[thorn bird]

Well "K" me old mate, your dire predictions are slowly becoming reality.

Our unique and costly maintenance suite is slowly strangling the maintenance side of our industry. Our older highly experienced engineers are slowly retiring, where they can, or else hanging on by their fingernails because they have nowhere else to go. The younger ones left are deserting their chosen profession and taking their skills to more lucrative industries, not that they have much choice, they cant do a runner overseas because now nobody recognizes our unique qualifications.

Where are the wannabe's advancing through the clusterf.ck of our training system?

How long before our pilots are in the same position? There seems to be a few still having a go, but I wonder how many there would be without the government subsidizing their training?

Our sausage factories still seem to attract one or two foreign students, nowhere near the number they used to.

I wonder how many of them are here to gain a passport rather than a pilots license?

I'm told every campus in New Zealand is full and has wait lists for entry.

I wonder why?

To quote our mate Gobbles, "457 Visa's for all"