Wanting to Study at Massey University NZ (Help Pls)

[yepp87]

Hello,

On July this year, I would be enrolling at the Massey Uni to get a Bachelor of Aviation - ATP. However, before I enrol Massey advised me that they would be doing an aptitude test, simulator assessment and Maths,
Physics (Aeroscience, Meteorlogy and Navigation) tests. Since I have not completed NCEA LVL 3 with Calculus and Physics, does anyone know what I should expect or how I should prepare? Since Massey Uni prefers that their students have successfully completed Calculus and Physics.

If anyone a student at Massey and if they could shed some light on how I should prepare for the Massey's requirement tests.

Greatly appreciated.


Kevin

[wantobe]

As far as I know massey is one of the harder schools to get into, as you said the pre requisites are Level 3 Calculas and physics. I didn't know you could even apply for the degree without them ? :S

[Luke SkyToddler]

Just don't even go there. Read past the glossy brochures, and you will find that Massey graduates are treated with contempt in the real world of aviation, they have about the LOWEST percentage of graduates getting into real airline jobs of virtually any school in the whole country.

Save yourself $100 grand and 3 years wasted of your life and go train at a normal flying school.

If you don't believe me, go stick your head into any crew room of any airline at any airport in the country and ask the first airline pilot you see, what their opinion of the B.Av is and whether they would send their kids to Massey.

I'm not recommending any specific other flying school - but do your research PROPERLY, talk to as many real airline pilots as you can find, and go check out every school you can, and talk to as many people as you possibly can, you'll get the same feedback regarding Massey from virtually every person in the business. Pick any other school you like but I cannot advise you wannabes strongly enough to stay away from that pack of charlatans.

[yepp87]

Hello,

Thank you for you reply, could you please tell me why Massey is such a BS school? Im really interested in Massey and I heard so many positive and negatives about Massey. I would love to hear YOUR explanation about Massey and why you are so negative about it.

With kind regards

K

[hueyshuffle]

i'm with skytoddler.
there's other schools out there that are more respected than massey. i know at least some of their instructors are a pretty good bunch and they have high standards throughout the course. However, the impression that I get is in the wider industry, especially GA, which sort of works on reputation is that massey is a bit full of itself..

also why would you spend more money and take longer? plenty of good schools out there that can do an CPL MEIR in one year and for a lot less... best thing out there (if you can afford it) is ask around and go meet people at aero clubs and do it at one of them. much more flexible organisations than big schools. if you go the big school way, ask around...and do a search on here..plenty of info out there.

also a warning: massey is a bit of a trap...you cannot leave halfway with any qualifications...you're either in for the whole ride, or you're out...can be quite expensive...

[yepp87]

Thank you for you opinion,

Although numerous number of people proposed the negative side of Massey, my primary objective (at least now) is to enrol at Massey and get a qualification, and as for my "secondary" will be probably enrol in to a SME Flight School as number of above people said.

Hows that sound??:ok:

Thanks

Kevin

[Luke SkyToddler]

It's not so much about Massey themselves as the NZ / Australian industry and how it works.

You have to understand that it in NZ it is absolutely unheard of - and I really, honestly, do mean it's impossible - for a pilot to get a job in even the smallest of regional commuter airlines with less than 1000 hours total and maybe 200 multi, and that is in exceptionally good times. When it's slow (like it is 90% of the time) the realistic minimums go up to more like 2000 TT 500 multi.

The problem with Massey is that because they model themselves on the European training model, which "does" have a successful history of providing low hour cadets for airlines, that Massey then somehow try to persuade prospective customers that because they are modelled on this system, that they will also achieve similar employment results for their graduates - without mentioning that the European culture of accepting low time pilots into the RHS is a completely alien concept in the NZ market.

Now go and put yourself in the position of a freshly graduated B.Av student who has by now figured out that he needs another 1000 hours before he's actually employable to any kind of airline, and think about where those hours are likely to come from. The path of least resistance is traditionally getting a "C" cat instructor rating. Other lucky ones get into para dropping, scenic flights, glider towing etc.

And therein lies the rub - even though all those entry level jobs are poorly paid (if at all) and poorly respected - they are as rare and sought after as gold dust, and normally exclusively allocated to (in the case of C cats) people who have actually trained at the school in question, or in the case of all the other jobs, to people who are connected or have mates of mates or been studiously buying beers and sweeping hangar floors for chief pilots etc throughout their training process. Since Massey don't actually employ their own graduates - or if they do, it's one or two chosen ones per year maximum - the rest are going to find themselves basically on the scrap heap once they've spent their money.

In other words, the whole thing with the 4 years and the $120,000 and the so called "B.Av" is a complete swizz, because you are STILL going to find yourself standing in the back of a very very long queue for a very very small handful of available jobs and flying hours. You also have absolutely no industry connections, a $120K+ student loan, and you're 4 years older and many thousand dollars poorer than the guys who did it the normal-flying-school route. See where I'm going with this?

By far the most painless way to navigate that first-thousand-hour minefield is to carefully research your training school before you start. Instead of being impressed by all the PPLs in epaulettes and the fearsome entry requirements of high school physics and simulator aptitude tests blah blah blah, you need to be looking for an outfit that preferably has a commercial arm which does some kind of non-instructing work (several kiwi aero clubs for example, have a contract to provide air ambulance services in light twins), or at the very least has a high turnover of C cats and a policy of exclusively hiring their own graduates.

The other thing that I'm treading delicately around is the fact that Massey graduates have a slight "reputation" in the business for being young, naive, being mighty big fans of "Top Gun" and wearing big watches and Ray Bans, being unaware of commercial reality, and generally thinking slightly too highly of themselves. A lot of that has to do with past history and the early days of Massey when certain management from that school made some incredibly arrogant and pompous statements around the industry and rubbed a few people the wrong way. In a lot of cases this perception is unjustified no doubt, but like it or love it it's there, and it's held by quite a few entry-level employers of pilots, who might in fact choose to bin a Massey CV and keep one from the Waikikamukau Aero Club guy instead. I won't say any more on that subject because everyone in NZ GA has an opinion on it - just canvas a few other opinions from people actually working in the industry, and you'll get to hear more than you ever wanted to hear I'm sure.

However don't take my word for it. Just think very very carefully about your options, it's a huge commitment no matter which school you choose to fly at so do your research carefully. In my opinion, the smaller, regional, aero club kind of organizations actually have a much higher success rate of getting their graduates into employment, than the big sausage factories of Auckland, Hamilton, Palmy and Christchurch. Check out some of those guys, try to see past the lack of glossy brochures and shiny epaulettes and talk to some of their students, see what they think about it.

[Turtle-Air]

Love it Luke SkyToddler (http://www.pprune.org/members/5812-luke-skytoddler), on the money.

[Boogie Knoight]

Hey

You seem to be quite in the know in regards to training in NZ. I had planned on doing my PPL at North Shore Aero, and then maybe go on to the school in Canterbury to do my CPL under the student loan scheme.
Just wondering what your opinion on these places is, if you have any at all

Thanks