Diploma in Technology (aviation)

The course

Wanting to be a commercial pilot can come from a burning desire to fly for a living.

It also burns through $75,000 in course costs in the two years it takes to graduate with the Wintec Diploma in Technology (aviation) for New Zealanders, or $100,000 for international students.

Wintec offers the course with British-based CTC Aviation, a training provider to the European commercial aviation industry, which operates a purpose-built training facility at Hamilton International Airport.

Wintec students train alongside British cadets, who start their training in Hamilton on the CTC Wings programme before returning to Britain for the advanced phases of their programme.

Each week trainees on the fulltime course study theory for an average of 10 hours and spend around seven hours flying. They can expect to spend around 23 hours in individual study.

Theory studied includes navigation, aeronautics, aircraft technical knowledge, meteorology, law, flight radio, human factors, principles of flight, radios and navigation aids, and instrument flight rules (IFR) law.

Students gain aircraft handling skills to commercial pilot level with a multi-engine, single-pilot instrument rating.

Theory competence is assessed by internal exams and New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) external exams, and flying skills by CTC examiners and CAA-approved external examiners.

Graduating students gain CAA licences that allow pilots to fly anywhere in New Zealand as well as fly New Zealand-registered aircraft overseas. Students can elect to study for an airline transport pilot's licence (ATPL).

Course places are limited to eight. Students must pass a stringent selection process, including an interview, and aptitude and capacity tests covering hand and eye co-ordination. They must also have a Class 1 New Zealand aviation medical certificate.

Students must be 16 to study for a solo pilot licence, 17 for a private licence, and 18 for a commercial pilot licence.

Applications for the next intake of students in February close in January.

Work options for graduates include working for charter flight, parachute-dropping or glider-towing companies or small freight and charter operations.

If students study for an instructor rating they may find employment as an instructor with CTC, other flight schools or aero clubs.

Salary levels vary widely but a CTC instructor starts on $25,000 a year. Other flight schools or aero clubs may base pay on flying hours, which could vary from $15,000 to $25,000. Pilots in small operations start at similar pay levels.

What students think
Hayden Earle, 22
Trainee pilot
Hamilton

"The cost of the course reinforces my determination to do it and not fluff around. I don't have a problem with the cost but I'm thinking positively that I'll get a job out of it. I'd worked for three years in engineering and then successfully finished the first year of a degree in communications when I decided I wanted to be a pilot. My father is an Air New Zealand pilot.

"I have been on the course for eight weeks and should finish the first semester with my private pilot's licence. You have to pass six subjects - radio operations, meteorology, air technology, air law, navigation and human factors - and a flight test. Then you move on to the commercial pilot level.

"The environment you are in helps because you are around it all day, not like university where everyone around you is probably studying something different. You can sit at lunch chatting and learn something.

"You have to have a 70 per cent pass rate for each exam so you are pushed all the time. The biggest stress is performing at the top level all the time. You prepare for each flight and the instructors ask you questions before you go up. If you don't know the answers you don't fly."

What employers think
Brendon Bourne
SunAir operations manager
Flight examiner
Tauranga

"People contemplating any pilot training course should talk to people like me in the industry to find out what experience they will require to get a job.

"There isn't a pilot shortage, as some people suggest; there is a lack of pilots with the right sort of experience. There is a big gap between qualifying from a flight training course and getting their first airline job.

"They need to get visual flight rules [VFR] and experience in air transport and in dealing with people. SunAir is an airline and we need pilots with instrument flight rules [IFR] experience. It can take up to five years to get the experience we need.

"Only 10 per cent of pilots go on to work for airlines. I think it's very positive that the Wintec/CTC course has a selection process."

The qualification

Diploma in Technology (aviation)
Wintec and CTC Aviation
Phone: 0800 2 Wintec (0800 2 946 832)
Earnings: from $25,000