News
Commercial Pilot in Canada study

Sept. 3, 2009, Ottawa – The Canadian Aviation Maintenance Council (CAMC), in partnership with the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) and with funding provided by the Government of Canada, have been commissioned to research and develop a Human Resource Study of the Commercial Pilot in Canada. On August 25th, the members of the research team heading the project, held a focus group session at the Skyservice FBO in YYZ – one of a series of similar events being staged across the country this summer.

The focus group meetings are part of the Human Resource Study. Attending the event in YYZ were members of charter and regional airline industries, corporate charter operations and all levels of flight training from basic to recurrent. Over a four hour period, they provided unique and collective views and input to a variety of subjects related to their flight operation and the world surrounding flight crews. An opportunity to get together in such a manner and discuss like and unique needs and experience does not happen often enough. There was general agreement that such discussion needs to take place with more frequency and that the aviation industry can only move forward and build upon itself with a collective view and common development.

Input into the study is not limited to the focus group sessions. Those who wish to participate may also log on to an online version at the CAMC website and follow the prompts for the Commercial Pilot Survey. Those who do so will get a copy of the final report.

The research and focus group sessions will be concluded by early fall and a first release review copy of the report will be made available during the CAMC Annual General Meeting, to be held in Halifax, N.S. from October 22nd to 23rd, 2009 and the ATAC General Meeting, being held in Quebec City from November 15th to the 18th, 2009. The final report will be issued in May of 2010. 

Project Specifics
The information from this study will help air operators and flight training units when making decisions that can affect the future direction of the commercial pilot in Canada, as well as the entire aviation industry's ability to sustain itself and to remain competitive. As the sessions have been held across Canada, the research team have been inviting comment and input to get an understanding of a variety of issues current, medium and longer term including:

• Size and scope of Canada’s existing aviation industry in 2009;
• Overview of geographical locations, sizes and operational requirements of current operators;
• Overview of services provided, in particular human resource activities such as training, certification and standardization;
• Compilation of statistics on student pilot starts and current training levels;
• Analysis of pilot hiring trends and associated pay and benefits;
• Analysis of the international demand for pilots and expected training standards;
• Measurement of the effect of new regulations such as MPL and SMS;
• Analysis of current best practices for pilot screening and selection;
• Analysis of use of simulation and associated instructor competencies; and
• Development and retention issues for flight instructors and commercial pilots.

Thank you to Skyservice BAS YYZ for use of their facilities in support of this event.

For additional information on this program, please contact Glenn Priestley at gpriestley@camc.ca, by telephone at 1-800-448-9715 ext 258