Massey Uni vs Ardmore FS vs Eagle FS

[yepp87]

Hello,

Im planning to study to become a professional pilot and would some information on where to get started. I've read number of flight school however Im a bit confused as there are so many positive and negative sides to FSs. Could someone shed some light on how the above three schools? Massey Uni vs Ardmore Flight School vs Eagle Flight Training
Thanks!

[KING PIN]

are you looking at student loan or pay as you go?

Massey Uni and Ardmore flying school can both do student loans

but eagle doesnt do student loans......

i am just starting my flight training at the moment and i am paying as i go becuase it suits my circumstances alot better .

i highly recommend first to decide if you are going to do it thru student loan or pay as you go .... then the next step would be to research around and find a place which wuits your needs....

I have researched every place in auckland for 3-4 months and my helpful ppruners have also helped me out alot with research and guidance....

thats my 2 cents anyway......

[minimum_wage]

When are you looking at doing your flight training? It will be interesting to see what happens with this one....





New Zealand Aviation Academy

In May 2008 Air New Zealand announced its decision to establish an internationally recognised and accredited ‘centre of excellence’ that delivers an all-encompassing portfolio of airline training. The aviation academy, as it has come to be known, will train customer service staff, cabin crew, engineers and pilots for Air New Zealand and other airlines within the Asia Pacific region.
Since the announcement, work has been underway to further develop courses for customer-services and engineering trainees. Discussions have taken place between Air New Zealand and various government agencies involved in the tertiary education sector; and between Air New Zealand and the RNZAF. With encouraging progress made on both of these fronts, we are now at the stage of focusing on the flight-training element of the aviation academy.

Ab-initio Flight Training for the Aviation Academy

Air New Zealand is exploring the option of expanding the flight training faculty of the academy from the current provision of full-flight-simulator-based courses to an all-encompassing “street to seat” programme. This would likely involve working with one or more Part 141-accredited flight training organisations to deliver the ab-initio phases. Jet type rating conversions for foreign airline cadets and other airline-specific programmes will be carried out in Air New Zealand’s full-flight simulators, when required. Several business models are possible, and determining the option that best delivers on the academy objectives is our primary task at present.
Industry consultation to determine the optimal way to leverage the ab-initio pilot training opportunities and, in particular, potential structure of delivery, will begin in February 2010.
Any affiliate training organisation can expect the support and direct involvement of Air New Zealand personnel in curriculum development, programme delivery and monitoring of academy training courses.
The aviation academy concept assumes that the majority of students attending the academy will be foreign-airline cadets who will complete their flight training (CPL, MEIR, ATPL Theory, Airline Preparation, Jet Bridging and Type Rating courses) between Air New Zealand and the academy’s partner suppliers. It is expected that airline multi-crew concepts will be incorporated into the curriculum from the first day of training. A relatively small number of domestic students will also be part of the mix, who, on successful graduation, could be available to local and regional airlines.

Academy Flight Training Objectives
Through the establishment of the flight training wing of the aviation academy, together with the redesign of our Group-wide recruitment strategies and procedures currently underway, Air New Zealand aims to:

Q Define an industry-generated standard for airline-pilot training. We are working with the government to help the tertiary education sector achieve a closer alignment between what it produces and what New Zealand industries need. Our aviation academy will actively support that goal because it will be designed for and by an airline. Consequently, the flight training programme will include merit-based, competitive entry procedures and achievement-dependent progression criteria (as is the case for all other EFTS-capped tertiary courses of study).

Q Achieve a greater involvement in New Zealand aviation’s grass roots. Many of you have told us that Air New Zealand has not communicated well its pilot needs to the flight training industry. By becoming directly involved with ab initio flight training, we will be ‘on the shop floor’, leading the airline-focused training carried out in our academy.

Q Improve the educational and financial performance of academy-affiliated providers The intention is to ensure that government investment in aviation-related tertiary education is focused on productive outcomes for the New Zealand sector, and supplements the provision of world-leading training. The academy aims to maximise facility utilisation by training foreign airline cadets—from effects of controls through to jet type rating. This will provide foreign-exchange-earning opportunities for participating ab initio flight trainers.

Q Establish a career path for pilots. Domestic students, on successful completion of their flight training, will have the opportunity to first work for the Air New Zealand Group as instructors within the academy, gaining experience, before a merit-based move to a position as a first officer with a regional carrier.

Consultation with Industry

Clearly, there is a lot of work ahead: much of that work will entail dialogue with the flight training industry.
Attached to the letter to flight trainers will be a survey designed to gather information about New Zealand’s current ab initio flight training capacity and capabilities, and to gauge the level of interest in participating in the aviation academy. Flight trainers are asked to indicate whether or not they will attend one of a series of cluster-group discussions to be held around the country in February. Also involved in these discussions will be Aviation New Zealand, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Association that specialises in marketing the New Zealand aviation industry internationally.

[KING PIN]

i would like to know if they have started that scheme/program....

[lilflyboy262]

That scheme has been in the pipeline for over 2 years. I wouldnt hold my breath.

I would choose eagle flight training anyday of the week. Training is top notch from instructors that have been operational for years.

[Lindstrim]

Have heard stories about that. Originaly I believe it was with CTC in the Tron but rumour is the 2-5 pilots they got from there either got sent back to do more training or were grounded completely and now they are looking at other flight schools around the country.

This is 3rd or 4th hand so dont know the full story

[KING PIN]

at the rate they are going i dont think it will be anytime soon then....

[wantobe]

I'am starting at ardmore soon, providing i pass my medical (tomorow :O) , to be honest theres not many choices if youre on student loan and live in auckland.. its eitha leave auckland and go to Massey or stay in auckland and go to ardmore. however if youre paying youre self, then you can shop around a lot more.

[KING PIN]

i agree with wantobe.... hence i went with the pay as you go option which lets me stay in auckland and work part time and also i can choose where i want to train and pace myself out rather than rushing thru it....'

btw ... Good luck with you medical ... i have to go for mine too some day soon lol.... let me know how it went and how they actually test you so i am prepared for it lol.......

[wantobe]

Sorry orignal poster if this isnt relevant, but I am sure youll need this info some time soo aswell, Well I went for the medical today and to be honest its not as stressfull as some people make it out to be, as theres not much info about NZ medicals on here (even though they are pretty siminlar).

I did the following,
Audiogram
Spiromtetry
ECG
Eye sight (colour blind test etc)
Urine test and I have to do my blood test tomorow as it requires fasting.

The doc said everything was fine and normal , except my heart rate was a bit abnormal but he said it might just be the machine playing up ? So he is going to refer it to a cardiologist for a second opinion, and if i don't hear from them means everythings fine. Oh and also he stands you up and pokes you around a little bit just to pretty much see if you can move properly, he does TOUCH you in places also so beware haha.

Hoping for the best, oh and it cost me $370..
the best bit was the nurse gave me a big bag of condoms ! all sorts. l0l. I was a bit confused ? :S l0l
Hope this helps.

Goodluck with yours kingpin.

[KING PIN]

thanks for that wantobe... i have PMd you...

[hueyshuffle]

Why are you only considering Auckland for your flight training? And Massey? Plenty of other places in NZ to look at...

[lilflyboy262]

And much better places.

Tauranga, Whangarei are two names that spring to mind that offer top notch training.

[brad_nz90]

come to the international aviation academy In Christchurch, Did all my training there goes real good

[Jimbo33]

IAANZ in Christchurch....steer clear, I'm a student there at the moment, and it's been just one huge disappointment.

They have a CEO who's only concern is making money, instructors lecturing subjects they have little idea about and an overall feeling of negativity pervades the place.

Don't get me wrong, they do have some great, passionate instructors...but sadly they are in the minority.

If you want a school that teaches what you need to pass the exam, then this is the place to come. If, however, you want a school that is going to teach you to be the best pilot you can be, try elsewhere.

[Oktas8]

The NZ Aviation Academy concept is a great idea to bring truly vertically integrated training into the domestic NZ scene (leaving aside CTC who already do that for the Euro scene in competition with other big Euro schools). But I think it will change nothing in the long run in the domestic scene, except perhaps some more standardisation across flying schools.

Flying schools in NZ must take the good students with the bad, as "competitive entry" only lasts as long as the first downturn. It's very difficult to get rid of a bad student who has lots of money, as s/he will always have a good lawyer and negotiable ethics and it is always the path of least resistance to grant them just one more test attempt. Inevitably some bad students get through the final test by attempting the test numerous times (legally in NZ everyone has the right to fail as many times as their wallet allows). Having finally passed, who will deny them their place in the airline cockpit? Then the entire school will have a weaker reputation and a weaker ability to attract the good students on whom its reputation depends.

Secondly, if most students are to be foreign airline cadets, it is those foreign airlines who will dictate the cost and therefore quality of the courses run. In my experience, foreign airlines shopping in NZ for flying training invariably drive a very hard bargain indeed, paying bottom dollar for ... top quality? I don't think so!

But some will say that Air NZ can drive high quality for its own cadets. However, it's very difficult for an instructor to give high quality training to course A and two hours later give cheap training to course B. After two or three years cadets on courses A and B both find themselves with training of merely average reputation (whether justified or not) - just like JB's Excellent Aero Club just down the road. Since JB's EAC doesn't have the high overheads, they will undercut on price. Those foreign airlines are probably happy to use JB's EAC for flight training, so the Academy must lower prices to match. And so we have just another two flying schools striving to deliver the best training possible on rock bottom dollars.

I didn't intend this to be a depressing negation of Air NZ's idea. If it improves career certainty for pilots, great! If it allows progression to Air NZ based on more accurate measures of merit, even more great! But centre of excellence? Not so much.