Air Service Training Perth UK aircraft maintenance training

Air Service Training Divisions

History of AST

The Aeronautical Engineering College, founded by John Davenport opened in 1931 at Hamble in Hampshire and operated there until 1960, when it moved to the present venue. During its history, we have trained over 12,000 engineers and pilots from 150 countries.

For many years Air Service Training (previously Airwork Services Training) was a member of the British & Commonwealth group of companies responsible to the main Company Board via Airwork Limited at Hurn. After a management buy-out in 1988 the Bricom Group of Companies were formed and AST became responsible to the main Board via Bristow Helicopters Limited.

In November 1991, as a result of another management buy-out Air Service Training Limited became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bristow Helicopter Group Limited. With the closure of the AST Flying college, the Aeronautical Engineering College became a wholly owned subsidiary of Perth College UHI in September 1996, when the newly formed company name was changed to Air Service Training (Engineering) Limited.

As you might expect from such a long-standing organisation, AST has an impressive list of former students having trained such famous aviators as: Mrs Victor Bruce, the first female pilot to circumnavigate the globe; Amy Johnson, famous for her record-breaking flights to Australia and Japan, and Sir Alan Cobham, founder of the famous ‘flying circus’ and the Cobham Company which is still trading internationally today.

The core business of the College has been approved by ARB/CAA/JAA./EASA for training of aeronautical maintenance engineers in all categories and professional pilots.

Capabilities

AST was amongst the first schools to receive JAR-147 approval to deliver and assess the JAR-66 Ab-Initio course. Since that time it has achieved approval under the EASA IR Part 147 regulations and has been the preferred training provider of major national and international companies, such as:

Royal Brunei Airlines
Cathay Pacific
British Airways
BMI British Midland
EasyJet
Air Seychelles
Kuwait Airways
Malaysia Airways
Sudan Airways
Aer Lingus
Libyan National Oil Corporation
Lufthansa Technik Malta
Malaysia Helicopter Services
CHC Scotia
Bristow Helicopters Ltd
PDG Helicopters Ltd

Additionally, AST has been the preferred training provider for aircraft engineer licensing for several military and governmental organisations, including:

Royal Flight of Oman
Kuwait Air Force
Bahrain Defence Force
United Arab Emirates Air Force & Air Defence
Kuwait Ministry of the Interior
Ghana CAA
Botswana Defence Force
Kenyan Police Air Wing
British Army Air Corps

In addition to the approved courses designed to meet the requirements of engineer licensing, AST has also provided bespoke training to meet the training needs of individuals and organisations. This training is designed using a 5 tier training needs analysis process and has produced many successful programmes, such as: