Shuttle Operations: November Intake Welcome

Twelve new students start Shuttle Operations with a welcome day in the Kestrel hangar at Shackleton Base. They will meet their instructors, receive their crew pairings and complete a first walk-around of the Kestrel light shuttle they will fly for the next 12 weeks.

Chief Flight Instructor Dario Okafor will explain why two-crew cooperation is the heart of the course and what it takes to pass the commercial check ride. Tevita Fonua, who taught many of the cohort their first solo, will lead the afternoon briefing on the first simulator sessions.

For enrolled students and their sponsors.

In the afternoon, students complete their first procedural simulator session in pairs, working through a standard Kestrel pre-flight and departure checklist aloud. Each new crew is assigned a mentor from a previous cohort who now flies Kestrels professionally.