Airpower’s Apprentice Stood Out at Kubota National Skills Contest

Airpower’s dedication to support and train apprentices has been recognised in the recent Kubota National Skills Contest.

Airpower Darwin based 3rd year apprentice, Ethan Neaves, was placed 2nd at the Kubota National Skills Contest in Melbourne. Ethan Neaves was nominated to represent Northern Territory and Queensland with strong support from Kubota Regional Service Manager, Jon Neville. Jon said he was very impressed with the speed of Ethan’s diagnostics, knowledge and ability.

Contestants were from each Service Zone in Australia and Ethan was the only apprentice, whereas all the other contestants had at least 5 years post trade experience. All judges and other Kubota Tractor Australia staff, including Jon Neville, witnessed Ethan’s impressive competition results. “Ethan was the only person to complete all tasks assigned to him which is a great achievement in itself,” Mr. Neville said.

Unfortunately, the contestant with a little more experience took the first place. He missed out the first place by only a few points and was well up in the order of contestants.

“I was proud to have Ethan representing my Zone and all judges agreed that he is a young man with a fantastic future in the industry and we sincerely hope to see Ethan at future competitions, where we believe that with his experience, he will again be a major contender!,” Mr. Neville said.

Airpower is enormously proud of the number of apprentices, including Ethan, we have trained over the past 40 years. We help apprentices become skilled technicians, with excellent internal training provided by the product manufacturers and mentoring from qualified technicians who contribute to local businesses.