This is in some ways just a variation of a theme played out by many in different industries.
If ya really, really want to do the aviation sob,sob, whinge, whinge..............yahoo! thing. Grab it by the balls. You'll find a way to make the payments.
I've friends with all sorts of degrees that own "heaps" to the government. There is a minimum wage earnt before the Gov starts slicing into your income. Overseas travel can be done if you go through the right hoops.
In the end taking the loan, doing all the training at one school and trying to get on line there as an Instructor is a good initial plan.
The Gov loan won't go away but they aren't interested in driving you to poverty to get their money back (I think
)
They are interested in people being able to get higher education, earn larger paychecks and pay more back in Taxes.