Tanzania aviation news - Precision Air 'shows off' new pilots and engineers

PRECISION AIR SHOWS OFF NEW PILOTS AND ENGINEERS

Tanzania’s leading airline has released information yesterday about their successful cooperation with French aircraft manufacturer ATR to train engineers and pilots alongside the 7 aircraft purchase deal signed back in 2006. All aircraft have since been delivered and are flying in the Precision colours across the Tanzanian and East African skies while 8 engineers trained by ATR on aircraft maintenance for their -42 and -72 aircraft have also returned home and joined the Precision Air workforce.

Precision has invested heavily in a new hangar in Dar es Salaam where scheduled light and heavy maintenance is now being carried out, keeping such work inside Tanzania and saving the airline substantial expense compared to previous times when such maintenance had to be contracted out to facilities capable of meeting the required standards and approved by the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority at substantial cost.

At the same time has the airline announced that 4 pilots trained to fly the ATR aircraft have also completed their integration into the pilot’s ranks and are now flying for Precision, including two lady pilots, still a rarity in East Africa and across the continent. According to a source at the airline the trainee pilots were selected from amongst hundreds of applicants and trained from ‘scratch’ at the expense of Precision Air, graduating through the various pilot stages until they ‘checked out’ for the ATR range of aircraft used by Precision as First Officers. The cost of becoming a commercial airline pilot is generally prohibitive for most aspiring young people and it is often only through the sponsorship of an established airline that the citizens of the East African countries can manage to fulfill their life’s ambition and take to the skies.

Precision Air deserves unreserved congratulations and compliments for their commitment to train young Tanzanians for such responsible positions and assist in gradually phasing out expatriate pilots.

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