Hornbill Skyways, Yayasan Sarawak grooming six young Sarawakians to become pilots and aeronautical engineers

KUCHING: If your dream is to be a pilot or an engineer specialising in aeroplanes, you may realise it through Hornbill Skyways Sdn Bhd and Yayasan Sarawak.

AMBITIOUS PLAN: Aidan (sixth right), Mohamad (fifth right), the trainees (third left to seventh left) and staff pose at the Hornbill Skyways hangar.

Right now, the two entities are grooming six young Sarawakians to become pilots and aeronautical engineers in their effort to beat over-dependency on foreign expatriates.

The lucky Sarawakians, including a young lady, were chosen as the pioneer group for the RM2 million aircraft maintenance and helicopter pilot training programme.

Hornbill Skyways and Yayasan Sarawak officially launched the programme yesterday.

Four of the trainees will undergo a three-year engineering programme at University Kuala Lumpur Malaysia Institute of Aviation Technology (MIAT), while the other two will attend helicopter pilot course at Integrated Training and Services Sdn Bhd (IT&S) for 18 months.

Hornbill Skyways executive chairman Aidan Wing said the company is in need of more locals in their workforce especially in the long run as it is going to increase its fleet of aircraft.

He said the company is planning to add its fleet of Eurocopter EC 135 helicopters for the flying doctor service, with a new one expected to arrive sometime this month.

According to him, ten pilots are working with the company now while there are plans to purchase three more helicopters.

“This programme jointly implemented by Hornbill Skyways and Yayasan Sarawak thus aims to overcome the lack of local pilots and engineers. Those who have completed their training must work with Hornbill Skyways for a set period of time,” he said to reporters yesterday after meeting the first six people selected for the programme at the company’s hangar here.

Hornbill Skyways Sdn Bhd, established in May 10 1977, is the leading local aviation corporation operating in Sarawak. Its fleet of aircraft consists of an Executive Jet (Citation X), 2 units of passenger aeroplane (Dornier 228) and a range of helicopters (EC 135, Bell 430, Bell 206 L4 and Bell 206 B3).

Meanwhile, Yayasan Sarawak director Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki said the sponsorship of the students is to answer the state’s manpower needs especially towards contributing to the success of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

On the high expenses involved, he said it is expected because pilot training is not cheap.

According to him, the company would need between RM200,000 and RM300,000 or even more to finance a trainee pilot or student in the aeronautical engineering courses.

“We must look at this from a long term view. Though it is costly, we must think about the returns in the future. We do not want Sarawak to lack expertise in this crucial sector, as helicopters are expected to play a very important part towards the success of SCORE,” he said.

He said the sponsorship of students is implemented through Yayasan Sarawak’s Higher Education Fund, which has thus far sponsored 1,000 engineering students in various fields since the Fund was launched two years ago.

“We have so far spent RM10 million to sponsor these 1,000 students. Ultimately, we hope to sponsor 10,000 students within the next 10 to 20 years, involving funds of RM100 million.

“The State is going to need a lot of engineers for SCORE, and we hope the target of 10,000 engineers can be realised,” he said.