Dubai 2007: DAE Academy set wins approval for ATPL course

The first students at the Dubai Aerospace Enterprise Flight Academy will take to the air in March, it was announced at the show yesterday after the announcement that the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) approved the DAE Flight Academy’s integrated ATPL curriculum. The academy’s first two Cirrus SR22 G3 training aircraft are on the static park at the show.

George Ebbs, president and chief executive of DAE University said: “The GCAA approval is an important milestone in our aviation education strategy. In approving our curriculum the UAE GCAA has set a very high standard for the academy but one which we can meet.

“With our unique bank of instructional and training methodologies we aim to establish the academy as a key centre for professional aviation pilot training, regionally and globally.”

Comfortably housed in 48,000ft2 of hangar and classroom space, the DAE Flight Academy’s advanced training syllabus – used by a highly successful programme in the US for three years – will ride on state-of-the-art infrastructural support to deliver qualified professionals directly into command positions.

The DAE Flight Academy’s innovative approach to flight training will build in key instructional components: optimising learning by focusing on realistic flight scenarios using high fidelity aircraft simulators; progressive airline philosophy that pilots are members of a cockpit crew, not solo pilots; and the use of multi-engine jet aircraft as a core component.

The DAE Flight Academy will use advanced technical single engine aircraft which feature the same all-glass cockpits that are standard in large, modern commercial airliners, and will be powered by diesel engines when certification is completed within the first half of 2008. The planned multi-engine aircraft is a very light jet (VLJ) and will be the only turbine-powered training aircraft used as a basic trainer outside the defence environment.

The Academy plans a fleet of more than 50 aircraft within three years. “Our graduates make safer and more effective airline pilots because significant time is spent helping cadets improve critical thinking and judgment skills through the use of scenario-based training,” says William Roe, director of the DAE Flight Academy. “At the Academy, cadets spend a notable part of their training in simulators, thereby learning like airline pilots.

Superior airmanship, judgment, aeronautical decision making, and threat and error management are key qualities that the DAE Flight Academy’s curriculum promises to deliver, says Roe. The curriculum has been adapted to also meet European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) training requirements for an approved flight training school.

Source: Flight Daily News