Melburnian1
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2013
- Posts
- 25,345
Mackay is to be the second flight training school for QF in Oz after Toowoomba was earlier announced.
This is a slap in the face particularly for Victoria's Bendigo that has been trying to promote itself as some new found centre for the aviation sector.
It's surprising that a city like Dubbo, Wagga Wagga or Tamworth wasn't chosen. Surely the first two, especially Dubbo, have more stable weather patterns (apart from fog) although perhaps QF wants to expose students to climate variability (including heavy rain?) Tamworth already has expertise in flight training - was it not selected because of skies full of other students?
Wagga Wagga as the home of East West Airlines and subsequent iterations has a proud aviation (and transport generally) history and like the other NSW cities is within easy reach of Sydney, and in its case Melbourne as well by rail, road or air.
Whatever, Mackay has a very able Federal MP in Mr George Christensen (Liberal Nationals) who has been a leading voice to get the much needed for jobs and export income Adani coal mine proceeding. It will power what will soon be the most populous nation in the world, India. He had either the largest or one of the largest swings to any MP in the May 2019 Australian Federal election despite attempts by the southern media (in Melbourne) to paint him as some sort of absentee Federal MP. People in his electorate know he works hard. Their view is what matters.
Mackay's attractions include being close to the Great Barrier Reef but it's remote from Australia's largest capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. Flight training school may be so intensive that this doesn't matter.
While the returns to my mind are high, it's very expensive to become a fully fledged mainline pilot these days.
However alternative routes such as joining the RAAF are not dead, are they?
I hope candidates are selected on merit - aptitude for the job - and not political correctness in that QF "must have" so many persons who fit various categories.
What is the annual flight crew turnover for QF, VA, JQ and TT in Australia? Very low: under three per cent? It's far higher for ZL as it went ahead and established its own training school due to poaching of staff by other airlines.
This is a slap in the face particularly for Victoria's Bendigo that has been trying to promote itself as some new found centre for the aviation sector.
It's surprising that a city like Dubbo, Wagga Wagga or Tamworth wasn't chosen. Surely the first two, especially Dubbo, have more stable weather patterns (apart from fog) although perhaps QF wants to expose students to climate variability (including heavy rain?) Tamworth already has expertise in flight training - was it not selected because of skies full of other students?
Wagga Wagga as the home of East West Airlines and subsequent iterations has a proud aviation (and transport generally) history and like the other NSW cities is within easy reach of Sydney, and in its case Melbourne as well by rail, road or air.
Whatever, Mackay has a very able Federal MP in Mr George Christensen (Liberal Nationals) who has been a leading voice to get the much needed for jobs and export income Adani coal mine proceeding. It will power what will soon be the most populous nation in the world, India. He had either the largest or one of the largest swings to any MP in the May 2019 Australian Federal election despite attempts by the southern media (in Melbourne) to paint him as some sort of absentee Federal MP. People in his electorate know he works hard. Their view is what matters.
Mackay's attractions include being close to the Great Barrier Reef but it's remote from Australia's largest capitals of Sydney and Melbourne. Flight training school may be so intensive that this doesn't matter.
While the returns to my mind are high, it's very expensive to become a fully fledged mainline pilot these days.
However alternative routes such as joining the RAAF are not dead, are they?
I hope candidates are selected on merit - aptitude for the job - and not political correctness in that QF "must have" so many persons who fit various categories.
What is the annual flight crew turnover for QF, VA, JQ and TT in Australia? Very low: under three per cent? It's far higher for ZL as it went ahead and established its own training school due to poaching of staff by other airlines.
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No matter which cities they choose in the end, there will always be a number of others who will feel aggrieved having missed out.
