Dear Gilbert My heart sank last month when I learnt in the news of the missing Singaporean pilot, Mr Lua Boon Huan, in Indonesia. I am immensely sympathetic to his family and am very worried about him, because I was once, like him, a young, ambitious Singaporean willing to fight his way to a career in the air. I was one of the few Singaporeans to have gone all the way to becoming a pilot and I have also worked in Indonesia as a Flight Instructor and in many flight training organizations in both countries. In fact, I was the only Singaporean Flight Instructor who has worked in one of the major flying academies associated with an Indonesian airline. Im not sure whether there have been more Singaporean flight instructors in Indonesia by now. But during my stint in Indonesia, I underwent much grief because I am the last of the Singaporean flyers in Indonesia. To explain: Indonesia is one of the few countries to welcome foreign flight instructors, so I had no option other than to choose to work in Indonesia. I now hold prestigious overseas Commercial Pilot License with advanced ratings; but when I tried to convert to a Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) license, the biggest hurdle I faced was fulfilling the 700 flying hours pre-requisite time before my application can be considered convertible to a CAAS pilot license. I still do not understand what is so special about a 700 flying hour’s requirement for Singapore’s own citizens to convert to a CAAS license, since the CAAS has adopted this seemingly unnecessary requirement, which no other country in the world appears to expect. In fact, all other aviation authorities welcome to convert foreign Pilot’s licenses for their own citizens. It almost seems as if Singapore CAAS has deemed their own citizen pilots to be pests, since they have made it so hard for them to convert their licenses. As well as the 700 hour’s requirement, the CAAS also requires all licensing conversion applicants to have a sponsor, i.e. an air operator willing to employ the applicant before it is willing to accept the application. Ironically, though, an air operator requires an applicant to already have a CAAS license before he can be employed. For me, therefore, this is a Catch 22 situation, since how can I gain 700 hours flying experience without first having converted to a CAAS license? Furthermore, the Malaysian aviation authorities restrict the employment of foreign flight instructors, and, in the rest of the region, there appears to be no desire for recruiting them. Therefore, because of the abnormal 700 flying hour’s requirement, the only country in Southeast Asia in which I might build them up is in Indonesia. So, feeling helpless to change the situation, I was forced out of Singapore. This ruling must surely have caused many other Singaporean pilots to leave their home country. Regrettably, Mr Lua Boon Huan did exactly what I have had to do; he was forced to leave Singapore to get over the 700 flying hours obstacle, which is a lot for any pilot to clock, in order to fulfill the CAAS conversion requirement. I feel very sorry for him, especially since his family still does not know what happened to him, nor where he is. The truth is that, if he/she is unable to join a local airline, the one and only way for an ordinary Singaporean civilian pilot, is by way of employment as a flight instructor. Therefore, if he were to have been able to convert his license to a CAAS license and to join his local airline, he would not have needed to leave Singapore in the first place. Also, it should not be forgotten what unappealing working condition and pay-scale awaits a flight instructor in Indonesia. So, it must be remembered that Mr. Lua Boon Huan had to work in Indonesia as a Flight Instructor, not for the sake of the money, but because he had been forced to do so. By way of background: before Mr Lua joined it, the Lombok Institute of Flight Technology (LIFT) had to fight an on-going and complex law suit, so there was already unhappiness among its staff; a fact that he might have been unaware of before joining. Given Mr Lua’s age of 30, to be a Chief Flight Instructor is unbelievable, therefore, I believe the school had been using him as ‘cheap labour’. To explain; LIFT’s typical flight training route is approximately an hour’s ferry to Sumbawa, then he would have to complete the training within a strict time frame, and then ferry back to Lombok - the total flight time being 3.2 hours. On completion of the sortie there is never more than 1.5 to 1.8 hours of fuel left. And, since the working condition are poor, the pay is low and the amount of paper-work is huge. Furthermore, the weather from late October on at that route is often bad. Based on news reports, and on my own professional and personal experience, there are several possibilities why Mr Lua’s plane crashed, (i) poor aircraft maintenance, (ii) too little fuel on departure, or (iii) extreme weather conditions. Sadly, if Mr Lua had voiced his unhappiness about licensing conversion or flying difficulties in the popular aviator’s forum, I would have been able to help him by offering valuable advice. In summary; firstly, it must be concluded that CAAS is not helping its own citizens in terms of licensing conversions. Secondly, the numerous jobless Singaporeans with professional foreign pilot licenses are being seriously let down by their own aviation authority’s extraordinary requirement, and thirdly, and most importantly, Mr Lua Boon Huan would not have been compelled to work in unsafe conditions in Indonesia and get himself killed. In my view, CAAS is being unnecessarily cruel to its own people. For instance, has our Minister of Manpower, Tan Chuan-Jin, and our Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, spared a thought for those who are unable to convert to CAAS licenses? The answer appears to be a resounding ‘no’, because nothing is changing. Finally; Singapore must no longer depend on foreign pilots, especially when there are sufficient fully qualified Singaporean pilots in a position to replace them. Please bear in mind, then, that Singaporeans, who hold professional commercial pilot licenses, must be allowed to fly in their own country by joining their own airlines. I must assume that the Singaporean Government is not prepared to protect its locally born flyers’ job market. But, is our Government hearing us? The answer, once again, appears to be an emphatic ‘no’. Jolyon SXXXX821D transitioning.org/2014/11/30/insufficient-employment-protection-for-local-commercial-pilots/
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 02:55:51 +0000
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