Local flight school to host vacation programme

Apr 21, 2013 News

…focus on preparing hinterland-based operators

For the first time, Air Services Limited Flight School (ASLFTS) will be offering the Private Pilot Programme over the August holidays. The school will host open days for all potential students beginning Saturday, April 27 from 10:00hrs and will continue on the last Saturday of each month, leading up to the August Programme.

Cpt, Ebanks and PPL trainees

These open days include discovery flights which will cost $5,000 per person. The August classes will commence on July 8. The staff of the flight school is available to visit secondary or tertiary schools to provide presentations to stimulate an interest in an aviation career.
The flight training school was started in 2003 in order to supply Air Services Limited with a cadre of professionally trained pilots to crew its ever expanding fleet. The school is fully approved by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) from which it received an award in March 2013 for the invaluable contribution to the development of aviation in Guyana.
All training is done at the Ogle International Airport where the school is located and where students are provided with the academic and technical skills necessary to qualify for a position as a professional pilot.
Diligent work over the years has resulted in the graduation of 19 trained young pilots- some have enabled new start up aviation companies at Ogle, one is the Chief Pilot for the Guyana Defence Force, another is crewing one of the GDF helicopters.
Another graduate has actually purchased his own aircraft and is now operating privately. Other youngsters from Guyana’s hinterland are now providing critical air service to their remote communities.
One of the young Guyanese airmen is Jason Waddell, originally of Kamarang, Region Seven. He is currently pursuing his Commercial Pilot Licence and is said to be the “shining star” of ASLFTS.
Growing up, Waddell noted that air transport was the only means in and out of Kamarang and becoming a commercial pilot would have enabled him to be of service to his community as well as other hinterland communities that depend largely on air transport to move passengers and goods.
According to Waddell, he has completed the learning aspect of the Commercial Pilot’s Programme and now has to obtain flight hours to be certified as a commercial pilot. He has two more months until he completes the programme.
Until then, a practical check ride will be conducted, and once he passes that test, Waddell will be licensed to get a job locally or in the Caribbean. In future, Waddell aspires to take a higher level in his career by acquiring the Airline Transport Pilot’s Licence.
Like Waddell, other youngsters from hinterland communities are joining ASLFTS to be part of the local aviation industry.
According to Air Services Limited (ASL)’s Accountable Manager, Annette Arjoon-Martins, the training school’s mandate is to produce professionally-trained pilots locally, and is particularly opening its doors to hinterland students.
She said that residents in the hinterland are long-standing customers of ASL and the company takes pride in contributing to human resource development of those residents. This was the genesis for the Hinterland Internship Programme which provides the youngsters with working experience to enable them to start their careers.
At present 15 former hinterland students are fully employed by Air Services Limited.
Arjoon-Martins stressed that students from the hinterland are passionate about flying because they know the importance of air transport in the remotest areas of Guyana. She said that one of ASL’s Senior Command Pilots is Captain Ronnie Totaram from Mabaruma, Region One, who had graduated in 2006 from ASLFTS.
Captain Hilmer Stoll from Mathews Ridge, Region One, is also a pilot at ASL. He graduated from the flight school in 2011 and is currently a line pilot with the company, serving his region and many other regions each day.
ASLFTS professional programmes are customized to suit your needs without compromising quality or your goals.
The school includes a state-of-the-art classroom, a flight simulator and a training fleet of three Cessna 172s. The parent company, ASL, operates a fleet of 18 aircraft of six different types. The school offers a complete programme of aviation ground school and flight training to meet the requirements of GCAA for the Private Pilot’s Licence, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot’s Licence.
Now pursuing his Private Pilot’s Licence is Anthony Pires. His Private Pilot Programme requires him to complete 120 hours of theoretical learning, 30 hours of dual flight and 10 hours of solo flight. Pires recently concluded one of the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority’s examinations and is slated for a practical examination soon.
In addition, ASLFTS is staffed by three highly qualified flight instructors who have acquired many hours of instruction time.