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Mission Aviation
Training as a mission pilot or engineer
Have you ever considered serving overseas as a pilot or aircraft engineer? Have you ever thought of the mission aviation possibility? This area may just be what God has in store for you and there is no better place to equip yourself for this special calling than here at BCV. In conjunction with Mission Aviation Fellowship and JAARS (the aviation arm of Wycliffe Bible Translators), BCV provides you with a fantastic opportunity in ministry and in life!
The biblical aspects of training - Bible, theology, discipleship, mission and intercultural studies etc - are provided at the Lilydale campus of the Bible College of Victoria. The aviation aspects are taught at BCV's new Mission Aviation Centre situated 8 kilometres away at Coldstream airport (photographs below).
[More information about the Mission Aviation Course]
What is mission aviation?
It's hot, it's tiring, it's a foreign landscape unfolding before you at a hundred and fifty miles per hour. It's noise and vibration, a heavy load and an aching back from loading it. It's dusty and turbulent.
It's wrinkled maps and a packed lunch under the seat, a missionary family asleep in the back, exhausted and tranqilized by the cool air at ten thousand feet. It's realizing that you carry these precious servants of God in your aircraft, that you are a lifeline to them, spanning the void between their place of calling and the rest of civilization. Here you pass low over a tiny airstrip carved out of the jungle, buffalo grazing nonchantly on your runway, a Land Rover in the distance making its way to this place where sky touches earth, the missionaries and the locals anticipating your landing, waiting and waving as you taxi in. You are expected and appreciated. You are the answer to a prayer, the bearer of mail and good news, the bringer of a life-saving drug or a needed load of supplies. Here you will witness a tearful reunion between parents and their kids who reside at a boarding school some hundreds of kilometres away. Here you will pause for a tearful goodbye and a worried prayer over a very sick indigenous friend needing a hospital and this ambulance with wings. Mission flying is about being a professional in the pilot's seat, imposing Western standards of time and safety on another culture. It's about being a servant to the `least of these', discarding the cultural stereotypes often associated with flying. It's pulling the gold bars off your shoulders and spending some time on your knees, under a truck, in a ditch, or at the side of a filthy child.
 Being a missionary aviator is about flying and fixing aeroplanes, mastering them and making them useful tools. And it is about opening your heart to things beyond your control - being, at times, afraid or discouraged. This ministry is tedious work, sharing in the hardships of missionaries who make your job look easy. It is realizing that you have a part of their triumphs too, seeing the glory of God where you might least expect it. It's all the adventures of Africa and Arnhem land and New Guinea and Papua and the Philippines and Indonesia and South America, all the thrills of flying, all the frustrations of the third world, all the camaraderie of a military platoon, all the grace of the Church, and all the joy of serving. It's about being a missionary . . . who happens to be a pilot or maintenance technician. It's about being a servant to servants. It's a great job.
Course Objectives
To provide an integrated program of studies in Bible, mission, aviation, and ministry related subjects which prepares men and women to minister effectively using aviation technologies. It is expected that most students will be preparing to serve as mission pilots or aircraft engineers.
Entrance Requirements
- A definite experience of the saving grace of Christ and a stable Christian character.
- A strong desire to study God’s Word and become better equipped to serve Christ.
- Normally a settled church life for at least one year is required, including experience in personal witness and Christian service.
- normally satisfactory completion of Year 12 or its equivalent is required. Applicants who have not completed Year 12 may be admitted on consideration of other factors such as maturity, practical experience, aptitude and motivation.
- Normally a student must be 18 years old for entry to Year 1. A student may be accepted if he/she turns 18 during Year 1.
- Evidence that financial requirements for the course can be met.
- Applicants to the Flight Training Stream require the possession of a current Class 1 Medical Certificate issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). This is a comprehensive medical examination to be arranged with a CASA-approved doctor. Overseas students should consult the CASA website (www.casa.gov.au) to determine their closest approved medical examiner. If an examination by a CASA-approved examiner is not possible, overseas students may be admitted on the basis of an equivalent aviation medical certificate for commercial pilots issued by their home country. In this event, the student will be responsible for obtaining a CASA Class 1 medical certificate upon arrival in Australia. Applicants to the Aircraft Engineering Stream are required to undertake the standard BCV medical examination.
Specific Requirements
Applicants with pilot qualifications - applicants who have completed the General Flying Progress Test (GFPT) or higher qualifications will be required to undertake a flight assessment and log book inspection by the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) of the Mission Aviation Course or a person approved by him. Applicants with no previous aviation experience or less than a GFPT will be required to undertake an interview with the Dean, Department of Mission Aviation, following receipt of application papers. This interview may be conducted by phone if a personal interview cannot be organised.
The Dean will also arrange an assessment flight of such applicants in order to assess aptitude. This is at the applicant's expense. Students who have received some flight training will also be required to arrange for a written report to be sent to the Dean by the CFI of the flying school at which the flight training was received.
Applicants must demonstrate aptitude for the Course. This will be assessed during the application process by interview and practical assessment.
Advanced Standing
Students who have already completed some flight training may be admitted to the Flight Training Stream with advanced standing. Similarly, applicants to the Engineering Stream who have already undertaken training which directly parallels the curriculum may be admitted with advanced standing. Each application for advanced standing will be evaluated against course requirements.
Course Requirements
Students in the Flight Training Stream complete a Commercial Pilot Licence, including Night VFR and Command Instrument Ratings, plus a minimum of 14 hours of post-CPL Advanced Flight Training. Students in the Aircraft Engineering Stream complete all theory requirements for the Certificate IV in Aeroskills and are assessed against the competencies associated with that Certificate. Those who proceed to the Diploma of Mission Aviation (Engineering) are required to complete all CASA theory exams for Airframe and Engine licences.
Mission Aviation Camp
When you move 40 teenagers and 12 student leaders into an aviation school for five days the results are more than sleeping bags all over the hangar floor and long queues for the showers. Mission Aviation Camp, usually held every second year, is a great opportunity to expose young people to aviation and how it is being used around the world to help the spread of the gospel.
Our days are filled with activities, classes, projects, flights, excursions and worship times. The week results in new friendships formed, deeper spiritual commitments, and some students feeling that God is directing them into a career in mission aviation.
Here's what some past campers had to say:
"This has to top the list of best things I’ve ever done!!"
"It was an awesome camp and has inspired me to come back to learn mission aviation."
"Great camp for my flying and Christianity."
"I really loved the camp and it opened my eyes to many opportunities to serve God with a career in aviation. I will definitely be thinking (and praying of course!) about doing a course at MAC."
camp@mac.bcv.edu.au
Enquiries
For information about the mission aviation course or fees, please contact:
The Assistant Dean, Department of Mission Aviation
Bible College of Victoria
PO Box 380
Lilydale Vic 3140
Email: dsearle@bcv.vic.edu.au
Phone: 61 3 9735 0011
Fax: 61 3 9735 0721
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