Aviation Degree when you already have ATPL

[WannaBeBiggles]

Curious as to whether anyone out there has done an aviation degree when you already have your CPL and ATPL's.

There seems to be a fairly major difference between some of the degree when it comes to recognising those qualifications, seems to be anything from 6 months off to 18 months off the degree!

[rmcdonal]

UNSW offered entry into the Master of Sci/ Tech (Aviation) without a previous degree if you held an ATPL with 2 years industry Exp. I think its 4 years industry Exp. now. University of New South Wales - School of Aviation - UNSW Aviation Postgraduate Information (http://www.aviation.unsw.edu.au/future/futurepgrad.html)

How long it takes depends on how many courses you take per semester. A full load is 18UOC or 3 full subjects, you need 9 courses for a Masters so 18 months is about right full time. If you are working full time as well you can get away with 1 subject per semester with out to many issues, and 2 if you work a bit harder. 3 is likely to be too much as you need to score a credit average to move to the next level.
If you pull out with:
4 Subjects you get a Grad Cert
6 Subjects you get a Grad Dip

[beat ups are fun]

I've often thought about this myself. i suppose the real question is, will it open more doors for employment?

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

I enrolled in one of those courses with a BSc, CPL, a few thousand hours, a few years in undustry and ATPL subjects done.. I got lots of exemptions from aviation units but still had to do other stuff, minors or electives or whatever they were called.. Found the course boring, completely unchallenging and irrelevant, more like school than uni, so never bothered to finish it. Each to thier own, it may suit other people OK and there are always good networking opportunities at places like that.

[Lasiorhinus]

I've often thought about this myself. i suppose the real question is, will it open more doors for employment?

Yes it will, but none of those jobs are actually flying aircraft.

[Slippery_Pete]

Off topic, but...

I remember at uni they took some hot-shot mission commander from the RAAF P3 and gave him two years credit for the three year aviation degree.

He had absolutely nil experience actually flying/controlling an aircraft, and no knowledge of even the simplest aerodynamics concepts. I was disgusted and complained to the highest academic in the department. Nothing changed.

Towards the end of the final year, one subject (which was designed to improve technical language and presentation skills) required an impromptu oral presentation on a simple topic. The lecturer provided topics as you walked to the front, and then you had to give a ten minute presentation straight off the bat.

RAAF legend walks up the front in his flight suit ("I've just come straight from the airbase" :ok:), after being assigned "aerodynamic stalling" or some such, and proceeds to talk for ten minutes about how "we stall the engines on the P3 all the time during training, and sometimes we even stall two at the same time because RAAF pilots are better than their civilian counterparts".

When he realised everyone was pissing themselves laughing, he looked like he was going to cry.

Didn't change a thing though... now holds his Bachelor of Aviation and probably doesn't know what an aileron is. He got a free ride, the uni got their cash, so everyone was happy. :mad:

[superG3]

Couldn't agree more with the previous posts. I think they are a waste of time and these courses will not help you get your first twin job or into an airline. If you have your heart set on a degree I would look at something you can actually use ( in case you lose your medical etc) like engineering, IT, economics, management, the list goes on. I fly with a lot of guys who have a trade qualification aswell, comes in handy on days off.

Edit : sorry I realize you where not after opinions on weather or not these courses are worthwhile, just my 2cents. On topic I believe that an ATPL with a IR is diploma or associate diploma not sure which, but you will get course credits no matter which degree you choose.

Cheers

[Seabreeze]

If you check the website, you might find that UNSW Aviation has postgraduate degrees which:
* insist you do the full course requirements (ie no advanced standing for ATPL or scrambled eggs on your hat),
* have subjects which have good depth and scope so you might learn a little,
* are intended to build knowledge of the industry for people already in aviation management, wondering how the aviation industry works, or who are planning to move to management, and
* have course leaders who have credibility via a good track record of senior management and/or academic qualifications.

These degrees will probably not help in getting a job flying, but could well help in getting a pilot/management job.

I don't think they are in the same category as those which CFI, Slippery Pete, & SuperG3 experienced.

[rmcdonal]

I agree with Seabreeze, the UNSW Masters Course is not to teach you about flying, but to provide an understanding of the management side of the aviation business. Useful for pilots moving into management roles, if that's the direction you want to steer your career.

[flying-spike]

I did my masters through Newcastle and they do give RPL for an ATPL. Given my background I ended up with too much RPL for a degree so I had to do the masters. Not that I blowing my own horn, just that being an older bloke I have worked in a few different areas of the industry and that attracted more RPL points.