fuel towards lower-emission SAFs (sustainable aviation fuel) and then onto electric drones and eVTOLs.

It’s a challenge Qantas, as our flag carrier, is tackling head-on, with CEO Alan Joyce being a vocal critic of a lack of action from politicians. In March, the airline pledged to invest $50 million to help support establishing a local SAF industry. By 2050, it hopes to see 60 per cent of all its fuel derived from SAF, alongside an interim goal of 10 per cent by 2030. “This is a huge opportunity for Australia … That can create a huge amount of jobs in this country, and the security it would give against what’s going on in the rest of the world,” he said.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we were just dependent on our own country for that?”

The roles created by this push will not just be in creating new fuels and aircraft but by utilising data and analytics to make existing travel more efficient. “There’s now so much data to look at, such as the realtime analytics of your competitors,” says Chitty. But he also thinks that analysing information will be crucial in measuring the mitigation measures and using them to adjust our path to achieving those targets. “To make inroads or progress with your commitments or claims, somebody has got to measure it. How are we going calculate how much CO2 you’ve saved?”

“The tremendous amount of data generated by aircraft and other systems has meant pilots need to understand how it can impact their operations,” agrees Torta. “The ability of a pilot to review and analyse their own data is changing the way crew are trained and will operate into the future. Those people that are able to review the data and understand what the implications are will be better able to navigate the changes.”

Molesworth says UNSW is already looking at data because aviation is quite data-rich. “We want to ensure the professionals that we produce can interpret this. So we have looked at our program and refi ned it to make sure we remain at the forefront of aviation education.” Chitty has one fi nal piece of advice for students. “There’s a very good opportunity in a couple of years because the industry is still recovering its fi nances and is in a holding pattern. But I have a catch cry from the off : you must think on a global scale, but join the dots locally. Students will require a well-rounded understanding of global issues and global interconnectedness.”

UNSW School of Aviation Courses

BACHELOR OF AVIATION (FLYING)

This three-year degree not only educates and trains pilots to the highest commercial standards, it develops future industry leaders. Students spend half the program at UNSW’s Kensington campus completing academic courses, and the other half undertaking fl ying theory and training at Bankstown Airport. Candidates get up to 200 hours of tuition in the air and a further 30 hours in simulators — enough to acquire licences and ratings. They also receive a solid academic and theoretical grounding in aviation management and safety, preparing them for senior management roles.

BACHELOR OF AVIATION (MANAGEMENT)

This three-year course allows students to pursue a career in fl ight operations on or off the flight deck, understanding the key theories and applying them in a work environment. In particular, it produces graduates with essential skills and knowledge in science, engineering, interpersonal relations, the environment and management. This skill base provides a solid foundation to advance to senior managerial positions. Learning exercises range from operating a start-up airline in a management simulation to exploring humans’ cognitive abilities in the fast-developing aviation environment.

BACHELOR OF COMMERCE/AVIATION (MANAGEMENT)

This four-degree double degree combines critical business knowledge from the Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) with aviation management skills. The commerce component provides students with a fundamental understanding of general business principles, allowing them to develop specialist knowledge in the area of their choice. The aviation management degree shares an academic core with the fl ying stream, replacing flight training with management courses such as operations management, aviation economics, law and regulations, airline marketing and safety.

POSTGRADUATE

UNSW also offers several postgraduate courses. Its one-year Graduate Diploma in Flying covers the training and assessment for a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) and Instrument Rating (IR) and academic study. A second Graduate Diploma in Advanced Flying targets those wanting to be an airline pilot. It can be taken either full or part-time. Meanwhile, a one-year Graduate Diploma in Aviation Management covers operations and corporate management, law and regulation, security and accident prevention. It provides aviation managers and professionals with the skills and knowledge to be more eff ective in a modern aviation organisation. Finally, its Master of Aviation Management is designed to give a competitive edge to students, exploring advanced topics including law and regulations, airport management and economics.

Graduate Profiles

Alex Mcdarmont | Manager technical & industry relations, Express Freighters Australia

“Over the last 20 years, I have been involved in various roles. I began my career with Qantas as a 747-400 second officer and, after about two-and-a-half years, moved up the ranks to first officer on 767s. Shortly after, I began flying out of Cairns with Australian Airlines (AO) into Asia. After three years there, I came back to Sydney and moved into an office role.

“I returned to line flying and an A380 second officer position in 2015 when the 767 fleet was retired, and back to being a first officer on the 747-400 in 2018. I am now the manager fleet technical and industry relations at Express Freighters Australia (a subsidiary of Qantas) and a 767 captain. My career has taken me to every continent except Antarctica, but I’ve flown down that way a few times for good measure.”

Kritika Prakash | Safety integration specialist, Jetstar

“I began my career at the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) in an administration role and was able to transition into a safety and systems role. I then became a management quality and assurance officer in the Air Force. I worked on projects surrounding the development and implementation of business management systems. When I applied for Jetstar, one of the comments was, ‘Have you actually done everything on your resume?’ My most recent aviation role was with Jetstar as a safety integration specialist. My subjects (even those I never thought I would use) have been extremely relevant throughout my career.”

Kevin Dzewete | Operations manager, Aero Adapt

“While I was completing my masters, I was promoted to a senior operations controller position at Aero Adapt. As a flight support company, we complete a lot of the background work
that the typical passenger wouldn’t see in the industry. In my current role as operations manager I ‘choreograph the whole dance’, meaning I look after a variety of teams who arrange everything from international permits and permissions, ground handling, fuelling, to crew and pax support and more. My job is to ensure everything from A to Z in the flight runs smoothly, putting out any potential fires before they even start.”