Skyborne – UK/US Vision into Reality

It is a relief to see the green shoots of recovery in the aviation industry, notes CAT Europe Editor Chris Long. The return of most domestic traffic in China and the US leads that improvement, hopefully to be followed by other markets as the pandemic comes under regional and then global control.

Many never lost faith in the eventual bounce back, and some astute players in the aviation training market took the long-term view and realised that there would be a pilot shortage when things pick up again.

Two of those who shared that vision were Tom Misner, who is extremely successful in the world of sound engineering and who had built the resources to support a new ATO, Skyborne Airline Academy, and Lee Woodward, long-time champion of quality ab initio pilot training.

The start point for their plans was to examine what their primary customers looked for: student pilots want to be able to access really good training which leads to a job; airlines need to have new pilots who could successfully translate into competent pilots in commercial operations. Almost by definition this meant that merely satisfying the absolute basics of regulatory requirements for licence issue would not, by itself, match that goal. An ancillary consideration was the view that the training experience had to be an enjoyable one. A happy student has much more chance of success than one climbing the mountain to that commercial licence in a depressing learning environment.

The first move was to establish an ATO at Gloucestershire Airport, UK, where the theory and IR training could be carried out. Many legacy ATOs work with theory courses which had been gradually updated as regulations changed. Skyborne chose a different route, by developing an entire syllabus from a blank screen, helped in that task by another director of the company – Ian Cooper, who also has a powerful background in ab initio pilot training. The LMS chosen to support that instructional process is FlightLogger, a well-respected source.

The aim was always to provide the basic flying tasks in the USA, but whilst that was being negotiated the first cohort of students did their single-engine flying in Spain. Things moved rapidly in the quest for a Florida base, with discussions with the world-renowned FlightSafety International at Vero Beach. FlightSafety were planning to divest their ab initio flight training business unit, and so the smooth transition to Skyborne was able to go ahead.

The underlying approach was to create an environment in which the professionalism and quality expected of major airlines was reflected in all aspects. This included high-quality accommodation, recently opened in Cheltenham, UK, and facilities in Vero Beach refurbished to a similar standard, the latter including amenities such as outside pool and recreational areas.

In contrast to many other global pilot training establishments, all students, including those sourced from the US, have to complete a selection process, using the AON Pilot Assessment tool, augmented with group team skills assessments and airline-style interviews, prior to the start of training. Students can then have confidence that their resources of time/money/effort won’t be wasted, and such is Skyborne’s confidence in the system that they offer a money-back guarantee if the course is not completed successfully – Woodward indicates that this is another first for the US market.

Adapted licence training is carried out to satisfy, as necessary, the UK CAA, FAA, EASA and Indian DGCA regulations.

A critical part of any training setup is the 30-strong instructor cadre. The mix is much the same as elsewhere, with selected instructors drawn from a background of commercial and military flying, with full-time career instructors completing the team. To emphasise the comfortable training environment, there are social events organised which embrace students, instructors and support staff – again, encouraging the big-team view of the airlines.

The hardware to deliver this package presently consists of 73 aircraft and four flight simulators between the UK and US, which is being slimmed down slightly to make way for new all-electric aircraft manufactured by Bye Aerospace in Denver, Colorado. The airframes will be supported by two Redbird ATDs (FNPT2s in EASA-speak), switchable between single- and multi-engine configurations.

Woodward explains that the plan is to complete this set up and maintain an elite training outfit that will achieve an output of about 300 new pilots annually. The facilities to manage such a number are already in place, and that scale of operation is sufficient to sustain a constant flow and commercial viability without the concerns which would come with constant expansion.

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