Confederation College - Flying straight into jobs

By IAN ROSS

Like mining and forestry, aviation is a cyclical industry.

With national airlines like Westjet and Porter Airlines generating excitement and several regional carriers expanding their fleet, job opportunities for Confederation College aviation grads have never been better.

"It's probably the biggest boom we've seen in memory," says Scott Hobbs, the Thunder Bay aviation school's director of marketing.

The industry is desperate for pilots and mechanics. It's putting the pressure on all faculty and administration at Confederation's flight, aircraft maintenance and aerospace manufacturing programs.

The global aviation industry has strongly rebounded since 2001 and the school is hitting a workforce crunch where there's not enough graduates in all three programs to fill the Canadian and international demand.

As well, an aging workforce and the retirement of flight staff and maintenance people means there's a looming shortage of between 2000 and 4,000 in Canada in 10 years. That's too much for Canadian schools to meet the challenge.

"We can't get smaller that's for sure," says Hobbs.

In years past, flight program students would start out working dock jobs at remote bush camps, earning $8 to $10 an hour.

Not anymore. Today, they're flying in the Arctic starting at $18 to $20 an hour. "They're going straight to flying jobs and that was traditionally not the way things went," says Hobbs.

Confederation is investigating physically expanding beyond its 300-student capacity and look at ways of attracting international students.

"We've talked about hangar and classroom expansion because the cry-out for students is getting so bad we have no choice but jump on board," says Hobbs.

The aviation programs have been in the spotlight in recent years with the development of the $10 million Aviation Centre of Excellence (ACE), a state of the art facility located at Thunder Bay International Airport.

The 59,000-square-foot building brought all of Confederation's aviation programs under one roof. The training facility focuses on a multitude of technological applications in software and control engineering, mathematics and computer sciences.

The two-year aircraft maintenance program handles between 30-45 students with aerospace manufacturing usually seating about 30.

The flight program has expanded from 40 to 45 students to more than 60 at times beginning with the move into the ACE facility.

"It's been oversubscribed since Day One," says Hobbs "There's been times when we've had upwards of 500 to 600 applicants for that program for 60 seats. There's a waiting list a mile long for that program."

Says the school of aviation's interim director Brian Ktytor, "All (three programs grads) can pretty well writetheir own ticket for any job they want.

"Airlines are recruiting right out of the school. Flight management grads are getting multiple offers and we're getting contacts from companies constantly looking for grads in all three disciplines.

"Manufacturing grads are going to Boeing, Bristol Aerospace, the list goes on and on. They're all in super high demand."

With 15 Cessna aircraft in the college's fleet, Confederation flight students are airborne within the first two weeks.

"Our goal, after your first four months of school is you're up doing a solo flight," says Hobbs.

The school boasts some of the most advanced flight training simulators and devices providing pilots with a high degree of realism to simulate weather, wind, turbulence and mechanical failures.