Aviation students are being sold "hollow promises", many racking up tens of thousands of dollars in student loans without ever finding jobs as pilots, aviation operators say.
Helicopter students in particular had some of the biggest individual student loans - one Southland pilot owed $170,000 - but few operators were willing
to take them on because of their lack of experience.
Marlborough Aero Club chief flying instructor Kevin Wilkey said many students walked away from flight school with the minimum number of hours needed for their licence without realising the difficulties of entering the industry.
"It's a great tragedy. These people are being sold hollow promises because some of them will never, ever get flying jobs," Mr Wilkey said.
His concerns were echoed by Motueka pilot Dick Deaker, co-owner of Action Helicopters, who said he turned away young pilots every week because they lacked experience.
"Some of them owe hundreds of thousands of dollars but we can't take them on because they have no experience and our insurance won't cover them.
"Many of them say they had no idea there would be no jobs going when they did their training," Mr Deaker said.
Pilots had offered to work for them for 12 months without pay, simply for the experience and to get more flying time in their log books.
Newly qualified helicopter pilot Jason Wright owes the Government more than $170,000 but, after scoring a job as an instructor, sees himself as better off than most of his classmates.
While he paid an extra $85,000 to qualify as an instructor, most of his classmates got their commercial pilot's licence and went out looking for work, only to find they were not wanted.
"They were going straight out with their commercial licence looking for work and found their heads were below water," Mr Wright said.
The Government, concerned about the level of debt, last year capped the funding at 775 students a year.
- NZPA
