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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0683.PDF
24 May 1957 . 689 Spacious interior of the recreation hall, at first-floor level. a vice-president of K.L.M., who had been director of theRijksluchtvaartschool on its formation in 1946. An inspection of the aircraft, personnel and facilities of theschool followed the inaugural speeches. An impression of some of the new buildings can be obtained from the photographs onthese pages; certainly the overall impression is of a well-planned pattern of individually well-planned buildings.Grouped near the main entrance to the school are the adminis- tration and ground-school building, recreation and dining-hallblock, students' residential block and the gymnasium. Nearby is the Link-trainer section, while adjoining the flight apron arethe flight-operations building, hangars, workshops, powerhouse, engine test-bed and other service installations. The only buildingnot designed as a part of the school's new facilities is the control tower, the airfield's old restaurant/tower building being retainedat present. A new tower is to be built soon, however. All the new buildings are based on simple, functional lines,depending mainly on occasional rectangular panels of yellow, blue and red to relieve the clinical severity of the design. The mostimaginative interior is that of the recreation block, which incor- porates a dining hall, recreation lounge, assembly hall, stage andsmall reading rooms for private study. The residential block accommodates 120 students, four perroom. Instructional aids such as sectioned engines and an aero- dynamic smoke-tunnel are employed in the classrooms, and Link-trainer instruction is given on six machines. The new facilities at Eelde, it is estimated, have cost some£700,000 and a further £100,000 is being spent at the primary training school at Rotterdam. With the school's 62 aircraft andspares the total capital investment amounts to more than £2,100,000. The cost of training a pilot is a notoriously difficuUone to calculate, but approximate figures given by officials of the Rijksluchtvaartschool include £5,000 to £6,000 per student for the2^-year course (excluding overheads); and £10,000 per student including overheads. The cost of training the Netherlands pilots at the school isborne almost entirely by the government. Each student's contri- bution is only £360 which, if necessary, may be paid over a periodof seven years after entering airline service. No contribution to the costs of the school is made by K.L.M., the airline which allgraduates of the school would normally join. Since the post-war training scheme began, a total of 356 pilotshave graduated, of whom 336 have joined K.L.M. The remainder have included Austrians, Indonesians and one Belgian. K.L.M.,which at present employs about 700 pilots, has stated a require- ment of 60 to 80 per year for the next four years, and will takethe entire output of pilots from the Rijksluchtvaartschool during this period. The airline's annual wastage rate is about 25 pilots.For the future, the school is about to choose a new single-engined aircraft to replace its Tiger Moths, Harvards and Safirs. The onetype to succeed these machines will be selected from the Beechcraft Mentor, Saab 91C Safir and Piaggio P.149, which have been diesubject of an evaluation for this purpose. At a later date, a new twin-engined machine will be adopted to replace the D-18S.Should die accommodation at Eelde be increased, or should K.L.M. not require the full numbers which the school is capableof training, there would be no basic reason why students from Three of the school's six Link trainers in operation. other countries could not receive training under the NetherlandsGovernment scheme—diough not at Netherlands Government expense. For the time being, however, Holland continues to showother countries what can be done when a government decides that a steady, trained intake to its national airline is a good thing, andthat something should be done about it. The envy felt by an air-minded English schoolboy at the thoughtof an airline pilot's training for £360 (to be paid later) is doubtless matched by that of the planners of B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. whodream about a regular source of 60 pilots per year. The bright, new facilities of the Rijksluchvaartschool at Eelde illustrate abrilliant interpretation of the primary concept of government- backed airline training. Those who talk about tliis country's civil-aircrew problems do not have far to look for a sensible example of airline pilot training in practice. K. T. O. Aerial view of the new buildings, showing main overhaul hangar, six flight hangars and flight operations block (in foreground group); residential, recreation and administration blocks (upper right); gymnasium (top right) and Link section (top centre).
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