Soroti Flying School to ride on Uganda Airlines wave

Aviation. Some of the planes owned by Soroti Flying School. The academy was established in 1971. photo BY SIMON NAULELE

The East African Civil Aviation Academy (EACAA), also known as Soroti Flying School, is riding on the revival of Uganda Airlines to improve its operations.
Lt Col Ronald Turyamubona, the school director, said the academy has high hopes of regaining its stature as a major institution for piloting in East Africa.
“Our belief is that with the revival of the Uganda Airlines, infrastructural development will have to change because to ensure quality in competitive airline business, government will have to fund the academy,” Lt Col Turyamubona said.
“It is not an assurance that every student here will qualify for jobs in Uganda Airlines, they will be taken on merit, but this alone, gives us some glimmer of hope, that as the new national carrier takes off, the fortunes for this academy will have to change,” he added.
Mr Turyamuboona said the academy has nine Cesena planes, including seven new ones and a modern simulator.
Simulator is an aviation machine that is used to train students outside the normal flight lessons above the sky.
“There may be some problems but they are not of great impact, the students need to have a focus, utilise every minute of their two-year course to excel using the available machines,” he said.
Early this year, the academy completed all five phases of Association of African Aviation Training Organisation, which qualified it to be recruited by the Uganda Civil Aviation Academy.
The academy currently offers seven courses, a private licence, commercial pilot licence, instrument rating, airline transport pilot licence, flight dispatch, flight instrument rating and aircraft maintenance engineering in airframe and power plant.
On recruitment of instructors, Lt Col Turyamuboona said it is one of the issues that the government is committed at solving once the matters surrounding its ownership with the other East African member states are cleared.

Future plans
Among other key issues, he said the management is planning to have the academy enrol for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Trainair plus programme, which promotes training collaboration for the purpose of providing safe, secure and sustainable development of global air transport.Trainair plus provides valuable ICAO support to its member states and the aviation industry through the implementation of high –quality standards in civil aviation training and capacity building.
Trainair plus is a cooperative network of training organisations and industry partners working together to develop and deliver ICAO- harmonised training packages. These include standardised and ICAO training packages.