Good morning.
We would like to thank the committee for including the Northern Air Transport Association on this important study of flight training resources in Canada.
NATA was formed over forty years ago to support the economic development of northern and remote Canada. Northern operators have always faced unique challenges that are very different than what is experienced in southern Canadian aviation. The attraction, recruitment and retention of adequate flight crew including maintenance personnel has been an ongoing challenge.
The traditional northern aviation labour market model was southern trained Canadian pilots, would seek aviation jobs in Canada’s north. Often this was seasonal employment requiring aviation workers to return or be replaced. There was an annual flight crew and maintenance personnel production level that usually provided a surplus of labour that developed a worker over a 2-5 years of work experience to become industry competent. There was a challenge to retain those now skilled workers. This challenge is increasing for reasons that are well known.
Northern and remote operators predominately use turbine engine equipped aircraft, often operating into short, unpaved airstrips. There are also operators offering air service with what would be considered traditional float or ski equipped aircraft. Examples of specialized operations including medivac, fire fighting, air survey. To fly these missions, pilots need to be highly skilled, with specific mission competencies. Few flight schools in Canada provide this type of preparatory training for northern operational realities.
NATA operator members are reporting it is taking longer to provide the training necessary for entry level new hire pilots to meet the proficiency requirements for pilots to be legal flight crew in accordance with the Canadian Aviation Regulations. Operators are raising concerns regarding the lack of basic knowledge and skills of new hires that should have been covered in commercial pilot flight training.
The new reality is flight instructors and pilot examiners have reduced operational and instructional experience and NATA wants to work with the regulator to find solutions. For instance, the current regulations concerning flight training are too restrictive. There are more than enough flight training units in Canada, but there is a lack of instructors with the applicable experience because it is difficult for current, or retired pilots to become involved in a flight training program.
It is important to note that while there is a national commercial pilot licensing standard, there is no national commercial pilot training standard. This allows for flexibility in training delivery to the licensing standard. NATA believes there should be sector specific standards and any occupational standards that help improve the aviation worker competencies should be made available to the entire industry and should be supported by the regulator. There should be incentive funding for companies to support industry use of occupational standards to develop competency-based training.
Most training in Canada is focused on producing pilots for southern flying jobs. There are very successful programs in Southern Canada that are streaming pilot graduates into direct entry pilot positions. Due to the changing operational environment, and specialized skill sets this does not work for northern and remote operators.
To insure a competent workforce, many air operators-members are developing partnerships with flight training providers as well as sponsoring selected personnel for career development. For instance, in Whitehorse, a NATA air operator member also offers a full-service flight training with an aviation college diploma program. Having students train in proximity of real air operations needs better recognition of crediting aviation experience. This includes partnership with northern operators offering mentoring and workplace training support for northern based students and workers.
On October 2, 2018 at the Transport Canada Civil Aviation Labour Shortages Forum, the Minister of Transport addressed the challenge of attracting the next generation of aviation workers, especially non-traditional workforce groups such as females, indigenous and other under represented visible minorities. While the forum focused primarily on southern Canada flight crew shortages and solutions, it is important to emphasize; Northern and remote aviation stakeholders are experiencing a shortage of personnel for all aviation related occupations. However, there are various barriers that need to be considered to develop a program that would be successful in attracting, training and retaining northern youth for aviation related occupations.
Any skill development program needs to be sensitive to geographical and cultural realities. It is problematic for students to have to leave their home and community to go to a school far away for a long period of time. There is an opportunity for more Industry sponsored federally funded On the Job mentoring and training, customized for specific cultural needs and company specific skill development requirements.
The overriding concern is the access to vocational tuition funding.
The federal government should change tuition tax deductibility rules to be more inclusive of aviation flying, technical skills upgrade training and work experience. Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) tax deduction status should be revised to offer more incentive to the contributor.
There needs to be funding programs to encourage employers to establish in company mentoring program and sponsor local public-school aviation career awareness initiatives. There are so many excellent programs that have been developed with federal funding but are under utilized.
Attached to this Written Brief, is NATA Resolution 2018-5- outlining the need for a northern and remote focused aviation labour skills committee, as well, included is a summary and reference document to three territorial labour market analysis supporting the comments made in this submission. The limited labour needs information for flight crew identifies the need for more northern and remote aviation sector specific demographic analysis. In conclusion, NATA’s 43rd northern and remote aviation conference is taking place April 28-May 1, 2019 in Yellowknife.
On behalf of the Northern Air Transport Association I would like to invite the committee to attend our conference to continue this important discussion on aviation labour-skills development.
Thank you.