Working Week - Aviation safety training at the JAA

What is your background and how did you become involved in aviation?

While doing my national service, the Dutch aviation industry was booming and companies were so desperate for staff that they were recruiting directly from the barracks. I applied and after my 18-month service and I joined Fokker Aircraft as part of the logistics team. In the evening I studied for a Business Economics degree at the University of Amsterdam.

And how did your work experience progress?

I was at Fokker for 11 years and after working in logistics I moved into aftersales for the African and Latin American markets. When I knew that Fokker wasn't going to survive I started looking for alternatives and was invited to join an MRO company in southern Holland in a sales role. I was selling maintenance contracts and services. After a few months I was headhunted to help set up a new regional airline flying Fokker 50s. I was there for two years and had a very broad range of responsibilities, I did everything but fly the aircraft and serve the drinks!

I then moved on and assisted Rekkof as a project manager for a few months, after which I spent the next four years working for KLM and was tasked with setting up their call centre in Amsterdam. In 2003 I joined the Joint Aviation Authorities.

What did you do at the JAA?

I started as director of resources and development and was responsible for everything but the contents of JAA's rules and regulations. At the time JAA's training activities were still subcontracted. In 2005 JAA took the training back in-house and I concentrated on promoting those activities.

How has that worked out?

Very well. We are seeing good growth, and because we're part of the JAA and are a foundation, any profit that we make is invested straight back in - be it new courses, facilities, or support programmes. In 2006 we did six times as much training as we did in 2005. In 2007 we were supposed to have three staff members, but this grew to 10. In 2005 we had one classroom, we've now got 13. All of our training is regulatory related and this means our target audience is split between regulators and users.

We opened a location in Vienna last year because of the demand from eastern Europe, and we are now considering Amman in Jordan because of the demand in the Middle East. Certainly over the next year we're looking at one or two, maybe even three more locations worldwide.

What happens in a typical day?

Because of the rapid growth of our training organisation I have not yet had any "typical" days, which is part of the fun really. I'm looking to bring in more specialisation and set the goals for our team, while at the same time making sure they've got what they need to reach those goals. We aim to be the number one aviation safety training organisation for regulatory matters.

What do you enjoy about the job?

Like I said, no days are ever the same and I am working in a dynamic, challenging atmosphere. The international aspect is very nice, and I am able to work with a group of young and very enthusiastic people.

Source: Flight International