Vietnam’s Aviation Academy and Bay Viet (Viet Flight) Flight Training Joint-Stock Company granted commercial pilot licenses to 19 trainees including one woman and flight instructor licenses to three others at a ceremony held at the pilot training centre in Cam Ranh city in the central province of Khanh Hoa on Friday.

Addressing at the event, Vietnam Airlines Corporation’s deputy general director Phan Xuan Duc said this is the second pilot course in Vietnam but the first time local pilots have experienced practice flights in their homeland.

In the first course, pilot trainees studied theory at home and practiced flying in France, Duc explained.

On the same afternoon, two pilot trainees Tran Trung Kien, 32, and Tran Hoang Tu, 23, performed successful solo flights on the France-made TB20 aircraft at the height of 300 meters from the ground at 160 kph.

Two pilot trainees Tran Trung Kien (R) and Tran Hoang Tu. Photo by Van Tao

David Tymen, head of a group of French experts from ESMA (École Supérieure des Metiers de l Aéronautique) Aviation Academy, said a trainee has to practice flying with assistance from his teacher(s) for at least three months to get enough experience for solo flights.

He added successful solo flights will help trainees become more confident and control the plane in all situations as well.

Vietnamese trainees are hard-working and smart, he said. 

David Tymen - teacher - (R) and pilot trainee Tran Trung Kien. Photo by Van Tao

Vietnam Airlines estimates it will need at least 636 pilots by 2010, 60 percent of them are Vietnamese, according to Vietnam News Agency.

To raise the rate of Vietnamese pilots to 75 percent by 2015, the carrier plans to recruit at least 100 extra pilots a year to raise the number of pilots by 10 percent during 2011-2020, it added.

Training local commercial pilots also proves the airline’s commitment to its domestic partners to implement its strategy on personnel development to ensure sustainable growth and fulfill its plans to develop the country’s aviation industry.