Selaparang

My first day at work. Everything is new.

The flight school is based out of the Selaparang airport. Edmond has built a brand new hangar that is nice and big. There are classrooms for ground school, a room for simulators, a kitchen, offices for the principal and mechanics, a prayer room, and a back room for flight instructors called “The Cave.” The Cave is the coolest room in the place, and the instructors spend their time between flights and classes in there.

The students are quiet and polite. They are keen to become professional pilots and study earnestly.

Because of political issues, the airport at Selaparang was closed recently. The rumor is the director of the airport is friends with a competing flight school and is trying to close us down.

They managed to get 2 airplanes ferried to the new airport in Mataram before things completely shut down. So, we now give ground school in the hangar, but then shuttle everyone to the new airport (about an hour drive) for training. They tell us the Selaparang airport will be open again soon, and we are hopeful. We should know soon what will happen. If things don’t work out as expected, Edmond has contingency plans.

The mechanics are from the local area, meaning they are Indonesian, but could be from other islands.

The students have gone through ground school taught by a local former airline pilot in Bhasa Indonesia. The exams, however, are given in English. Part of my job is to teach the ground school again, but in English. So the students get the concepts in the language they know, but also get to practice what they know in English. I have heard the English spoken by local pilots, and it’s pretty rough. They have to pass an English test before they can start flying, but I suspect many learn just the minimum.

I have been assigned a group of students that I will start flying with. They are finishing their ground school now and in a couple of weeks will be ready for their first flights. I still have to be licensed by Indonesia before I can start flying, and it appears that process takes a couple of weeks. Although I am FAA certified, Indonesia wants to establish their own standards. I will have to take a written test and get approved by Immigration, but basically, it will come down to bribing the director of aviation.