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A search of the archives reveals that civil
aviation in Malaysia
began at an informal level in 1911 when the first flight was recorded. It
was some 20 years later, in the 30’s, before a special agency was set
up under the Public Works Department to look into civil aviation matters.
However, this unit was more concerned about maintenance of airfields than
administration. Things really took off only after World War II, with an
administrative set-up, the prelude to the setting up of a Department of
Civil Aviation (DCA), taking shape under the British.
In the beginning, formal training was unheard
off. What usually happened was a recruit underwent a period of
‘on-the-job training’, and if found suitable and competent, was
appointed a controller, and sometimes were posted to as far the then North
Borneo (Sabah
today).
The next phase in the evolution of ATC
training in Malaysia
took the form of ad-hoc training classes conducted in make-shift classrooms
by senior controllers, often working on their ‘off’ days. Then
came a time when controllers were sent abroad for training. In response to
the growing need to train controllers locally, a Civil Aviation Training
Centre was established at the Paya
Lebar Airport
in Singapore
and local controllers were trained there. However, it was not long before
things again became chaotic, with the leaving of Singapore
from Malaysia.
At this crucial time, Mr. A. Parker, a
Colombo Plan expert from Australia
was made available to Malaysia.
In the course of reorganizing the administration of civil aviation, Mr.
Parker brought in two other consultants, S. Hill (ATC) and J. Mathisen (Fire Services) under the Australian Aid Programme to assist in the setting up of a training
center.
On 21st September 1969, the Civil
Aviation Training Centre (CATC) was established with two branches, namely
‘School of ATS’
and ‘School of AFRS’.
The CATC was housed temporarily in some buildings adjacent to the main
terminal building at Subang that was originally
constructed as a quarantine station. The college then was fondly known as
“the yellow Fewer Wards”.
The first batch of trainees passed out of the
CATC on 25th April 1970. The first RADAR simulator was installed
in 1974. By the late 70’s, the CATC was getting congested and plans
were afoot to expand the terminal building, thus affecting the CATC,
especially the AFRS training.
The government approved a 2-phase development
plan for the CATC. Phase 1 consisted of 4 wooden blocks, built on a hillock
across the road from the terminal building at Subang.
Phase two would involve the construction of permanent structures and the
wooden blocks were then to be converted into hostels for trainees. The
first phase of the plan was implemented and the new college was officially
opened on 1st January 1981 and renamed ‘Civil
Aviation College’
(CAC). For one reason or another, phase two has yet to be implemented.
The college shrunk in October 1992, when
airport operations were privatized. The AFRS
School moved to Penang to join the Security Training
Centre, and became a part of the airport operator, Malaysia Airports Berhad’s training centre.
In 1996, in preparation for the opening of
the new KLIA airport at Sepang, and the
concurrent reorganization of the Kuala Lumpur FIR airspace structure, a
massive training regime was required to train many new controllers as well
as retrain all existing controllers. As the college was not in a position
to handle such numbers, the training was contracted out to IAL-Serco and Airspace Management Services (a joint venture
between a local company and Ambdji of Australia).
Much of the new equipment bought as part of this exercise is currently
housed at the branch campus of the CATC at Taman SEA,
Petaling Jaya.
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