Aircraft Maintenance Course in Malaysia

In an airlines, you can broadly divide the types of jobs into two, airlines specific and generic kinds of job. The truly airlines jobs are the pilots, aircraft maintenance engineer and cabin crew. These are specialized jobs peculiar only to airlines.

Out of the three, pilots, engineer and cabin crew.. the engineers take the longest to train. The program can take about 4 year. You can start with three years in college and come out with the basic license which does not authorize you to certify for an aircraft. Such program is offered by Nilai college. The details are given below..

Sunday January 2, 2011

Love for engines

By KAREN CHAPMAN
educate@thestar.com.my

Aircraft maintenance is a growing industry with graduates in high demand, and the right route can open doors both locally and abroad.

HIS love of all things mechanical started when Kunalan Marimuthu was a young boy.

He recalls helping his father to either change the tyres of the car or fiddling with the engine.

“I was very fascinated by how things worked and joined the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) after finishing school,” he says.

Kunalan explaining the constructional arrangement of the Beechcraft King Air’s twin-turboprop engine to final semester students.

He obtained basic training from the RMAF as well as an aircraft maintenance licence from the Federal Aviation Authority in the United States.

During his 20 years with the RMAF, Kunalan was based in Sg Besi and Butterworth and worked with many types of aircraft including Northrop F5 fighter jets, helicopters and transport aircraft.

Ever since his retirement from the air force, Kunalan has been imparting his knowledge on the importance of aircraft maintenance to students, and is now head of the Department of Aircraft Maintenance at Nilai University College (Nilai UC).

My job involves ...

... running the day-to-day operations of the department. This includes guiding the staff and ensuring the students obtain the necessary knowledge and training.

The diploma in aircraft maintenance engineering programme was launched at Nilai UC in 2007 and has been a popular option among local and overseas students.

Thanks to the rapid expansion of the programme, we have built a hangar on our campus and purchased an aircraft – a Beechcraft King Air B90 with twin-turboprop powered engines – for students to get their fingers greasy.

My morning starts with...

I am here by 7am. I check for e-mails from our partner institutions and do my paperwork. I ensure that we are prepared for classes and am here in case the students would like to bring up any issues or problems they may have.

Students shouldn’t feel lost or feel they have no one to turn to and if I can’t help them, I will get someone else who can.

I want to set an example for the students that they have to be on time. I insist that they wear uniforms, as once they start working they would have to do so too. When we are doing our practical sessions in the hangar, the students are in overalls with safety shoes and when they are in class, they must wear long pants with their shirts tucked in.

To qualify, you need ...

Applicants for the Diploma in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering need to have Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) or its equivalent with three credits including Mathematics, English and a Science subject. They must be certified by a medical practitioner as fit to be accepted into the programme and not have any of the following medical/physical conditions — colour blindness, hearing defects and asthma.

One of the key reasons why school leavers and their parents are convinced of the programme’s viability is due to the incorporation of the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Licence into its syllabus. Students who successfully complete their exams will receive a Nilai UC Diploma as well as a Part 66 B1-1 certificate entitling them to get a full EASA licence (after completing the necessary working experience, which normally takes three to five years).

The EASA qualification is the graduate’s ticket to an international career as most Commonwealth and European Union countries recognise it.

Unlike in the past, students will no longer have to travel overseas to sit for the EASA exams. The examinations at Nilai UC are offered in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority International (CAAi), which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the United Kingdom’s (UK) Civil Aviation Authority.

The approved course notes for this programme given to students are from Kingston University, UK.

The best person for the job ...

... thrives in practical scenarios. However, the theoretical aspects are just as important, and students must also master the finer points of physics and aviation law to graduate.

This programme offers students a chance to get their hands greasy. Aircraft maintenance engineers will be very much in the thick of the action.

What is surprising is the growing number of females who have enrolled in this programme. The first female student recently graduated and is currently employed at Sepang Aircraft Engineering Sdn Bhd in KLIA Sepang.

Physical strength is not everything as one of the programme’s high scorers is a tiny local lass. With her petite stature, she is able to get to tight and cramped areas of the aircraft that many of her colleagues will not be able to. She has so far given the boys a run for their money and is the current top scorer in the EASA exams.

I love my job because ...

... I enjoy sharing my knowledge with the younger generation.

What I dislike most ...

... is students who don’t fulfil their potential.

Prospects for the future ...

... are very good and growth is outstripping supply. Many of the graduates have no difficulty securing employment due to the overwhelming demand for aircraft maintenance engineers, both locally and overseas.

Air travel is common these days but with emerging markets such as China causing greater demand for airports and planes, there is also a corresponding need for suitably skilled and qualified maintenance personnel. On the domestic front, demand is created by airlines growing in size as well as by the retirement of veteran maintenance engineers.

Nilai UC students who have since graduated with the diploma in aircraft maintenance engineering are currently employed by GGIFA International College of Aviation, Sepang Aircraft Engineering Sdn Bhd, Airasia X Sdn Bhd, Smooth Route Sdn Bhd, Airasia Berhad and GE Engines Services Malaysia.

A millionaire by 30?

Many students and their parents are aware of the demand and are especially attracted by the high remuneration packages offered overseas to experienced personnel. The high salaries are a prime motivator.