Sky’s the limit for young pilots

FIRST BATCH: Adam (right), Amira (third right) and the other young pilots at the convocation.


SIXTEEN young pilots have graduated with flying colours from the Gulf Golden International Flying Academy (GGIFA) International College of Aviation, Bintulu.

They received their licence at the College’s inaugural convocation on Dec 8 at BDA Auditorium after completing their course for commercial pilot licence (CPL) and instrument rating (IR) with Frozen Air Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL).

They are now qualified to work for commercial airline companies in the country.

Adam Gumis, 20, was one of the pilots who received the Best Overall Performance Award (Kenyalang Award).

He said the cadets were given the best accommodation and treatment by the college throughout their studies.

“You feel like you’re actually at home. You have a foster family here and Datuk (Morshidi Abdul Rahman) and Datin (Joanna Lim Abdullah) take very good care of you,” Adam told thesundaypost after receiving the award. He was accompanied by his parents.

Adam said they had to work very hard to to complete their studies.

“I knew I had to slog to achieve my dream which is to be an airline pilot,” he added.

Adam’s father Gabriel Gumis, 53, said he was very proud of his son’s achievement, adding that the Bidayuh community also felt proud because “it is rare to have a Bidayuh pilot.”

Gumis believes his son will have a good future in the airline industry and most probably join local airline companies like Malaysia Airlines (MAS) or AirAsia.

To parents, who want to send their children to the Aviation College, Gumis said: “Young people have their own dreams. Let them achieve their dreams as long as they are good for them.”

He thanked the college management for looking after Adam and Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) for giving him a study loan.

“Parents shouldn’t worry if their children face financial problems when applying to study at the Aviation College. They can get study loans more easily now,” he said.

Gumis has five children — the first is a lawyer, the second (Adam), a pilot and the third is studying medicine.

For Amira Nuria Anuar of Kuching, one of the female pilots who graduated from the College, it is a great challenge for a woman to compete with the male cadets.

However, she said the challenge could be overcome if the female students proved they were just as good if not better, than their male counterparts.

“It’s been over two years that I studied at the college. I have always wanted to be a pilot,” she added.

Her interest in becoming a pilot was kindled when she heard there were no female pilots in the country.

On the biggest challenge she had to overcome while studying at the College, she believed it was the ATPL ground paper called CAA6 and CAA2.

“I think everyone agrees it’s hard,” she said.

Amira logged165 flying hours in a single-engine aircraft and 35 flying hours in a twin-engine aircraft to meet the requirements for completing the course.

She flew in a single-engine aircraft to Mukah, Sibu and Miri.

Meanwhile, GGIFA executive chairman Datuk Morshidi Abdul Rahman said they were entering the third year of operation and this was the first graduation ceremony for the college’s first and second batches of graduates.

“They have gone through tough training to qualify as commercial pilots as well as air transport licence holders and believe me, it hasn’t been easy,” he added.

Morshidi said the young pilots had gone through hard training and flown many hours through good and bad weather, tears and fears and laughter and anxiety.

“But above all, most came as young boys and girls and we have groomed them into disciplined and responsible adults,” he said, adding that these young pilots would be flying with high discipline, self-esteem and confidence.

“We, as owner of the college, together with the staff and instructors have grown with them, trying to understand these young minds full of ideas and rebellious spirits.

“Yet today, we have, through the commitment of our instructors, mostly former air force officers and airline pilots, moulded the young cadets into pilots ready to take to the sky with confidence and dedication,” he added.

The instructors, Morshidi said, had even taken the “slow cadets,” under their wings, especially in the flying stages, to ensure that they improved and graduated at the end of the course.

He thanked the hangar boys who sweated in the hot sun to make the aircraft safe for flying.

“We are also appealing to banks like Bank Rakyat to give study loans to help young potential cadets pursue a career as a pilot. We do not foresee any problem for them to pay back their loans.”

To the graduating pilots, he said: “I’m sure one day when they grow older, they will look back and realise that all the tough training they had at the college was for their own good.”

350 trainees to be offered jobs

BINTULU: Sarawak Planted Forest (SPF) Training Centre at Samarakan Nursery in collaboration with the Department of Skills Development in the Human Resource Ministry is planning to offer employment to some 350 trainees in 2010.

SPF general manager Dr Joseph Jawa Kendawang said SPF training centre at Samarakan nursery offers huge opportunities to the local people, especially the youths, to obtain essential skills in forest-related field.

He said the skills that they acquired would be useful in their future undertakings, particularly for Form 5 school leavers to get jobs if they decided not to further their studies.

Dr Joseph was speaking at the first anniversary celebration of the training centre and at the same time presented the first 30 trainees with their certificates of completion for their respective courses at SPF training centre in Ulu Tatau about an hour drive from here yesterday.

According to him, the courses are also available for graduates and professionals to enhance their skills and add value to their current knowledge and understanding particularly on forest field.

In 2010, Dr Joseph said the training centre has several courses to offer namely in harvesting, silviculture, workshops and youth development programme.

Out of 350 new trainees to be targeted, in harvesting there will be 20 trainees in forest surveyors, 20 inventory crews, 30 clearing contract staff and 60 to 120 contract tree fellers and machine operators.

Meanwhile in silviculture the training centre is targeting to train about 60 contract silviculture workers, said Dr Joseph.

In workshops and youth development programme there will be 80 automotive trade apprentices and 80 trainee forestry cadets respectively, he added.

He disclosed that since it opened on Dec 12, 2008, this year the training centre has successfully trained and up-skilled around 3,000 trainees in all courses available.

“We have trained 1,200 persons in silviculture skills, 30 in automotive trade apprenticeship, 150 persons in harvesting skills and 52 individuals in youth development.

“There are also around 2,500 trainees in various aspects of environment safety and health programme, 103 persons in emergency response and about 100 individuals on graduate industrial attachment,” said Dr Joseph.

He pointed out that among the main objective of the opening of SPF training centre at Samarakan nursery was to supply high quality wood or raw material for the mill and timber industries.

But the most important thing is the training centre also tried to uplift the social economic status of the local people staying within the planted forest zone particularly the young generation from the various longhouses with the needed skills for future working force and be competitive, he said, adding that closer cooperation by the locals are mostly required.

Also present at the function were Grand Perfect Sdn Bhd general manager Ling Chii Huo, SPF Training Centre Samarakan nursery training manager Riwhi Diamond and Dr Caroline Mohammed and Dr Anthony Francis from Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research.

Avoid panic buying of sugar

BINTULU: Consumers here are advised to avoid panic buying of sugar since there is sufficient stock in the market with more to arrive after Dec 17.

Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism (MDTCC) Bintulu branch acting chief Muhammad Daud Ali, making the call yesterday, said there is no scarcity of sugar here but “the ship that’s supposed to deliver the stock has not arrived yet due to the bad weather.”

He said the ship is expected to arrive here on Dec 17 and he hoped consumers would not panic as the situation will be back to normal by then.

Muhammad told reporters in a press conference at his office that as of 11.15am yesterday, Bintulu still had about 125.774 metric tonnes of sugar in stock with another 240 metric tonnes coming in stages.

“The thing now is those in the industry like coffee shop owners and other industry players which are the biggest consumers had purchased the sugar in large quantities, especially from supermarkets to continue their operation.

“This caused a slight shortage of sugar in the supermarket and consumers experienced difficulty getting their supply for daily use,” he said.

Thus to avoid a similar problem in the next few days before the ship arrived, Muhammad urged those in the industry to get assistance from MDTCC branch office here if they need sugar in large quantities.

“Come to our office and we will find the wholesalers that can cater to your daily operation so it would not disrupt household supply and public consumption,” he said.

Muhammad reminded shop owners to carry out good business practices and avoid hiding sugar as it would inconvenience consumers.

He advised the traders to put price tags on all items on their premises, and warned wholesalers not to hide or stock up sugar in places outside their warehouse as it is an offence.

“So we are hoping to get good cooperation from traders and wholesalers as well as consumers regarding this matter,” he added.

The rumour had spread yesterday after some consumers said they could not find sugar in many shops, while another consumer said only 2kg of sugar was allowed per customer.

Muhammad assured that mini markets would settle the shortage of sugar supply within two or three days.

For enquiries or complaints, contact MDTCC Bintulu branch office at 086-332176.