NZFF

Hey I just wanted to follow on from 'Krispilot's discussion about the pros and cons of Ardmore Flight School and Auckland Aero club, What about the pros and cons of Massey Palmerston Nth and CTC Hamilton?
I have wanted to be a profesional pilot since I was like 6 or something, doing well in school, top of the year and in Year 12 and want to get into 'I guess arguably'one of the 2 more 'profesional or top' flight schools in the country (not trying to sound like an ars****, its just from what I have researched)

So yea Ive swept over both organisations websites, and my conclusion is that Massey is a little hard to get into; "L3 Calc, physics, English and highly recommended Geo", have a more 'Uni' atmosphere(which I really like), whole fleet of aircraft brand new, takes longer usually a 4 year course with more papers and extends your aviation knowledge and covers more areas, you get i think all of your ratings except instructor...maybe, its in a fantastic 'student city'yay , and im not surrounded by lots and lots of 'poncy' english people who in promotional videos sound very um up themselves....(sorry if to cause offence)

CTC is run by an Engish organisation, its website keeps highlighting how professional the course is, also how well known the programme is in Europe, it promises a future job..., and is a little easier to get into "•achievement (12 credits or better) at Level 2 NCEA (or equivalent) in each of three subjects including Maths, English and preferably a Science subject", it also has new aircraft coming in, and has a larger fleet with more variation, a brand new 'building/HQ', very technologically advanced, Takes a lot quicker with less ratings and really just looks at the minimum of what you need to be a..... professional pilot, It is right next to Mystery Creek ......PARACHUTE!!!!! however it is also in Hamilton which for me sounds depressing, and I will be surrounded by lots and lots of 'poncy' english people who in promotional videos sound very um up themselves....(sorry if to cause offence)

So just as Krispilot asks: Was wondering if anyone had done their training at the (edit)'Massey Uni school of Aviation' or at (edit)'CTC Hamilton Aviation School' and i would like to know what you thought of it (What you liked, disliked etc). If you could share your experince with the school it would be greatly appreaciated. If you did your training with another organisation in (edit)'North Island' please share your (edit(spelling lol))'experience' with the organistion here too.
Thank you very much
Jimmy

madkudu wrote:

QUOTE (madkudu @ Oct 26 2009, 03:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

want to get into 'I guess arguably'one of the 2 more 'profesional or top' flight schools in the country (not trying to sound like an ars****, its just from what I have researched)

Sorry I didn't read the rest of your post as I choked and had to stop after reading the "top flight schools" bit.
You basically couldn't get any further from the truth.

In answering the question in thread title, my answer would be Neither. Keep as far away from both as you can.

I dont want to bag the schools but its just my answer to the question. Do some good research into all the places, PPrune could be a good place to start.

Yes well I cheked out PPrune and it was intense, about half of the posts make every flight school in nz seem like death, and the other half all have 'positive' view points towards nearly every flight school, if the answer is "neither" then what else is there? Ardmore has the most criticism, and I dont want to go through the whole "at your local aero club" thing where it takes years and years of training and hardly any chance to get into profesional airline pilot jobs, I have just spent the last 1.5 hrs on that PPrune forum and it looks like most people who have gone through the massey course and graduated think it was great and proud of it, the people who wrote bad things about massey had either gone through other flight schools or just research a lot about aviation, whateva. CTC seems great if your english, and ardmore just seems overall 'cr@p' according to many people on the other forum saying its more like a 'pilot factory'.
I am a Norweigen citizen, wanting to do my aviation training in NZ, and after I finish flight school I would like to have options to fly either in nz or scandinavia, or any other place in the world, I want it done as 'professionally' as possible, I am not sucking into either Masseys or CTC's marketing I got my information about massey from a pilot that completed the Bav. and straight after got a job flighing the Beech 1900D for eagle airways, I was dead keen on going to Massey for a couple of years but then a recently discoverd theres CTC aswell, i know nothing about it so all I was wanting to know was what are the pros and cons between Massey and CTC? I really hope this does not turn out like some of those threads on pprune where theres a huge shouting match, all I want to know is what are other peoples experiences?

Just my 2 cents but I am doing my C-cat heli at Nelson Aviation College and I would have to say from what Ive seen, the standard of training here is far better than either CTC or Massey. I was working at Wellington Airport for a year and every time Massey came through on x countries, somebody busted airspace. Just my own opinion.

Thanks for the reply, just checking out info bout Nelson now, Always keeping my options open

If you want to fly in Europe you'll need a JAA licence. If this is something you are really serious about then I would be looking into the options to do JAA from the start. Its virtually impossible to convert to a JAA
licence while you can convert a JAA licence to most ICAO licences, including NZ. (Subject to flight experience requirements.)

From a JAA perspective, CTC is a good option.

If you want a degree and a broad and comprehensive theoretical training course go to Massey.

NAC is top notch and in a great location.

Local flying schools/aeroclubs are great fun and will expose you to lots of different people with varied backgrounds, aviation or otherwise.

The main factors you have to look at are budget, time frame and initial goal after you complete your training, eg: what you want to be doing within 12 - 24 months.

The aeroclub aspect allows you more flexibility with your hour building so you can dabble in aero's or tail draggers, various aircraft types etc.
These things are all useful if you are planning to get work in a paradrop outfit or something similar.

If you want great flying and lifestyle head down south and train in Dunedin then go to Wanaka or Queenstown to do your mountain flying course.

Don't get caught up in the hype of what you could be doing or what you would ultimately 'like' to be doing. Just find a training organisation that feels comfortable to you and focus on short term goals.
Your first 1000 hours is for filling logbook pages and it doesn't matter what its made up of. In fact, the more different types of flying you can do the better. But typically it will be instructing and various other commercial work, photography, parachuting a bit of charter, maybe scenic flying, fish spotting. Things of that nature.

Identify your goals, make your moves based on them but be prepared to be flexible and take a chance on something which might not seem relevant in the big picture but will get you hours and experience and expose you to different sides of aviation.

Network, keep your nose clean and make good choices and bloody enjoy the journey. The jobs you start doing will be the ones you learn the most from, scare yourself the most doing and the lessons you learn will stay with you throughout your career.
When you finish your training, regardless of where you trained, you are on your own and no different to any other fresh CPL out there. Everyone had to meet the same standards as you and likely you all did your flight tests with the same handful of examiners. 200 massey hours is still 200 hours. 200 CTC hours is still 200 hours. 200 Te Kuiti aeroclub hours is still 200 hours...

The only thing that will separate you out from the others is your own personality and determination. This begins from day one of training and never changes. No one likes know-it-alls but by the same token no one feels comfortable flying with someone who lacks confidence. Seek a balance in your approach to aviation, well studied, quietly confident, focussed and flexible. Its the little things that will catch you out so be fanatical about the details.

No two aviation careers are alike so don't worry to much about what so and so did to get his or her job. Luck always comes into it, thats for sure, but in order to be in right place at the right time you need a map and a watch.

Good luck and no pictures in the circuit, its dangerous and only makes you look unprofessional.

Thank You very much for the very comprehensive reply nzav8tor! That helps LOTS!