Dragonair delivers new generation of pilots

Dragonair is shaking up old training methods and bringing in fresh concepts for safer flying as it hailed the first pilots to graduate from its new testing regime.

The 12 pilots were the first in Hong Kong to be issued multi-crew pilot's licences (MPL), paving the way for an overhaul of well-worn training practices.

The MPL programme requires its trainees to fly in a co-pilot role right from the start, involving them in the decision-making processes of a fully qualified commercial pilot.

It differs from conventional training methods in which trainees start out flying small planes to accumulate hours before graduating to operate larger, and eventually, commercial aircraft.

In contrast to trainee pilots under existing methods, new MPL cadets also spend more time flying in a simulator than in the air during the early stages of training.

Peter Sanderson, Dragonair's general manager of operations, explained that the airline wanted to bring in new, internationally recognised training methods. Existing ones had not changed for at least 60 years, he said.

Sanderson cited the level of accidents under conventional training methods as a motivating factor to try something different.

"A pilot having thousands of hours doesn't mean he is necessarily more competent than one with 100 hours," he said.

But the regional airline held back a full roll-out of the MPL programme, which its flight training manager Andy Jepps said was "still under review".

As an Asia-focused carrier with shorter flights as compared with those of sister airline Cathay Pacific, Dragonair needs only two pilots in the cockpit. Cathay flies worldwide with up to five cockpit crew members.

Typically, new graduates from Cathay's pilot training programme spend up to three years in a cockpit's jump seat - where they are not involved in operating the aircraft - before they take a frontline flying role.

Under Dragonair's MPL programme, new recruits get to fly in a co-pilot role much sooner. The airline said the new programme was perfectly suited to the company's aim of recruiting from "street to cockpit".

Dragonair is one of a number of airlines, including Air China and Germany's Lufthansa, which are adopting new methods to train their pilots.

Civil Aviation Department director general Norman Lo Shung-men said the MPL scheme marked a milestone, representing a big step forward in the training of airline pilots.

"I am confident this will be the trend for airline pilot training in the future," he said.