KEY POINTS:
More than 40 trainee pilots may never gain their wings after a Government decision to cut funding for their course.
Helicopter pilot Andy Mott had been looking forward to flying after five months grounded by a broken leg. But on February 1, less than a week before he was due to begin training for his commercial licence, he learned Government funding for his course in Tauranga had been severed.
Mr Mott is one of more than 40 pilots and prospective pilots in the North Island facing the possibility of not finishing or gaining qualifications because of a funding wrangle between private flight training provider Quantum Aviation and the Tertiary Education Commission.
Mr Mott and the other pilots had applied for student loans through Quantum Aviation, which operates flight schools in Kerikeri and Whangarei, and sub-contracts to other providers in Auckland and Tauranga.
Mr Mott's application was for $67,100 - the amount needed to complete his commercial licence after self-funding the first part of his training. He and the other pilots were dismayed when they began learning in late January that their applications had failed.
As part of last year's Budget, the Government made students at organisations not receiving student-component funding (SCF) ineligible for loans and allowances from January 1 this year.
The Tertiary Education Commission yesterday said it had removed Quantum's SCF for aviation training in 2005, although students were still able to access loans and allowances after that.
But Quantum is maintaining it received assurances that its students would remain eligible for Government funding this year.
However, the commission said Quantum and other affected private training establishments were sent letters in September warning of the changes effective from January 1.
