Company Defends Training Chinese Pilots

A South African flight school has confirmed that three former Canadian fighter pilots are training pilots in China but denies they're doing anything wrong. In response to questions from the Globe newspaper, Edward Lee, spokesman for the Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), said Paul Umrysh, David Monk and Craig Sharp are not passing along any NATO secrets to their Chinese students and use only open-source materials or curriculum supplied by the customer. "The training TFASA provides never includes information about NATO,” Lee told the Globe. “TFASA has strict protocols and a code of conduct in place that are designed to prevent any TFASA employee sharing any information or training that is, or might be considered to be, legally or operationally sensitive, or security classified.”

Several NATO countries, including Germany, the U.K., Canada and the U.S., are investigating the actions of former military pilots who work for TFASA. Lee said their training has already been cleared by the U.S. and U.K. but did not supply any supporting documents. Meanwhile, both the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Canadian Security Intelligence Service have confirmed they're investigating the three former Royal Canadian Air Force pilots. Lee said Canadian officials have contacted the three who have been named and an unspecified number of other TFASA employees contacted others asking them to quit their jobs. Lee said there is reason for them to stop. “Any suggestion that the company, or its employees, offer assistance in equipping foreign powers with advanced tactics, techniques or procedures, or advanced technology, is simply incorrect,” he told the Globe.