Starting May 27th the Belize Defence Force Airwing will be conducting flight school. As part of an Air Wing Cadet Corp, the BDF will be taking in applications from young persons between the ages of 14 and 19 to enroll in the BDF Airwing Cadet Corp. Once enrolled and interested those who attend will run through a two-year training program with the BDF Airwing to learn everything that can be thought locally relating to avionics. It's a great opportunity for teenagers, and we found out more.
"What we are trying to do is form an Air Wing Cadet Corp for youths age 14 to 19. The idea behind the Cadet Corp is to basically give a segue way for people interested in aviation or aviation related careers to get into their career field, giving them the necessary training as well as the connections needed to get a foothold in this industry, so to speak.
The program is based loosely on the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, that the American civil aviation department on their private pilot program and it is a two year cycle so at the end of the two years training cycle, we will cadet who will pass the FAA private pilot written examination as well as the Belize Civil Aviation private pilot examination. If cadets are successful in entering the flight program, and they'll be a screening program to screen cadets entering that program, then they will also be able to pass the practical exam which means that they will have forty hours of flight time total, within the two years, as well as know how to perform the maneuvers necessary to pass their private pilot examination.
Initially we were only looking at 20 to 25 students applying but what we are doing is opening it to as many students that are willing to apply and then we are expecting that some students will naturally attrite, some might not want to go to the air wing hangar at Ladyville, where we conduct all of our training, and some of them may decide that they are just not interested as they thought they were and hopefully we end up with a number that we can work it."
The program will include transportation to and from the BDF's Airwing in Ladyville twice a month on Saturdays during the summer months and one Saturday a month during school months. You can find out more about the Air Wing Cadets on the BDF's Website.
