Pilot Training Not Good

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30916, 24 November 1965, Page 30

Pilot Training Not Good

The training of a pilot for a career in commercial aviation in New Zealand is far from satisfactory, according to “Avinews,” the official journal of the Dominion’s aviation industry.

While the financial rewards in flying may be good, the shortage of suitably qualified pilots for the industry today probably reflected the inadequacies of the system in New Zealand, says the article.

To be properly fitted for commercial flying a person had to be adequately trained at the beginning to meet the challenge of rapid developments in modern aviation. ‘The standards of flying discipline, academic knowledge and physical training needed to make a complete airman are too demanding and important for a father to accept the ‘catch as catch can’

concept now applying in NewZealand,” says the article. It goes on to add that no concentrated, disciplined, integrated training process was’ available and. particularly, was there no financial assistance such as a substantia) bursary with fees, boarding allowances and the like. No Government Aid

‘The range of these financial contributions from Government and other agencies is extensive, but for one seeking to become a pilot this is not so. The far more expensive business of flying training carries no bursary or study awards.” The system in New Zealand fell a long way short of what could be considered an acceptable pattern of training for flying professionally, says the article. Aviation in New Zealand must grapple with its personal problem. The industry was made up of operators ranging from the large National Airways Corporation to small agricultural firms which could not hope to support sophisticated personnel systems alone. “The overall scale of the training aspect in New Zealand calls for an approach on a national scale,” it said. “Given that industry and Government appreciate the value to our primary production of one sector of commercial flying, namely agricultural aviation, they must see that the time has come to get back to the source of supply.” Opening Of Field

“By selection, assistance in undertaking a full-scale programme of training as cadets

and a ‘career' basis for employment benefits in superannuation schemes, much will be achieved to open the aviation field to those who are educationally fitted and of the right calibre to sit in the cockpit,” says the article. “The numbers required are not great but they are needed for all categories of commercial aviation—air transport as well as agricultural flying, failure to do something soon may prove very costly to the country in the years ahead.”