Former Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) director-general Billy Chang (張國政) is trying to establish the nation’s first flight school to help upgrade the country’s aviation standards.
After his retirement a year ago, Chang, one of the few CAA directors-general who could fly an aircraft, established the non-profit Aviation Education Foundation as a first step toward setting up a flight school.
He plans to open a flight school in eastern Taiwan and lease a training base at Taitung Airport in Taitung City’s Fengnien Borough, he said.
Initially the school will collaborate with a US aviation school, he said. Instructors from the US will be hired to work in Taitung to help train people as flight trainers, he said.
Chang, who is working as a volunteer, said that because the nation had no flight schools, local airline companies must send their student pilots abroad for training.
He said officials had discussed the idea of setting up an aviation school in Taiwan before, but it never moved beyond the discussion stage because the Ministry of National Defense wanted to maintain tight control over airspace.
“But the Ministry of National Defense is now more relaxed on the air space control issue, which makes it possible to establish a civilian flight training program,” Chang said.
In addition, he said, steadily improving cross-strait relations and closer air links between Taiwan and China portend growing demand for civilian aircraft and pilots.
“This is spurring us to speed up plans for the establishment of the flight training school,” he said.
However, he said, the success of the project hinges on the support of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The flight school will also provide training for air traffic controllers, he said. Taiwan is one of the very few countries in the world where air traffic controllers are not required to receive flight training before assuming their duties in the tower, he said.
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