Starlite Aviation Training Academy bade farewell to the final group of Transnet pilots and aircraft maintenance mechanics and engineers who completed their pilot and aircraft maintenance training.
The gala event, to honor the graduates held on March 16, at Starlite’s Virginia base was attended by a host of dignitaries: eThekwini Deputy Mayor; Councilor Fawzia Peer and Head of International and Governance Relations, Eric Apelgren; Durban North Ward Councilor, Shaun Ryley; Umhlanga Councilor, Heinz de Boer; Transnet’s Acting Chief Harbour Master, Captain Naresh Sewnath; and Marine Aviation Manager, Agrippa Mpofu.
In the opening address, Peer addressed the graduates stating that she was honored to celebrate their “success and triumph.” She emphasized that the training the graduates undertook could not have been easy, especially in light of the fact that, “Starlite training meets the highest global expectations and standards in the aviation industry, both in the commercial services they offer and the training they provide.”
She encouraged them to continue in the same spirit that they have shown, the sacrifices they have made and the sleepless nights endured to ensure their ticket to their next destination.
In her speech, she highlighted the importance of Durban being an Aerotropolis, a purpose-built airport city strategically positioned between major seaports with existing road and rail infrastructure and that the city is on the cusp of becoming South Africa’s new gateway to Southern Africa. She stated that the Durban Aerotropolis, with King Shaka at its nucleus, will be launched this year with Dube TradePort as the implementing agent and went on to say that eThekwini believes that this will be the catalyst for social, spatial and economic transformation in the region and in turn will hold great prospects for those entering the field of Aviation.
She concluded her speech by encouraging the students to take with them the personal competencies that they had gained from their training at Starlite – the passion, commitment, tenacity and open minds, and to nurture these as they will become even more important than what they had learned, as they compete for the best jobs that will be on offer.
Transnet’s 6-year association with Starlite
The brainchild of Transnet Marine Aviation Manager, Mpofu and the Harbour Master, to find suitable candidates to conduct helicopter training for civilians from ab Initio to Twin Turbines began some six years ago.
The then Starlite director of training Kate Odendaal, now Starlite’s global training director, was approached by Mpofu with his ambitious vision. Together, they designed a customized Helicopter Pilot and Aircraft Maintenance Engineer training plan. Satisfied that Starlite could fulfill his pioneering program, we were awarded the contract.
An extensive and intensive program was devised, to ensure future in-house continuity of these key personnel for Transnet National Port Authority (TNNA).
After a rigorous selection process, where 6,000 students who displayed an aptitude in mathematics and science applied for the opportunity of a life-time, to become a pilot, 17 candidates were identified as being suitable — many of whom came from disadvantaged backgrounds, some having grown up in townships, with no aviation experience nor had some ever seen a helicopter.
In December 2012, training at Starlite commenced. Fourteen months later in February 2014, 17 helicopter pilot candidates graduated, each having achieved 240 hours of flight time, CPL(H), Night Rating, IF Rating, single turbine rating and twin turbine rating.
Many of these pilots have already achieved day-command and some even progressed to night co-pilots on the TNPA Marine Pilot Service. Eighteen months later the first three maintenance technicians graduated. It takes three years to graduate. They have been working for TNPA since 2015 and are all in the final stages of their next level of qualification, as rated Maintenance Engineers on A109 type.
In 2015, the training program gained momentum and an even more ambitious set of courses were designed. A further four maintenance technicians, two avionicians, and eight new helicopter student pilots were selected to train with Starlite. Six of the previous graduates were also given an additional opportunity to continue with advanced training. Of the 15 pilots, three graduated in 2016 as Helicopter Instructors and four completed additional advanced training. The remaining eight commercial helicopter pilots are current graduates.
Why Starlite – the TNPA’s training academy of choice?
Starlite Aviation Group, is a global, multifaceted aviation company that delivers training, helicopter sales, maintenance, and mission ready aircraft and pilots to local and international clients.
Starlite had its humble beginnings in 1999 as a training school which was founded by its CEO, Slade Thomas.
The Starlite training school, in existence for the past 19 years, operating out of Virginia Airport, Durban and Mossel Bay, South Africa, boasts many success stories that can be attributed to the vision of its management team, its custom-designed flexible helicopter and fixed-wing pilot training programs, its highly skilled instructors, superior training fleet of aircraft and state-of-the-art facilities that support both contract and civilian pilots. Starlite has a designed an academy in Mossel Bay to support contract training.
“To date, we have trained over 3,500 helicopter and fixed-wing pilots, totaling more than 110,000 hours of instruction,” stated Odendaal in her speech, where she went on to list that Starlite’s proven track record of clients includes UAE Special forces, Botswana Police Air Wing, Namibian Police Air Wing, Swaziland Air Force, Malawi MDF, Kenyan Army, Air Force and Police Air Wing.
More than 50 percent of the Kenya Army pilots are Starlite graduates. Locally, the company has trained the South African Police, South Africa Air Force and many self-funding civilian students.
She concluded by congratulating the TNPA’s ambitious vision to take complete ownership of training and employing its own helicopter pilots and maintenance engineers, to support the role of flying marine pilots to the vessels in the ports of Durban and Richards Bay where a total of 25 pilots and nine aircraft maintenance technicians from Transnet will have graduated from Starlite. Her final thanks went to Starlite chairman, Peter Todd; vice chairman, Karl Kebert; CEO Thomas; COO, Alan O’Neill; CFO, Gareth Schnehage; and directors of SA Operations, Barry Duff and Fiona McCarthy.
Odendaal concluded by saying that, “This contract completed with 9244 hours being flown. To achieve this, we required an exceptional maintenance team, to keep all the helicopters serviceable, safe and in the air. I congratulate our director of maintenance, Rodney Meier and his team for their outstanding service. Not only did they keep us flying but trained all the apprentice engineers, prepared them for their Trade Tests and oversaw a total of 23,400 hours of on the job training, at Starlite’s maintenance facilities.
Another interesting statistic that was quoted by Odendaal, “There are only 550 commercially qualified helicopter pilots on the SACAA registry. TNPA has made a significant contribution increasing the number of pilots by 4.7 percent.”
