USQ aviation students will have extra incentive to fast track into the controls of QantasLink’s turboprop aircraft with the launch of the Qantas Future Pilot Program.

• USQ partners with QantasLink for new pilot recruitment program
• “Building the next generation of exceptional pilots from within Australia’s top aviation schools” – QantasLink Chief Executive Officer, John Gissing

Under the arrangement with USQ, the program will provide aviation students with access to experienced Qantas pilots during their degree studies.

USQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Geraldine Mackenzie said successful students will be invited to complete an intensive 12 week Airline Transition Course with successful graduates transitioning to employment with QantasLink to become qualified as First Officers flying the airline’s 50-seat Q300s or 74-seat Q400s.

Professor Mackenzie said the opportunity for USQ students to be part of the Qantas Group was an excellent endorsement of the quality of the USQ program being taught from its Springfield campus.

“The University recently invested heavily in a new state-of-the-art flight simulator based on the Boeing 737-800 airliner that will give students an excellent lead in to the QantasLink program,” she said.

The only one of its type at a Queensland university, the simulator features the most up-to-date equipment and technology in the world.

Capable of replicating an entire flight, the simulator enables training for take-off and landing, day and night flying in normal, abnormal and emergency situations, as well as various weather conditions. “The simulator provides our Aviation students with the most realistic multi-crew simulated training in an aircraft cockpit, putting us at the cutting edge of aviation,” Professor Mackenzie said.

As part of the Aviation program, USQ Aviation students undergo professional development through the Aviation Industry Readiness Scheme (AIRS), to further develop their key competencies such as communication, leadership, teamwork and problem solving that the International Civil Aviation Organisation recommends.

“For our students to have the prospect to extend their skills beyond the classroom and into work-based training through the Qantas Future Pilot Program and be supported by experienced QantasLink pilots throughout their studies is an exceptional and unique opportunity.”

Interested in learning more about aviation at USQ? Visit www.usq.edu.au/aviation.