GENERAL AVIATION Skills and training

Tomorrow’s people today

With the advent of AI technology and pilotless aircraft, what new skills and training will be needed by the aerospace employees of the future? PAUL EDEN reports on the British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) annual conference.

SAC

Tomorrow’s People Today, a lofty and important theme for the speakers at the 2019 British Business and General Aviation Association (BBGA) annual conference on 7 March 2019, held in a leafy location no more than 3km, as the bizjet flies, from London Luton Airport.

The morning session began with a dynamic presentation from Geoff Mulgan, CEO of innovation charity NESTA, answering his own question: ‘What will the Modern World of Work Look Like?’ He envisaged a new type of candidate applying for roles requiring if not new skills, then a mix of qualities ‘Today’s People’ may not be expecting.

More pilots are needed to fly tomorrow’s aircraft.

In a surprising point, Mulgan considered drones. Whether set to bring about an urban mobility revolution or simply become more useful in jobs they can do better or more cheaply than existing aerial platforms, drones embody the move towards automation and autonomy that many expect the industry to follow to the exclusion of human crew from pretty much all aircraft cockpits.

Drawing on lessons learned from other sectors, Mulgan explained that increasing automation typically leads to more human employment, albeit in new roles. “It’s a paradox that the more you have highly sophisticated, AI-driven industries, especially where there’s risk, the more supervisory human jobs are generated. The obvious linear forecast of what automation will do for employment shouldn’t always be believed.”

He also identified particular elements that automation does not do well, suggesting that delivering these will become a prime focus for new job creation. “It’s not good at the creative elements of jobs, or the human, service element, essentially dealing with other people. It also falls down on dexterity – there is still no robot that can tie a shoelace and probably won’t be for another ten years.”

Need for new skills?

Boeing-owned Aurora Flight Sciences Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) first flight. Who will fly such urban mobility vehicles in the future – human pilots or AI systems? Aurora Flight Sciences

Looking proactively forward to that modern world, Stansted Airport College, part of Harlow College, opened to students only in September 2018. Karen Spencer, Chief Executive and Principal at Harlow College admitted nonetheless, that education is restricted by the need to work within an established system, suggesting that the UK’s secondary school system – for children between the ages of 11 and 16 – has regressed in recent years, emphasising and testing the acquisition of knowledge through linear learning. The young people emerging as a result, generally lack the creative and interpersonal skills identified by Mulgan as essential for the next generation of work.

Also Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for STEM Jobs and Skills, Spencer cautioned that in the ‘education world’ aviation is hidden as a discipline. “It cuts across so many sectors that the Department of Education and curriculum specialists can’t place it in a neat package or provide a pathway to it. There’s work to be done on how aviation becomes visible to educationalist.”

At the same time, she sees a lack of engineering, design, creative thinking and digital skills in the young workforce, with no clear educational routes available to young people who might otherwise acquire them. “And with no clear pathway into aviation, these people are less likely to take that first step. The very high cost of training for the industry is another issue. While the education system is still coping with the follow-on from austerity, investment in resources to support higher-cost industries is a real challenge. We’ve needed to invest £25 million in STEM industries at Harlow and Stansted, funding that wasn’t easily available. We need a clear investment strategy for the industry.”

Airport College

Flying Time Academy

Head of Stansted Airport College, Wendy Martin continued with an enthusiastic description of the college and the enthusiastic young professionals it aims to produce. Educational establishments linking learning so directly to aviation are rare, certainly in the UK. Martin explained: “A key opportunity was recognised about five years ago. London Stansted was the largest single-site employer in the East of England and at any time has between 300 and 400 vacancies. We saw the possibility to address skills and needs within the aviation environment. 

“We’ve currently got 300 trainees, with capacity for 500, and 450 applications for the next academic year. We offer pre-apprenticeship courses, work-transition programmes supporting individuals who’ve completed their ‘A’ Levels and are looking to enter the industry, plus our regular apprenticeship and full-time programmes, all supported by the airport and wider industry.”

Her audience convinced, Martin joined a panel discussion, asking: ‘Are we providing the necessary environment to inspire a new generation?’ Spencer chaired the panel with vigour, but all eyes and ears were turned towards Molly Clarke and Rares Turcu, two of Martin’s students, who stood boldly before an audience of which they aspired to become a part and spoke with conviction and enthusiasm about the industry they intend to join.

CAA​

Pilot and instructor shortage

WHILE THE EDUCATION SYSTEM IS STILL COPING WITH THE FOLLOW-ON FROM AUSTERITY, INVESTMENT IN RESOURCES TO SUPPORT HIGHER-COST INDUSTRIES IS A REAL CHALLENGE

Karen Spencer
CE and Principal Harlow College

The Tomorrow’s People theme continued with Andy O’Shea, Head of Training and Recruitment at Ryanair, addressing the difficult joint issues of instructor and pilot shortages. Then, as if the audience really needed convincing, the Right Honourable Grant Shapps MP took the stage, performing enthusiastically on the theme ‘Why Business Aviation is Essential to UK Success’. Chair of the APPG for General Aviation, Shapps spoke explained: “With 216 MPs and Lords, we’re the biggest of any of the 659 APPGs in parliament. We think aviation hasn’t had the parliamentary representation it should have had over the years. Our objective, in fact the government’s objective, is to make the UK the best country in the world for general aviation. We spend our time reminding the government just how far we have to go to achieve that.” Following Shapps, the UK Access and Slots panel discussion delivered a change of pace and serious examination of the challenges facing general aviation operators attempting to access UK airports.

The B-word hits the G-reg

Brexit inevitably reared its befuddled head, a panel moderated by Aoife O’Sullivan, Partner at The Air Law Firm, concluding that the uncertainty of Brexit has driven new business aircraft registrations away from the UK. No applications for G-registrations for such aircraft have been made for at least 18 months, to the benefit of other registers, including Ireland’s. Meanwhile, fellow conference speaker Adrian Whitmarsh, Managing Director of musictour charter specialist Premier Aviation, revealed the company hadn’t placed any recent tours with UK companies for that same reason; uncertainty.

The BBGA conference once again demonstrated that Britain enjoys a capable, safe, well-regulated general aviation industry. But it must be ready to adapt quickly to whatever emerges for it from the Brexit negotiations. At the same time, it is recognising the requirements of the future workplace, one in which it must continue to invest to ensure the people and skills it needs for its long-term future become available. 

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