Because of the perpetual scarcity of Aviation engineers who after being trained and developed by Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) are poached by other organizations including CASSOA, United Nations, ICAO and Airlines, Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) board has resolved to start training a critical mass of engineers so that in four years’ time UCAA can boast of a stock of aviation experts.
While addressing the Uganda Air Transport safety Engineering Association (UGATSEA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Entebbe on Friday, UCAA Director-General, Prof. David Kakuba revealed that UCAA is already recruiting 46 graduate engineer trainees who will be put on the job training and will also be sent to Singapore and other countries for more advanced training.
I appeal to you (aviation engineers) to give the trainees maximum support and they will be assigned to work in different departments and units namely at the directorate of Air Navigation Services (DANS), Directorate of Safety, Security and Economic Regulation while others will be assigned to work at the Kabaale Airport in Hoima, Prof. Kakuba disclosed.
Prof. Kakuba continued;
Training of Engineers is critical however for Africa it has become a challenge due to its high cost mainly because it is conducted out of the continent but still we are determined to use the little resources we have to make sure that we train our staff. As UCAA, we shall continue to invest in the professional development of our engineers and support their Research and Development (R&D) initiatives. Research and Development started small and now it is a corporate department that we believe will bring in initiatives to modernize the operations of Entebbe International Airport.
Meanwhile, Prof. Kakuba also tasked the Aviation engineers to always adhere to professional ethics and integrity.
“Bear in mind and desist from accepting bribes to give somebody a certificate of Airworthiness at a risk of safety of passengers. You (aviation engineers) need to exercise a high degree of professional ethics as you do your work,” Prof. Kakuba stressed.
On his part, UCAA Board Chairman, Eng. Ndawula had this to say;
When Engineers are equipped, UCAA is equipped and we all become proud. As UCAA, we count on you (engineers) for infrastructure planning, specification development, project implementation, commissioning, operations and repair and maintenance. UCAA has committed and continues to commit vast resources in Airport development, Air Navigation infrastructure improvement which are all engineering oriented requiring good project management skills.
Thorsten Wehe, the International Federation of Air Traffic Safety and Electronics Association (IFATSEA), noted that IFATSEA is growing continuously with 69 Associations around the world that are members of IFATSEA including UGATSEA. He revealed that the current Air traffic management sector however is still facing constraints, uncertainties and economic fragmentation that impede efficiency, generate friction and hinder improvements of Air Traffic management.
The outgoing UGATSEA President Mulindwa Mwesigwa had this to say;
The Engineers today find themselves at crossroads caught up in the transition from Legacy systems to Future systems and have to manage the change effectively by upskilling and evolving to suit the change. This is coming with enormous opportunities and challenges and the Engineer has to prepare for these changes by evolving their skillset to make a better contribution and be relevant. There are new job requirements in place by UCAA and the association is requesting the organization to put in place a supporting policy and framework to help members achieve these new requirements so that progression is not hampered.
