Aviation International News senior correspondent Ian Goold has been involved in aerospace since 1964 and in aviation media for more than 40 years. He enjoyed a 20-year career at Flight International magazine, where he was latterly air-transport editor before turning freelance in 1993. A winner of the European Regions Airline Association Hank McGonagle award for excellence in aerospace journalism and a Royal Aeronautical Society Aerospace Journalist of the Year global&nbsp;award, he has edited or contributed to aerospace and aviation magazines, special publications, and websites in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and North and South America. Ian entered aerospace as an apprentice at the British Aircraft Corporation at Brooklands (Weybridge), where he worked on production and final assembly lines of the Vickers Super VC10, and BAC One-Eleven , and manufacture of Concorde major sub-assemblies. He subsequently graduated from the BAC Design Training School to work in the airframe structures drawing office (including design of international future projects, such as the Panavia Tornado multi-role combat aircraft) before joining Flight International in 1973. Apart from years of reading aircraft magazines and books, his first direct contact with aviation media had come during the early 1970s when he was involved at Brooklands with the Weybridge Man-powered Aircraft Group, which designed and built the tenth aircraft to fly under purely human power. As an aviation journalist, he has worked at more than&nbsp; 50 of the major biennial&nbsp;global and regional international aerospace industry shows at Le Bourget, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai (having missed attending only one "Farnborough" since 1960), plus innumerable NBAA, HAI, (U.S.) AOPA, and EBACE Conventions and ERA Assemblies. His favourite aircraft is the Hawker Hunter, of which – as a schoolboy – he heard hundreds make their first flights from Dunsfold, where also on September 24, 2013, he saw the penultimate landing of the VC10 (happily involving an example of which he had witnessed the maiden takeoff in 1970) a day before the last example made the design's final flight (unless, of course....).

Senior correspondent

Ian Goold

Show organizer F&amp;E Aerospace has designated Thursday as the Dubai AIr Show's inaugural Futures Day, which will be dedicated to inspiring the UAE’s young people to build careers in the industry. The day will focus on the recruitment, education, and training of home-grown talent. Accordingly, senior-level students from key UAE colleges and universities have been invited to attend the event. The United Emirates will begin celebrating its 40th anniversary in December.
“We are launching Futures Day to highlight the fact that it is now vital to prepare training facilities and equipment to cater for the huge numbers of young people required as pilots and technicians for this region in the future to keep the aerospace industry flourishing,” explained F&amp;E Aerospace managing director Alison Weller. “The thrill of flying is waiting to be discovered at Futures Day where young people will have the opportunity to speak to industry experts, who will undoubtedly inspire them to be part of this exciting and multi-faceted industry and advise them on how they can plot their education path to achieve a satisfying career in aviation.”
In promoting the day ahead of this week's show, the organizers presented it as an opportunity for exhibitors and sponsors to:
<ul>
<li>inspire young minds to forge a career in aerospace;</li>
<li>engage students with fun and interactive programs;</li>
<li>advise on careers within their companies and industry sectors;</li>
<li>collaborate with F&amp;E Aerospace on bespoke initiatives to reach visiting students; and</li>
<li>support Futures Day with a sponsorship package.</li>
</ul>
The packages, available at various sums up to $5,000, will allow participant companies to make ten-minute workshop presentations to 400 students, highlight education and recruitment programs, hold exhibitor stand or chalet sessions for groups of 20 students, and show company branding and logos on related air-show materials and publications.
The Futures Day is being preceded by&nbsp;the inaugural Gulf Aviation Training Event (GATE) conference running over two half-days today and tomorrow [November 14 and 15] that will address future flight training requirements for the Middle East’s commercial aviation sector. The conference program includes sessions on oversight of third-party training by airlines and lawmakers, flight crew selection, evidence-based training, and manual handling in airline training.
The initiative takes place as the UAE confirms its strategy of "Emiratization" to bring increasing numbers of local citizens into the workplace. In mid-September, the national government endorsed plans for annual training programs aimed at reducing unemployment and increasing Emirati numbers in the private sector.
The strategy includes new employee objectives and targets for annually trained workers, as well as providing accurate and regular information on Emiratization rates in all sectors. It covers several initiatives aimed at increasing communal participation in emiratisation "issues" and competitiveness among UAE employees, and integrating related policies.
An example of the strategy in practice has been a move earlier this year by Dubai Airports to develop leadership among UAE employees through the appointment of two Emiratis to executive positions as vice-presidents of human resources and of learning and development. The airports operator says that " 'delivering' competent people, thriving in a great place to work"' is a pillar of corporate strategy and paramount to its success as an organization.
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Futures Day Aims to Draw in UAE’s Next Generation of High Flyers

The Dubai Air Show's Futures Day will be dedicated to inspiring the UAE’s young people to build careers in aviation.

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