SNCO technical training takes flight at Wagga

By CPL Damian Shovell

Topics covered in the SNCO Technical Manager “Air” Course are vital to the daily operation of a flightline, workshop or hangar.

THE first SNCO Technical Manager (STM) “Air” Course begins this month. It will be a trial course so that developers can fine-tune it for the future.

It is expected that up to 10 courses per year will be conducted at Engineering Training Flight, RAAF School of Technical Training, RAAF Base Wagga.

The STM course was divided into air and ground components in May 2004, and the Air curriculum has now been approved.

The STM courses will build upon previous knowledge, skills and attitudes from the Trade Supervision Principles Course - Air (and ground version when developed).

The aim of each 10-day course is to provide technical SNCOs with the knowledge and skills required to manage technical personnel and maintenance activities so that safety, effectiveness and economic use of resources are optimised Topics covered are vital to the daily operation of a flightline, workshop or hangar – in fact any technical maintenance environment.

They include:

• regulatory framework – airworthiness, Authorised Maintenance Organisation and maintenance responsibilities;
• maintenance quality – Authorised Maintenance Organisation, maintenance responsibilities and independent inspections, unauthorised aeronautical product;
• personnel development – career progression, competency journals and records of training and employment, Trade Supervision Principles Course, competencies and task authorisation, OH&S;
• personnel management – human factors in maintenance, fatigue, aviation risk management, succession planning; and
• maintenance task management – responsibilities, task planning, maintenance release, technical handovers, situational awareness and deployed ops.
• technical data management – Technical Maintenance Plan amendments and Publication Improvement Report and Reply Responsibilities, Systems Program Office and Maintenance Control Section;
• technical equipment accounting – quarantine accounts, cross-reference register, Supply Customer account holder;
• technical reporting – Defence Aviation Hazard Reporting and Tracking System (DAHRTS), Aviation Safety Occurrence Report, Supplementary Aviation Safety Occurrence Reports, defect and damage reports, Report on Defective or Unsafe Materiel and non-compliances;

For more information, contact Flight Sergeant Erol Paoletti on (02) 6937 4583, read AAP2371.001 Technical Trades Management or visit www.intranet.defence.gov.au/raafweb/Sites/RAAFSTT/ and look under Technical Trades Engineering Support - ETF.

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