Student pilots rack up debt as flight school enrolments boom

New federal government figures have revealed rapid growth in flight training school enrolments funded by VET student loans.

Soar Aviation chief executive Neel Khokhani

New federal government figures have revealed rapid growth in flight training school enrolments funded by VET student loans.

Department of Employment data showed more than $31m was loaned to 976 people enrolled in commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) diploma courses in 2018, with the average loan topping $53,000. The enrolment figures were double that of 2017 data, when the total of outstanding loans was $18.5m.

Overall, student pilots made up just 1.6 per cent of all enrolments in VET loan-approved courses last year, but accounted for 11 per cent of all loans.

The lion’s share of money was loaned to students enrolled in CPL courses at Box Hill Institute which works in partnership with Soar Advanced Flight Training.

Of the 402 pilots enrolled in the two-year course, and loaned a total of $11.16m, 78 per cent completed their unit of study level in 2018, according to the department’s figures.

Basair was the second biggest loan recipient for CPL training, with 212 enrolments generating $6.5m in loans, and a 95 per cent unit of study completion rate.

The large number of enrolments and significant loans have raised concerns among some in the aviation industry who questioned whether graduates of such courses would ever be able to repay the money.

Moorabbin-based senior flight instructor Dave Prossor said some flight schools were keen to promote the VET loans system which meant a “guaranteed bulk” income for them.

“I am aware that some schools do not get involved with the loan system because they are aware that debt can be a millstone around (the student’s) neck for the rest of their life,” Mr Prossor said.

“There may be a pilot shortage but that really means there is a shortage of pilots who have the skills required to fly commercially in serious commercial aircraft.”

Swinburne University aviation department deputy chair Stephen Fankhauser said a VET course training commercial pilots on single-engine sports aircraft was unlikely to lead to a job in aviation on its own.

“The growth in single-engine CPL courses is not good because students need to do more (to get a job),” Mr Fankhauser said.

“A student then has to undertake a multi-engine instrument rating, a pilot-in-command and an instructor rating and the costs mounts up.”

Another concern was the lack of screening by some courses to determine a student’s suitability to become a pilot. Mr Fankhauser said Swinburne University which offered a Bachelor of Aviation in conjunction with CAE Oxford Aviation Academy, ran a skills assessment test for this reason.

“It’s the same test as airlines use, assessing hand-eye co-ordination, multi-tasking that sort of thing,” said Mr Fankhauser.

“We still do have students who don’t complete their CPL but they have the option of moving into an aviation management course, so their investment is not wasted.”

Chuck McElwee who runs Air Australia training school at Jandakot in Perth said many student pilots would never be able to pay back loans of up to $150,000.

“Most of the kids that are getting this fee help they don’t even think about paying it back. If you’re 18 and someone says we’ll give you $150,000 to learn to fly, why would you?” Mr McElwee said. “In the US student loan debt is approaching $1.6 trillion. They’re probably never going to see any of it and they have much lower loan limits.”

He said there were jobs available but they were typically not very well paid. “There are some six figure jobs but you've got to go bunches of years before you get there.”

Soar Aviation chief executive Neel Khokani said a majority of their CPL graduates were employed in the industry, as charter pilots, flight instructors and even airline pilots. “We are extremely proud of our graduates,” Mr Khokhani said.