Rod Bruce is a senior ground instructor at the Beijing PanAm International Aviation Academy. The school is the first business-oriented professional pilot training academy in China, approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. With nearly 40 years of aviation experience, Bruce thrives on working with the industry's newest talent.
Tell me about how you got started in aviation?
I started at the bottom, as ground crew for crop dusters, and worked my way up from there! I became a pilot and worked for internal Australian airlines, as a captain on Cessnas, Britten-Norman Trislanders and Fairchild Metros and first officer on Douglas DC-3s and Fokker Friendships, before moving on to instructing. The collapse of Ansett, Australia's second-largest airline, the same week as the events of 11 September occurred, had a profound effect on the industry and after working through the aftermath of that for a few years, I came to China three years ago for a working holiday and have been here ever since.
What kind of work do you do at the Beijing Academy?
We have a fleet which includes 40 Garmin G1000-equipped Diamond DA40s and DA42s, as well as Beechcraft King Airs and Cessna CJ1s. The training bases are well equipped, with excellent ground manoeuvring, flight instructing, ground instructing and aircraft maintenance areas. Currently 400 students are training here. We have training agreements in place with 12 Chinese airlines. Also, last year I worked at Civil Aviation University of China with Air China students.
Where do the students end up once they have completed their training?
Many of them go to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Spain and the USA. China puts through thousands upon thousands of commercial pilots a year and in a training capacity, it is a real challenge to keep up as there is a real shortage of instructors. I am one of many foreign instructors employed here at the academy and it is an ongoing challenge for this academy and others to face.
What are your future plans?
I am currently seeking expressions of interest from airline partners for opening a new private airport and flying academy on a large 800Ha (1,975 acres) parcel of land owned by my family in the Gladstone area of Queensland. It provides an opportunity to conduct all training, from ab initio training on light aircraft to advanced training on light jet aircraft, plus there is a good supply of young instructors and semi-retired or retired airline pilots. I would like the academy to be used by a major airline and with training very much an expanding sector, I see it as a project with benefits for everyone. The future provision of flight training is under threat because a lot of existing flight schools are being forced out of airports due to high fees and growing traffic volumes, so more academies like the one I am proposing can alleviate that threat.
Many foreign airlines such as Singapore, Cathay and China Southern and even armed forces train pilots in Australia. Why is it such a popular destination?
It has good weather conditions and visibility, but crucially, lots of unrestricted airspace, which is something many other countries can't match.
Source: Flight International
