Training problem

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32777, 30 November 1971, Page 21

Training problem

(From Our Own Reporter)

WELLINGTON, Nov. 29. Answering Mr M. A. Connelly (Lab., Wigram), Mt Thomson admitted that technical training in the Royal New Zealand Air Force was being inhibited by lack of necessary training aids. “The shortage of up-to-date training aids in R.N.Z.A.F. technical training schools limits the extent of primary training,” Mr Thomson said. “The limitation is, however, overcome by undertaking a greater amount of training ‘on the job.’ Under this arrangement, standards of training are maintained, but it does involve productive manpower being diverted from its primary function of servicing aircraft and their components. “The R.N.Z.A.F. is, of course, well aware of the inefficiencies of the present arrangements, which occur mainly in the engines and electronic fields, and has provided for certain items of training equipment to be purchased in the near future. Unfortunately, the limited funds available for new equipment, and the relative priorities of the wide range of items required, prevents greater expenditure on training aids.”