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Johnathan McKeown, the first AST-trained
airline pilot student for nearly twenty years. |
The first airline pilot student for nearly twenty years graduated from Air Service Training’s flying school on Friday 20 January.
Johnathan McKeown, (26) from Dunadry, Antrim in Northern Ireland completed the Professional Aviation Training in the Highlands (PATH) course, which qualifies him to fly commercial airliners in the UK, EU and around the world.
Based in Scone Aerodrome, AST, a wholly owned subsidiary of Perth College UHI, resumed commercial training a year ago, in partnership with ACS Flying School. The course lasts 60 weeks and includes basic flying training, Airline Pilot ground school followed by advanced flying training including blind flying on instruments alone.
Matthew Paterson, AST Chief Ground Instructor said: “I am really proud of Johnathan’s achievements. He worked very hard and is destined for a great future in the industry. There are a dozen of other students all working towards the same qualification which gives them skills to excel in all branches of civil aviation.”
Johnathan added: “I have enjoyed my time here in Perth. Scone Aerodrome is one of the most scenic in Scotland and the airspace is wide open to the North. However we are also very close to the more congested and heavily controlled airspace surrounding Glasgow Edinburgh and Prestwick International airports and this provides essential training in airline operations. This PATH course provided by AST has opened up fantastic opportunities for me and I hope to fly for one of the locally based airlines very soon.”