Why Aerotrainingx

So, we are just past the 12-month anniversary of Aerotrainingx, and it’s been amazing the support I have got, I’ve learnt a lot, but more importantly, I think we have set the base to now go and really achieve the goals we set out a year ago.

I spoke at the time why I left my previous employment, it was a strange occurrence for me, In the past, I’ve been made redundant twice, I left Flight Centre because I just wasn’t good at the job.  I left Cobham the first time because I was bored (and actually without doing that back in the end of 2013, none of this happens) and I got head hunted once.

I left my last employment, because my principles didn’t line up with that of management, and that’s ok, we just had different visions on the direction of the department, I had a great team, I loved what I was doing, I felt like I was making an impact, but I felt the handcuffs getting tighter, and I was definitely losing control of my department, so the smart thing was to part ways.

I’ll be honest, I resigned, not knowing what the next gig was going to be, I was lucky and thank Liz (Mrs. M) so much for her support, that if needed I could have even taken a few months’ sabbatical.

In the days leading up to the resignation, I reached out to the contact list, to see what was available, if I became available, and to be fair, there were plenty of teaching roles on offer, all of them meant a relocation, and if I’m honest, I’m not a great classroom teacher, short courses no problem, but I’m not good weeks on end in the classroom.

The Tuesday before I resigned, I had a call with Lea Vesic from RMIT, and she asked me “what does your dream role look like? there is no point you coming on board if you’re not doing what you want” and I reeled of all sorts of things like training quality, trainer development……..

And on the Friday, I resigned,

And that weekend, the process started, still fresh with Lea’s words in my head, I wrote down what sort of role I was looking for, at the same time, looked at where the problems are in my industry (Aviation Maintenance Training)

Before I knew it, a business plan was starting to evolve, we did some research on possible customers, looking at the current providers and how we could differentiate, looked at what the revenue streams could be.

This actually isn’t my first rodeo being out on my own, When I was made redundant from TAFE, I did some contracting under “Members Technical Services” (sidenote: Members was a nickname given to me by my year 7 math teacher, and while he was the only one to ever use it, it always sat well with me) ok back to the story, My first contract gig was a big one, and I rested on my laurels, I was not good at the sales thing, thinking work would just come to me, - lesson learned, hard.

So, over the course of the weekend, through a few different name changes, (needed to be aviation, ideally MX for maintenance) Aerotrainingx for all intent and purpose was ‘born’

Probably should have spent more time on the name, having the x in there has wreaked havoc with the email, quite often my email will get sent to junk folders, the things you learn!

What are we actually about and who are we here for?

There are about 180 Part 145 Organisations in Australia, about 50 of them are foreign owned/run, United, Singapore Airlines, KLM……. Then there are about 20 who have that critical mass of engineers for their own training department, then there is everyone else, and that is without counting all the CAR 30 Maintenance organisations.

All of whom need training in some form or another.

I have been audited a lot by not only CASA, but ASQA, BARS, internal audits, you name it, I don’t mind it, because you get a fresh set of eyes looking at how you do things, and you can see where you can improve.  But I always struggled with the professional development piece.  Its not good enough to look at your best engineer, throw them on a Cert IV course (for the internationals, the Cert IV is the equivalent of a Train the Trainer) and then say here you’re a trainer.  I’ve been able to learn and develop over my 25-year training career, and I am much better at the craft now, than I was back then, but it has taken 25 years.

My point is, I know all the training organizations and trainers are struggling with the PD piece, and we are here to make that easier.  We are about to release a modularized “Train the Trainer” course.  Not that there is anything wrong with the Cert IV, but it is not required for most of CASA approved training, it’s certainly not required internationally, and its overkill for most of the training we deliver. We can do it better.

Being modularized, we can deliver specific sections, so if you want to work on Presentation, we can run a session on that, a session on training needs analysis, assessments and rules of evidence…. Or a full Train the Trainer course.

We believe (and this is backed by evidence) that great training has a positive effect on all areas of aircraft maintenance, so to ensure that happens, let’s make (and support) great trainers.

Of course we are supporting 145s with their training needs, we work with a number of 145s cleaning up and generally making their training more efficient.  All those 145s that don’t have the critical mass for their own training department, they still need HF, SMS, Certification,….. training, we are here for them.

And it has become somewhat of our mantra, making great training accessible for all.

Which brings us to the 147

We didn’t set out to become a 147, The initial thinking was it would be a compliance issue, 147s need to have very good access to technical data like aircraft maintenance manuals, and we were never going to get that. Problems with finding trainers, training rooms and aircraft were all issues we didn’t need during our startup.  We thought possibly of setting one up for OJT training, where the compliance is a bit simpler.

I know from personal experience (and the fact that I had so many offers to go back to teaching) that it’s hard to get a type (attendance) course approved, when there are commercial pressures at play, not everyone has 10 engineers they can release for a course, if they can find a type course in the first place

As I said to a potential client this week, we have the expertise in running 147s, you have the expertise in maintaining your (insert aircraft name here)

I teed up and had a really good meeting with CASA about what I was thinking, and how I could comply with the regulation.  Absolutely at the core of this endeavour is quality training, this is not a tick and flick exercise.        

Here’s how it works,

We have now our Part 147 approval and are very good at developing training, we partner with maintenance organisations (to ensure we have access to the technical data) And from there we can develop the type training.

We as the 147 approve the trainer from the maintenance organisation, (and that can include Train the Trainer)

From there the maintenance organisation can run the training when they wish, and their cost is basically the trainer’s cost.  So, if you are struggling to fill a course, or if a course doesn’t exist for your aircraft type, that’s why we are here.

Our industry is facing a shortage of engineers, making it easy to upskill the current cohort is just one way to help resolve that.

Looking forward, I mentioned previously that we have signed an agreement with AVITMS for the hosting of our online learning center, and previously announced Olivia Mew joining the team.  She is smashing it, and so once the learning center is up and running, will are then going to make great online learning, available to all.

What we are doing is making great training, and that is phenomenally rewarding,

As I reflect on the year, I couldn’t have done it without Liz or Soph, the team Tony and Olivia, and the great support from our customers, partners and the broader community, so thank you, here is to another amazing year.