Bachelor of aviation (flying) degree
 

Hi just wanted to know if anyone could help
I am a year 12 student in NSW and I just wanted to know which Bachelor of aviation (flying) degree is the best out of:
1. UNSW
2. Griffith
3. Swinburne
And also which has the best chance of getting accepted into the Qantas/Qantas link cadet programs or any other Australian airlines cadet program.
Cheers Will

Suggest you do a search
 

These are all frequent questions

I think the rankings put out by the sort of people who do that thing put Swinburne first, but really, it doesn't matter.

The best for you? UNSW stay at home, save your money.

Should you do a degree? Should you do an aviation degree? It's been discussed 1,000 times here and it's down to personal preference and life goals.

Best chance of getting into QF? None, academic qualifications are mostly just a tick in the box to get your resume to the next stage.

If QF exists in its' current form in the forseeable future?

I can only speak for UNSW but if you attend one of their information sessions, they do seem to emphasise that their graduates wind up in the CX cadet program, RAAF and Qantas Link.

I have three friends who are doing the course and they are enjoying it. I would personally still stay away from the aviation degree though, which I know has been discussed quite a lot. Don't get me wrong though, I would say that in the future, having a degree will be important.

Also, I think limiting your scope to just cadet programs isn't the best of ideas. You also have to take into account your long term goals and thinking about which degree will get you into a cadet program probably isn't the best way to go. I'll use myself as an example. I got accepted into ADFA as a RAAF Pilot last year for 2011, but with the degrees they offered, it didn't align with my long term goals. Sure, you may want to stay in aviation for the rest of your life, but considering the state in which Qantas is, it's probably best to have some kind of degree non-aviation related.

This is just my opinion though. Go with whatever you want to pursue.

Get a trade, don't waste your time on an aviation degree. You can still be an airline pilot without one.

Agree with Mr Hat. Get a trade or some other skilled job first and do a pilots course as a side hobby at first. Then if it all turns to sh#* you still have something worth while to make a living at.
Why anyone would need a "degree" for what is essentially a blue collar job is beyond me.

Thanks everyone for the advice
Will
:ok:

Gonna have to disagree with the above 2 posters.

Whilst its true you dont actually need a degree, it can help and in the next few years (with Aust taking on from Americas lead where the vast majority of airline pilots have degrees and were scouted from colleges). Plus a 3 year course versus 1.5-2 years which is realistically what it takes to go from 0 to FATPL MECIR CPL or CPL/FIR is not a huge difference when your that young.

It also provides a good backup- people say theres nothing in an aviation degree- I disagree, if you do a commerce degree and you hate it there will be nothing worse. Also, key management roles plus senior pilot roles such as Check and Training, Chief Pilot, etc are filled in a large part by those with degrees as it just adds to your experience. In terms of a backup as I said, it shows you have the motivation to get through a course which is challenging and maintain a good balance between flying and the academic side of things. With the amount of management and business related courses in a Bachelor of Aviation degree nowadays you are well equipped to go into a business type field, or even gain say a commerce degree in a much shorter period of time if the unthinkable happens and you lose your medical.

Just my 0.02c , take it as you will! :)

Dunno about CX and QL, but the RAAF do not give a flying fcuk about any of these degrees. Don't waste your time and money if that's the way you want to go.

Of course they are going to say that!! They aren't about to advertise that their students are living in a donger in Elcho Island flying a 210 after spending $150 000 at their university now are they!!:hmm:

I went to one of these things nearly 20 years ago now, back then they were telling everyone that your first job after completing a UNSW degree was in a regional airline.....which was bollocks as you needed about 5000 hours to even apply!! Be careful they aren't claiming foreign nationals who study in Australia and get a walkup start at their national carrier in those numbers too.

So be wary what a university tells you. If one allumni gets into an airline they claim it, despite the rest battling it out in GA or quitting.

Right now I would be questioning aviation as a career at all. The Labor/Green government looks hell bent on bringing in a Carbon Tax which I think will be the beginning of the end of Aviation.

Do another degree and if things look better in a few years then get into flying.

As far as I am aware UNSW is the only Uni that runs its own flying school. This means that the flying and academic studies are better coordinated and the Uni can ensure that the flying school standards are maintained at a high level.

ignore what the cynics are saying.

A degree sets you apart as a professional and is pretty much a pre-requisite for a long term career at the airlines.

Also, don't underestimate the benefits of networking at places like Swinburne which can be the catalyst for entry into the airlines.

I'm a long-term private pilot who flies out of Moorabbin. I have seen many young pilots work their way up the GA ladder into the the airlines.

I have also seen many Swinburne graduates going into the airlines quite young. A young Swinburne graduate helped with the instructing for my NVFR rating. One day he was missing from YMMB. After a short stint instructing he landed a job with Virgin flying B777's internationally as an FO.

He always impressed me as being competent and professional, a very good instructor in spite of his young age. Some of this would have been natural ability, some training from Swinburne/GFS.

If I was 20 years younger I'd do an aviation degree. Great entrance to a great career.

Oh that old chessnut! Gotta say I heard that one at the uni open day 15 years ago. Feel like getting my Guns N Roses T shirt on for the occasion! Guess what it was just total spin!

I could have spent the 3 years and several thousand dollars getting myself a plan B. I got done like a dinner. Young and Naive I was. What you will find as time passes by is that these opportunities get smaller and smaller with future Mrs hamiltonw and the rug rat talk and a 650k mortgage even if you wanted to go and get a back you won't be able to. Don't be like me: painted into a corner, at the mercy of the next big HR managers idea (deep ****). Oh well too late fingers crossed.

How many times was I asked about the degree for flying roles in 15 years? Not once. Sorry guys I'm not bagging education I'm saying do it on line whilst in GA or in an airline. Don't waste crucial time in your late teens and early twenties getting a "nice to have". Set your foundation at the start: get a trade my friend.

A prerequisite? This is total rubbish.

Gotta agree with a couple of posters in here, an aviation degree means zip at the end of the day.But having said that those that do the hiring are now these days guys/gals who have degrees themselves & still think that a degree is needed to fly a plane which most know is a myth, tick the box as has been said is all that's it's worth:-)

A trade or a skill outside of aviation as a back up is a GOOD idea. No one should these days put all their eggs into the aviation basket as it's full of egg sized holes these days.
It was once a life long great career where 'IF' you got into the airlines you had a job for life & where carried out in a pine box at retirement, now more like a straight jacket would be yr preferred exit medium !:E




Wmk2

A very important consideration is one's gameplan if it all falls in a heap due medical, not getting that break into whatever flying avenue one's heart is set on, etc....

Be very investigative regarding what your degree might open for you.

I have colleagues who lecture in one aviation degree program and those who do that program will get a good grounding in many areas relevant to airline operations etc.

However, if one ends up out of flying, consider very seriously where one might go in such an event.

Vocational degrees, providing one has acquired some experience in the field while flying, may offer a better lifeline than an aviation degree. Specifically, I would suggest investigating law, commerce, economics, engineering (might be a bit difficult to get any useful part time work), medicine etc.

On the other hand, a trade is probably a whole lot more flexible and may be easier to get part time work to get some runs on the board. Trades may offer some flexibility for part time work in retirement if the superannuation didn't work out all that well.

A degree sets you apart as a professional and is pretty much a pre-requisite for a long term career at the airlines.

I think the other folk, above, have scotched such self-serving tripe as arrant nonsense. I can reflect on having read aero engineering - good fun, had a ball at uni with more than a few headaches, and it's provided me with a very interesting career and good money - but, in terms of absolute difficulty to get a bit of paper at the end of the study, the SCPL/ATPL exams were the harder sequence to run albeit they can be done in far less time and the output is far less rigorous in terms of knowledge skillset.

If your argument is that a degree impresses along the lines of demonstrating that one can study and pass exams, I suggest you think again. Me, I dips me lid to those who have slogged through ATPL subjects whilst working full time. Indeed, I spent some years lecturing in such things and I have nothing but admiration for some folk who, in spite of considerable odds, slogged through and ended up in their preferred lines of flying endeavour.

Well............When you said he was missing from Moorabbin I thought you were going to say he was found in DFO buying silvo for his wings? Good on him eh!

I have a son in year 11 who wants to fly for the airlines. My strong recommendation to him is Swinburne or RMIT.

For years I used to hire Decathlons from GFS and over that time saw many Swinburne graduates going into the airlines.

If he wants to change careers in 20 years time, his bachelors degree in aviation would still be a good basis for post-graduate study in another area.

Even without the career benefits of a degree, I'd still recommend going to uni. Education for the sake of education has a lot of virtue.

I would extremely doubt that one would study medicine for five to seven years with the intention of keeping it as a back up.