Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 21/00) - Keeping aircraft up to national standards is a daunting task faced by airlines and finding qualified staff to maintain the big birds has become a problem worldwide.

Buffalo Airways Ltd. is working to solve the shortage of aviation maintenance engineers (AMEs) with its own school.

School principal/ administrator Frank Karain was seconded by Buffalo from Yellowknife School District #1 where he works as a principal/school psychologist. Karain is also a pilot and knows the importance of the work done on the ground.

"This is the individual whose responsibility it is to make sure that aircraft is safe, sound and airworthy," he said. "These people are trained across the spectrum in an 1,800-hour, two-year program in the classroom."

Following the classroom work, students are required to complete a two-year apprenticeship in the workforce before writing their final exam. Providing they have met all the other criteria, they will be issued a licence by Transport Canada.

The school has just finished its first year of training. The first intake began with 12 students, Karain said, but one had to leave for personal reasons.

The program is monitored and audited as well as licensed by Transport Canada. Karain said the students are only allowed to miss five per cent of the 1,800 hours of classtime.

"That is for very specific things, like your wife died, or your grandmother died, bereavement leave, or you're so ill that you can't continue," he said. "If you're going to be away for any length of time, you'll be asked to leave the program and come back once you are healthy again.

"This is not a haphazard training engagement," he added.

Students are instructed in theory and given practical projects to complete.

"They learn to rivet, to work on engines; to do all the kinds of things that are essential to the trade once they are in the workforce," he said.

Training in the North

The Buffalo school is the only Northern school offering this type of training, he said, which makes it much easier for Northerners to get the education.

"You don't have to disturb your family by moving away; we're already here,: he said. "Sometimes it's a major cultural trauma and upset to go to Edmonton, or Calgary or Montreal, plus, you have all the headaches of going to school. We try not to add to that."

The school is the brainchild of Buffalo Airways founder Joe McBryan.

"This is his biggest dream -- to put something back into industry that has been the love of his life," said Karain.

First-year student Shaun Morin entered the school following the closure of Giant mine. He said he's glad he didn't have to leave the North for training.

"It's nice that we can get trained up here," he said. "I don't know why they don't have more programs like this.

"Maybe when they realize how successful this is, it will open up the doors for other things," he said.

Morin feels the new trade will offer the security he didn't have working for Royal Oak.

"There are four of us from the mines. We all gave up digging for gold to get greasy," he said. "The demand for AMEs is great. A lot of the schools I applied to had a two-year wait list."

Student Peter Smith said he found the course very challenging in the first year, but has settled in to the heavy workload.

With a mechanical aptitude and a keen interest in flight, Smith said the school was a natural for him.

"I've always had an interest in mechanics and aviation," he said. "Airplanes are pretty interesting compared to a D-9 Cat."

"There are guidelines you have to follow; it's not just the bigger hammer theory and you don't rush," Smith said. "You make sure you get it right the first time."

The Buffalo School of Aviation is going to be taking the second intake of first-year students Jan. 2001.