Well I was expecting an attack on here which never really happened. I have heard thru sorces that for every dollar the NZ government has put into aviation student loans they are currently getting a projected 17 cents back.
That is very poor business and you can only expect it to stop with a statistic anything like that.
I saw in a article from the NMIT that a 50 year old guy got fully trained on the student loan scheeme. If he has 80K of debt and we get another 12 years befor he fails a medical. He would have to pay $128 per week without a inflation calculation and CPI. If the IRD do the normal calculations he will never pay it back complettely. The system is flawed in the respect that many will never pay it all back. At least the Key government are prepared to look at repayments and recovery.
All those guys who have debt ( I know one guy did 220 hrs on rotor and does not have a licence ) real smart move, working in a bakery paying that off. It will get to be a real drag after 5 years.
Some guys who have licences medical are no longer valid and they cannot afford to get current to do a BFR. ( real clever and undedicated )
Piont taken, there are those out there who are serious and do pay for currency on a weekly or fortnightly thing once acheived a licence. And yes some do pay for it all themselves, good on you. However we must realise that those out there who are doing the employing are self funded oldies. So some of the posts on this site will reflect that.
Aeroclubs will not suffer any more than they are now and actually there are very few clubs in NZ who rely on the student loan system, if anything it will enhance the clubs and make them more active. Yes there will be a lot of instructors floating around unemployed, but do the sums. It is cheaper to give them the dole than have them flying burning more government money. yes they may leave the country ,,, but their debt just gets bigger, so stay in NZ where there are no jobs and drift out of the industry. best thing that could happen as they will get a job outside the industry and pay back there debt.
There was always enough pilots prior to the student loan thing, the industry was not suffering, wages were good...
NZ is a great weee country, not a place for hand outs becos it IS a loan. The government will come looking one day for the money.
NZH