Government welcomes aviation training review

Associate Minister of Transport Nathan Guy has welcomed the review of flight training safety to be conducted by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC).

“Aviation is a highly regulated industry and New Zealand has a good safety record in this area. However, given the rapid growth in flight training in recent years the time is right for a broad look at how we safely train pilots.

“New Zealand has become an increasingly popular destination for flight training, particularly with foreign students. In the last 15 years recorded pilot training hours have doubled to nearly 300,000 per year.

“New Zealand offers wonderful aviation training opportunities and we need to protect our good safety reputation, both domestically and internationally.

“I look forward to the findings of this review and the Government will consider any recommendations.”

Submissions to TAIC are now open and close on 21 February 2011.