First fully east-coast-trained pilots graduate

The first nine aviators to complete all their initial training on Australia’s east coast and become fully qualified pilots have graduated with wings.

CAPTION: Pilatus PC-21 aircraft perform a display for No.1 Flying Training School Intermediate Pilots’ Course graduation at RAAF East Sale. Story by Flight Lieutenant Lily Lancaster. Photos by Sergeant Rodney Welch.

The graduation of Course No. 275 from RAAF Base East Sale on June 20 solidified a new training capability for the Royal Australian Air Force.

More pilots will be able to graduate fully qualified this year, with intermediate pilot training held on the east and west coasts.

Pilot Officer Freya Swinbourne was proud to be a graduating member of the inaugural course.

“1FTS [1 Flying Training School] was amazing in supporting us being the first course,” Pilot Officer Swinbourne said.

“I know all the instructors really put so much time and effort into training us.

“I feel very lucky to have been part of the inaugural course.

“The course had to be written for us – everything they do in Pearce, they did in Sale.

“Doing the training in Sale meant I got to get my wings quicker than I expected.”

With the Australian government’s 2022-23 budget announcement of increasing the permanent ADF and Defence-civilian workforce to more than 101,000 by 2040, training preparedness has become a key requirement for successful growth.

In 2016, the West Sale Airport runway was upgraded, enabling a new capability for RAAF Base East Sale and the pilot-training system.

Today, that runway provides the training ground for the increase in fully qualified pilots.

Commanding Officer Wing Commander Benjamin Sawley was proud to see the hard work of 1FTS instructors and support staff come to fruition as the graduates received their wings.

“The graduation of our first intermediate pilots course is the culmination of months and years of determination and hard work for the students graduating and staff,” Wing Commander Sawley said.

“Our graduates must demonstrate they have what it takes to pilot complex aircraft in challenging circumstances, making time-critical decisions.”

Then Chief of Air Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman was the reviewing officer in one of the last graduations he oversaw as CAF.

Father and son were united as CAF’s father, Air Commodore (retd) Doug Chipman, watched the parade.

He returned to 1FTS as a ‘Double Centurion’, having graduated the same training on Course No. 75.

Returning to a graduation tradition for their final flight as trainee pilots, the graduates flew a Diamond Nine formation flight over the Port of Sale and Mornington Peninsula.

Watching the flypast were Course No. 278 who are preparing to embark on their own intermediate pilots course and set to graduate from RAAF Base East Sale in December.

CAPTION: Then Chief of the Royal Australian Air Force Air Marshal Robert Chipman, and Warrant Officer of the Air Force Warrant Officer Ralph Clifton with the No. 1 Flying Training School’s recent graduates.

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