Aviation Map of Provision – New Zealand Diploma in Aviation (Pilots)

Q. Some commercial general aviation (GA) employers (fixed wing) would like to know what is involved in the GA stream in terms of course content and practical training, i.e. how will it differ from airline training?
The airline stream is focused on pilots who will be working in an airline environment under Part 125 or Part 121. These pilots will need ATPLs to gain command positions in multi-pilot crews. They will be working in supported environments where they will not be required to carry out from-scratch flight planning; loading calculations; or direct passenger management—these functions will be performed by specialist airline staff. Pilots in the airline stream will be required to complete ATPL exams and an airline preparation course.

The flight training for GA charter and airline pilots will be the same through CPL, MEIR, Dangerous Goods and the Aviation Safety/Risk Management. The principle difference is the inclusion of the ATPL ground subjects in the Airline Stream. Each of the streams is designed specifically to provide the student employment pathways to meet the requirement of the TEC, to improve completions of the qualification, mirror the employment pathways in the aviation industry and to provide value for money and a return for the Government's investment in the training.
Q. Can GA operators recruit someone who has not come through the GA strand. 
There is nothing in the New Zealand Diploma that alters who an operator can and can’t hire. If an operator finds someone who has the skills they need, and who wants to work for their organisation, the hiring decision is their responsibility.
Q. Few pilots under this model will opt for GA as in reality most pilots want to work for airlines and GA is just a means to an end and they don’t see this changing. They are concerned that they won’t be able to recruit without employment costs escalating.
The GA option will allow pilots to graduate with a diploma without having to do the ATPL subjects and an airline preparation course. This means that GA operators will be able to hold on to their new pilots.
 
The majority of the students may decide to complete the GA course prior to topping up with the extra content of the airline stream, as the GA stream and instructor streams provide the best opportunities to build flight hours required to turn the 'frozen ATPL' into an ATPL and move into a mainstream airline job. This situation is driven by employment market forces and will not change as a result of the new Diploma.
 
 
Q. Is the National Diploma model really built for the New Zealand economy or is it being built to lower the employment costs for airlines.
The majority of young people entering flight training want to fly for airlines; and Part 125 and Part 121 airline employment accounts for a significant proportion of pilot employment in New Zealand. So yes, this is designed for the New Zealand economy. The New Zealand Diploma will equip students to work at a level appropriate to their experience here in New Zealand. Moreover, the qualification has been designed by New Zealand flight training providers from the AIA Flight Training Division for the New Zealand market.
Q. GA employers’ helicopters – the model doesn’t really work for helicopters as there is not an “airline community” here in New Zealand.
There is a small proportion of helicopter pilots progressing to achieve ATPL (H). All helicopter needs are covered within the structure. An ATPL(H) has been included as an option to cater for any growth in the Twin IFR Helicopter market in New Zealand.  All of the streams are available for both fixed and rotary wing students; it is up to individual providers if they offer the same or not. Some may choose to specialise in agriculture for instance, while others will be able to offer the full suite of qualifications.
Q. Agricultural employers (fixed wing and helicopter) support the specifics of the agricultural qualification but question what happens if the only jobs available for pilots are in agriculture and the trainees haven’t come through that stream. At the moment agricultural employers will take on some of these people as loader drivers as this assists building up their awareness within this sector of aviation prior to a fulltime pilot role.
If the only jobs available are as agricultural pilots, but there aren’t enough agricultural trainees, it’s the agricultural operator’s decision whether or not a graduate from another stream is an appropriate pilot for them to hire. If there is a lack of potential employees with the right skills for this part of the aviation sector, it becomes the agricultural industry’s responsibility to communicate their need for pilots to the training industry and to encourage young people to take the agricultural option.
Q. Regular scheduled airlines simply don’t take on the people coming out of flight school and are really worried that their employment models do not cater for this scenario.
Regular scheduled airlines don’t take people coming out of flight school because there has historically been an oversupply of pilots on the market, and they have had the luxury of choosing from a pool of pilots with a wide range of abilities and experience. In addition, until the development of this New Zealand Qualification, there has been no New Zealand designed course specifically for airline trained cadet pilots. 

With a pool of experienced pilots, then airlines can continue to hire as they always have. However, in times of high demand — instead of being forced to make suboptimal hires —airlines will have available to them graduates of the New Zealand Diploma in Aviation who have been carefully selected and trained with airline input right from the start. Whilst low on flight experience, these young people—as proven in overseas situations and more recently in Australasia—are fit-for-purpose, well trained and productive potential employees from the airline’s point of view.

Yes, the training systems of airlines will have to change if the need to hire low-hour pilots in large numbers becomes a reality. The existence or otherwise of the diploma system does not alter this reality; it is driven solely by the supply-demand dynamic. The link between the demand-supply equation and the Diploma is government funding. The government has clearly indicated that, in the absence of a well-organised, high-integrity, job-focused flight training qualification, government funding could be withdrawn.
Q. Flight trainers wonder the extent to which the low time, low hour model has been thought through. They are worried that we are training a group of New Zealanders whose only job will be in low time, low cost airlines but not the New Zealand based airlines.
Trainee pilots — just like any other young person training for a career — want a job in their chosen profession as quickly as possible. Many pilots will be more than happy to fly for low-cost airlines such as JetStar. A starting job in the right seat of any airliner after two years’ training has, up until now, been difficult for talented young New Zealand pilots to achieve. Opening up these options for young people provides them with opportunities. These opportunities are attractive employment strategies to people with the ultimate objective of an airline flying pilot position.

The question hints that quality will be compromised under this structure.  There is clear demonstrated evidence that an integrated process provides the appropriately skilled and qualified pilot required. If the answer to the question on "quality" is experience, then remember that there is nothing stopping a graduate of the Diploma programme gaining experience inside the New Zealand industry as has always been the case up till now, then joining a New Zealand-based airline when that airline deems them satisfactorily skilled.
Q. Flight trainers have questioned if the strands operate within the Diploma qualification or on top of it. At the moment the instructor and agricultural strands are on top of and the airline strand, were it exists, is a mish-mash of both. 
The strands will form part of the New Zealand Diploma. A student will complete the first phase (up to CPL) then progress in to one or more strands where they will complete the additional ratings (Type, MEIR, Instructor, Ag, Chemical etc.) and qualifications (Dangerous goods, ATPL subjects, Human Factors etc.). There is also a natural progression from a Level 5 GA stream into a Level 6 Airline or Flight Instructor stream. This continuum will encourage completions as employment paths are more distinct and there is less inclination to license and run as all of the rating and qualifications are employment related rather than academic papers included to make up credits.
Q. A number of degree students wish to transfer to the diploma course – will this still be permitted in future?  A number of students transfer between fixed and helicopter will this be permitted?
If places and funding are available there is no reason to stop anyone applying or moving into the diploma. Massey Aviation has indicated they will allow a credit equivalence for the Diploma of the first year of the Bachelor in Aviation Management. There would seem to be no reason why that equivalency cannot work the other way. Transferring from fixed to rotary will be no more difficult under the New Zealand Diploma than it is under existing qualifications.
Q. The biggest fear is that the proposal will completely gut the flight instructor ranks or alternatively lead to higher salaries to retain staff.
Flight training organisations’ (FTOs) ability to retain their flight instructors depends on the free market — the pilot demand-supply equation. FTOs are responsible for the employment package they offer instructors. It is up to them to make decisions on the value to their business of their instructors.
Q. The decision as to which students progress to flight training is very much at the discretion of the flight trainers. This proposal seems to take this decision away from them and place it with a selection board.
The enhancements to the selection process for flight training candidates are a key part of the new Diploma programme. Government funding for training requires a high qualification completion rate. A fundamental part of the success equation is selecting into the training regime students who have transitioned through a robust selection process, one that is reflected in the Code of Practice.  A robust selection process minimises the number of students who fail (or elect to leave) part way through, after accruing large amounts of debt. It is proposed that the selection process will have a flight training representative on the interview panel along with other industry representatives.
Q. They are worried that none of the models have been costed, there is no transition for existing students, and also those who have graduated in the last 2-5 years will be potentially impacted by the stranding model.
The qualification proposal and graduate profile has been lodged with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). Once we have received agreement in principle for the qualification to be developed (i.e it meets the NZQA requirements for a Level 5 or 6 Diploma) the details will be released to the flight training providers so that they can cost their individual training models.
 
The content has been developed by the flight schools (AIA Flight Training Division Working Group) and nobody on that group has indicated that the model will be unaffordable to deliver.

Cadets currently training will be able to transition across to the new New Zealand Diploma. 
Q. They are worried that the academic requirements are becoming more and more prescriptive but what is required is a proficient pilot who displays good airmanship.
There is no extraneous “academic” element in the diploma any more.  A concerted collaborative effort from across the flight training industry has seen relevant courses providing the skills and knowledge that productive pilots need to achieve employment on completion of the New Zealand Diploma.
Q. If the student is successful at stage one and progresses to stage two selection point but is unsuccessful in being selected into any of the stands who is going to be liable for the termination of training? Is the TEC prepared to carry this liability of the student loan? 
The student has accepted responsibility and completed the process in good faith. It would be unfair for the training organisation to carry the liability as they are not involved in the decision process.
If a student does not make it through to the second stage of training it will be because they do not have the required ability to complete and graduate. This situation should occur rarely if the aptitude and selection process is right. Moreover, it is expected flight schools will deal with that situation as it develops rather than get to the stage where a student is failing.
Q. Who is going to determine how many trainees progress onto each of the streams?
This will be driven by market forces and the flight schools’ abilities to steer students into the stream for which they are most suited and that offers the better employment opportunities.
Q. Can an individual change streams?
Yes. Flexibility is built in to the programme. Credit for subjects gained in one stream will transfer to another stream if relevant. As an example, an IR gained in the GA stream will be just as relevant in the instructor or airline stream and it will not need to be repeated.
Q. What if there is a career opportunity but not in the stream selected. Can an employer take that person?
That is at the employer’s discretion. They retain choice over who they employ and with what training. 
Q. What if there are no jobs in the career stream chosen - is this being discriminatory against the student?
All people training for a future career must make their own decisions about what to study and the likelihood of finding a job when they graduate. The Diploma provides trainees with choices and options, but ultimately the jobs available when they graduate will depend on employment market forces.
Q. What protection does the student have from having their career choices potentially frustrated or terminated prematurely?
None. It’s up to individual students to perform to the required standard and demonstrate competency in training.
Q. Is this two stage selection process operated anywhere else across the tertiary education spectrum for student loan funded courses?
Yes, dentist and veterinary candidates go through a similar process.