A South African flight training school that reportedly trains Chinese military pilots says it has some former members of the Royal Canadian Air Force on its payroll. The Test Flying Academy of South Africa (TFASA), in a statement to The Globe and Mail, did not announce its Chinese customers, but said it has customers in the Asia-Pacific region. He also said that any military aircraft training he provides does not reveal classified information. TFASA, a training school for test pilots and flight engineers, said it employs several Canadians who have worked in the Canadian military. “Most of the Canadians would be ex-RCAF, but some of them may be privately trained or civilian-trained pilots,” the company, with operations in Oudtshoorn, South Africa, said in a statement. Canadian military investigates former Western fighter pilots training Chinese air force TFASA said the military aircraft it uses to train clients are no later than third-generation fighters and the aircraft are not from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries. The third-generation fighters are those of the 1960s and 1970s. “Nothing is currently operational by the RCAF,” the company said. The company said it’s “not classified tactics training or air-to-air combat, but really the kind of basic training you’d get from any flight school: air stability, maneuvering and that sort of thing.” In a separate statement posted on the company’s website, The Test Flying Academy said the same training can be found in Canada and other Western countries. “The training it provides is also available from other civilian contractors, including organizations based in the United States, Canada and European jurisdictions.” Last month, Canada’s Department of National Defense said it would investigate whether former Canadian fighter pilots were helping the Chinese military after reports in Britain and Australia that Beijing was recruiting Westerners to train its own air force. On Thursday, however, a Canadian Armed Forces general told MPs there was nothing the military could do about it. Brigadier General Denis Boucher, director of General Defense Security, told the Commons defense committee that what people do after they leave the Canadian Forces is not policed by the military. “We are aware of the allegations and this matter is of great concern to us,” he said. “But these are post-recruitment activities,” said Brigadier General. Bowser said. “They are not under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Armed Forces.” Brigadier-General Bouche said the military referred the matter to the Department of Justice. He said ex-RCAF members were still bound by the provisions of the Information Security Act. But the policing that falls under the Judiciary. Conservative defense critic James Bezan said he thinks the military is “passing the buck” on this issue. “These non-disclosure agreements that RCAF pilots sign as they leave the force are between National Defense and the individual, not CSIS, not the RCMP, not the Government of Canada,” he said. “To disclaim their responsibility here is in my opinion ridiculous.” He said that even if a company uses third-generation fighters for training, it would still be concerned that ex-military pilots would share warfighting techniques used by NATO member countries. In the statement on its website, TFASA also said that its trainers do not pass on secrets to its clients. None, he said, “is in possession of legally or operationally sensitive information related to the national security interests of any country, either those from which its employees come or to which it provides training.” In late October, British media and the New York Times, citing government sources, reported that Beijing was recruiting Westerners to train its own air force. Britain’s Times newspaper, among other media outlets, reported that South Africa’s Test Flying Academy was approaching pilots to find veterans who could train People’s Liberation Army (PLA) pilots. The BBC and others reported that up to 30 ex-military pilots had gone to train members of China’s PLA. The Australian newspaper reported that Australians were among this group of pilots and the Daily Mail reported that Canadians were also being recruited.
