Dick Smith says Chinese companies infiltrating Australian airports is a “complete disaster for Australia”.

Flight schools and smaller airports are being bought by cashed-up Chinese businesses while Australia faces a serious shortage of commercial pilots.

The Australian has revealed today at least three multi-million dollar ventures in NSW and Queensland involving Chinese companies are in the works and it could harm local industry.

Former chairman of the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority (CASA), Dick Smith, tells Chris Smith bureaucracy is doing “everything it can to destroy general aviation in Australia”.

“It’s complete madness.

“Every time I go down there and say we have got to have a viable general aviation industry, they stop it.”

Mr Smith says we must prioritise our Australian pilots over Chinese investment.

“We have this extraordinary safety record. I think substantially because we have Australian trained pilots.

“Well, within the next five years… I understand most of our pilots will be coming from overseas.

“Is that what we want? Why can’t we have our own Australian pilots?”

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