Indonesian pen pushers take to the skies

September 25, 2013 8:58 am

Indonesian pen pushers take to the skies

By Ben Bland in Tangerang, Indonesia

Indonesian civil servants are swapping their desks for flight decks under an innovative scheme designed to plug the country’s acute shortage of pilots. With a rapidly expanding middle class, a population of 250m people and thousands of islands, Indonesia has one of the world’s fastest-growing aviation industries. But the supply of pilots has failed to keep pace. That is good news for the likes of Mohammad If Gobel, who has been able to ditch his desk job in Indonesia’s transportation ministry and realise a boyhood dream to take to the skies. Mr Gobel is one of 22 civil servants chosen to take part in the scheme.“My boss recommended me for this scheme and I’m honoured to be training to be a pilot,” says the 33-year-old, smiling broadly, in the canteen at the ageing government flying school in Tangerang, about an hour’s drive from the capital, Jakarta.

While airlines such as Lion Air have been expanding at breakneck speed, becoming one of the biggest customers for Airbus and Boeing aircraft, Indonesia is woefully short of pilots.

“We need 700-800 new pilots every year but until now, the private schools have only been producing around 200 and the government schools 120-150,” says Yudhi Sari Sitomoul, head of the transportation ministry’s human resources development centre.

The domestic aviation market nearly doubled between 2008 and 2012, jumping from 37m to 73m passengers per year, and is forecast to continue growing at a double-digit annual rate.

Arif Wibowo, chief executive of Citilink, the low cost carrier launched last year by Garuda Indonesia, the national airline, says that “the lack of pilots is one of the main challenges facing the industry”.

Having started with nine aircraft in May 2012, Citilink has already added another 20 planes. With too few Indonesian pilots to fly his expanding fleet, Mr Wibowo says he is grateful for the economic crisis in Europe, which has created a pool of aviators willing to work for lower salaries in emerging markets.

But the government is keen to wean Indonesia off its reliance on foreign pilots, which officials say can only be a stopgap measure given the scale of the country’s future needs.

With most new pilots keen to fly airliners rather than training planes the government scheme is designed to produce pilot instructors who can themselves educate a new generation of aviators.

We need 700-800 new pilots every year but until now, the private schools have only been producing around 200 and the government schools 120-150

– Yudhi Sari Sitomoul, head of the transportation ministry’s human resources development centre

More than 100 civil servants applied for the programme but only 22 passed the gruelling, air force-style aptitude and physical exercises, which included being spun around in a chair and then made to complete agility tests.

“I didn’t find the examinations too difficult but learning about how the aircraft engines work in our ground classes is tough,” says Eko Susantyo, a former aeronautical information trainer who, at 24, is the youngest member of the group.

Mr Gobel, Mr Susantyo and their fellow trainees, only one of whom is a woman, had to agree to work as government flight instructors for five years in exchange for their 14 months of free training, during which they will draw their regular salaries. They will also remain on the same salary trajectories.

Their accelerated course, which would normally take 18 months, began in June and they will soon commence flight training after completing ground school.

Before they jump into the cockpit of one of the school’s 40 Cessna and Socata aircraft for the first time they will pass under a sign that reads: “the sky is a vast place but there is no room for error”.

It is a poignant warning in a country with a bad record of aviation safety, from maintenance issues to poor training and recreational drug use among pilots.

Although the government and the airlines have been working to address these problems, several Indonesian carriers including Lion Air remain banned from flying into European airspace because they fail to meet EU requirements.

Dressed in a military-style uniform of dark blue trousers and light blue shirts, with caps tucked under their lapels, Mr Gobel and his colleagues insist they will do their part to ensure higher standards in future, which will be vital if the industry is to continue thriving.