These days, you very often hear of University students obtaining degrees that ultimately have nothing to do with the careers that they eventually pursue. However, there was a time when it was not like this and Captain William Roe is a classic example. He is the Aviation Advisor to the Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) and from the day he left high school, his career path was established with his choice of the subjects he read at university. “My Bachelor's degree was in Aeronautical Science, with an emphasis in Business Administration and with Corporate Aviation as a minor. Then my Master's degree was a traditional Business Administration degree with an emphasis on aviation – so everything had an aviation slant to it,” he remarked. Roe is a big, friendly Texan with a strong voice, and exudes confidence. ‘I was born and raised in Dallas, and I pretty much completed my professional life there and in Florida. When I got serious about going to school, I moved to Florida and that is where I met my wife.” He attended the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, recognized by Time Magazine as ‘The Harvard of the Sky'. It is a private university and is the largest fully accredited aviation and aerospace university in the world. “I was at the main campus in Daytona Beach, Florida. They have very rigorous and structured flight programmes, and have Master's programs and now PhD programs,” explained Roe. “There is a smaller campus in Prescott, Arizona and they also offer Embry-Riddle Worldwide programs which provide online learning and other smaller satellite residential centers.” Based in both Riyadh and Jeddah, Roe has now been with SBG for nearly three years. “I have a number of projects that I am working on, but my main focus is the Saudi Aviation Flight Academy (SAFA). SAFA will primarily be a flight school located north of Riyadh which will be the cornerstone on which to develop general aviation in Saudi Arabia. The ultimate aim is to develop a high quality, almost university-style flight training program. In addition, I have other smaller projects that take up the balance of my time, like aircraft acquisition and infrastructure projects. I am also a pilot and I do a little bit of flying for the company, but mainly just to fill in from time to time. Part of being involved in the acquisition of aircraft is that you need to be a pilot to have some understanding of the task. It also helps me to understand more when I have to crew the aircraft, and find the right person and personality fit to fly it.” SAFA is primarily for training Saudi pilots and Roe was also the advisor on which type of training aircraft to purchase. “We are using Diamond Aircraft Industries' aircraft, which is an Austrian-built aeroplane. In my opinion, they have the most advanced single and twin-engined training aircraft in the world. They are all composite designs with modern avionic systems, they perform extremely well in hot weather conditions, fuel is readily available in the region at a reasonable price, and they have an industry-leading safety record. They are very nice aircraft to fly, very responsive, and due to the fleet-wide installation of air conditioning, they are also very comfortable.” Roe showed me a model aircraft complete with the company logo and colors. “This is a DA42 NG which is the twin-engined aircraft, and the single is the DA40 NG.” The other important requirement is instructors and the group is in the process of recruiting them. “We currently have people on board from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the UK, the US, South Africa, Australia and Canada – so it is a truly international cast,” Roe said. We haven't actually started training yet but we are going to start in the very near future, once our processes, policies and procedures are in place to ensure we can provide a quality experience to the customer. We have recently moved our complete staff from Jeddah to Riyadh for training and are working toward that goal on a daily basis. We intend to train out of temporary facilities at Thumamah Airport until our permanent facilities are completed, about a 20-minute drive north of Riyadh.” The qualifications that the pilots in training will earn will be from the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) which is based on the American Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) system and is an internationally recognized qualification. In addition, SAFA will be maintaining their own aircraft, so engineers and mechanics will also be recruited. “We also intend to sell Diamond aircraft in the Kingdom, to those who are interested; therefore, we will have the opportunity to train pilots in the same aircraft they may own some day, and of course we will be in a position to provide after-sales support as well,” he added. Roe has no hesitation in saying what he enjoys about his job: “The diversity! I am dealing with a lot of interesting people, I have quite a bit of responsibility and I'm accountable for a number of things. I thrive on the challenge, and I would say more so in the time management aspects than anything else because when you are faced with multiple projects, how much time do you give to each one? For me, that is certainly one of the more challenging and rewarding aspects of the position.” He went on to describe one of the hazards that they have become aware of. “In Riyadh, we had a dramatic and ferocious sandstorm. One minute it was a nice, happy day out in the park and in a matter of minutes people were running for cover. It was almost the equivalent of being sucked into a tornado without the tornado siren going off. I thought I was going to die. So part of our project is building an area where all the planes are going to be parked. What we have learned is that we obviously have to really focus on the strength of the covers that these aeroplanes will go underneath and also make sure that we have extremely solid tie-downs, and that we are diligent about securing every aircraft after every flight. In addition, we have written a chapter on sandstorms in our Emergency Response and Safety Management System Manuals on what to do, because what if you have students out flying and this freak event occurs and you can't safely land? You need to have an alternative, a way to tell the crew what is going on and then tell them to proceed to the alternate airport immediately. Their fuel status needs to be managed and numerous other considerations taken into account, so it has required us to develop a whole set of procedures, just around that one event,” he explained. In terms of what he enjoys about working as an expatriate in Saudi Arabia, he again has an instantaneous answer. “I like the opportunity to be able to make a difference. My view is that we are all here as expatriates, working hard to support various industries and help in areas where others might not have the expertise or time. I feel that when we all leave here, we should be able to look back and see that we have made a difference – in a positive direction, of course!”
