1. You don’t have to stay with your VET Loan CPL school for your MEA Class Rating & Instrument Rating training. Many of these schools try to lock you into a “double diploma” (CPL & MEA/IR) to keep your money in their system.

2. Your VET Loan course is structured to extract the maximum amount of revenue from your pocket that is possible under the VET Loan cap. These courses are rarely structured around your training needs or with your budget in mind, they are frequently designed around the flight schools requirement to generate revenue and maximise profit margins from the funding available under the loan cap. They will often use the cheapest training aircraft and the cheapest (which means least experienced) instructors, again to maximise their profit margins. They will often price their course costs so that the total cost comes in at the maximum amount that is available under the loan cap – you may not even know the hourly rate you are paying for your training (and you probably don’t want to know!!).

Remember that they are spending your money – you will eventually have to pay the amount they have spent on your behalf (indexed to inflation, with an extra 20% loading for the government on top!).

3. MEA/MEIR training doesn’t have to cost $40K-$50K. It can be done for $30K or less, even using well-equipped Barons and experienced instructors. If you are paying that much for your training, you are paying a heavy premium that is partly covering the heavy administrative costs of the Diploma/VET Loan system, partly covering the intensive marketing that these schools need to utilise to remain in business, and partly enrichening the shareholders of these large businesses!

4. MEA/MEIR training doesn’t need to take 3-6 months. It can be completed in 3-4 weeks if the provider has a stable roster of quality staff and a fleet of reliable, company-owned aircraft with redundant capacity available (i.e. enough aircraft in the fleet) to manage both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. If a flight school frequently loses instructors and students to their competitors, find out why. It’s a big red flag if employees go elsewhere for training that their own employer offers.

5. Diploma qualifications aren’t required for jobs with any GA or airline employer in Australia or elsewhere, including the Qantas group. This system is inefficient and survives only as a revenue model for the schools that utilise it to stay in business. Our graduates work for Qantas mainline, Jetstar, Virgin Australia, RFDS, Network, Alliance, REX and many other major industry employers. You don’t need a Diploma of Aviation for any these jobs!

6. It does matter where you train and what aircraft you train on. GA employers prefer candidates that are trained on industry-relevant aircraft with instructors who provide real-world commercial insights. Utilising training aircraft (like Seminole, Diamond & Duchess) makes you a less attractive hiring option as you will cost a potential employer more time and money to train up to the standard required to pass a line check on their aircraft (which will not be a training type like those mentioned above).