How mechanical engineer turned aviation fuel expert
What you need to know:
- However, Puma Energy Tanzania aviation operations manager Raymond Tungaraza says there is nothing strange in that.
Dar es Salaam. One may get surprised to hear that kerosene can power aircraft.
However, Puma Energy Tanzania aviation operations manager Raymond Tungaraza says there is nothing strange in that.
Being an aviation fuel expert for 26 years, Tungaraza affirms that is not a fiction.
But it should not be used haphazardly as densities are different from those of kerosene used to light up homes or for cooking.
Before joining the then BP Tanzania (now Puma) in 1992, Tungaraza worked with Bugando Hospital.
Before, he was a transport officer with the Ministry of Health.
He also worked as a technical inspector in a project funded by Simavi – a Dutch public health organisation.
He was also involved with a project on evaluating and rehabilitating the transport system of all medical centres at the Ministry of Health.
“It was not easy to change my profession. I met various experts at Puma Energy Tanzania and learnt about aviation fuel. It was new to me, but being a mechanical engineer I mastered the work,” he says.
He says working with Puma Energy Tanzania has made him famous in aviation fuel although no college teaches that field.
Indeed last year, he was honoured for being a long-serving employee.
“Aviation fuel expertise requires a high level of understanding as fuel is everything in the aircraft.
You cannot land or take off without it. By the time, we were only two: Mosha and I. Mosha has since retired after working with Tipper. I teach young to take up the job when I retire.”
He advocates Tanzania’s investment in aviation fuel training.“We need many such experts as we are now on the age of retiring.”
Before Tungaraza joined Puma Energy, he got a job in South Africa. “But I chose to work with Puma Energy because its working environment is good. We have a good medical scheme and a caring management. For instance, workers receive money for paying school fees for their children annually.”
Tungaraza studied mechanical engineering at Tanga Technical School from 1974 to 1977. He later joined Arusha Technical School from 1977 to 1981 and was awarded a Full Technical Certificate. Later he studied engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam. He also underwent refresher courses abroad.
