A dream career is set to take off for one young student

Bradley took a year out after school but didn’t really know what he was going to do with himself. He tried his hand at mechanical engineering and found that he enjoyed the technical and practical sides to it, so thought working on aircrafts would be the right thing for him to do.

Bradley came to the region from Otago, which is a big move, but he is enjoying the experience.

“It was a wee bit different, and a wee bit warmer when I came up,” he says, “but it was good, I got settled in pretty quickly and all the guys on the course are really friendly.”

There is plenty of practical, hands-on learning within the programme, which Bradley is making the most of.

“I think it's really good, because the practical gives the experience, and it works well with the theory. Joined together really makes NMIT what it is; a full training experience.” 

Safety Management Systems (SMS) are drilled into students throughout their training to keep them accountable for how they operate in the hangar. Students become fully licensed and use the skills every day for reporting.

“It [SMS reporting] makes sure that we’re able to come in tomorrow, finish the job and be happy doing it.”

Often smaller businesses haven’t had the time or resources to implement such systems in the workplace, so having new talent coming through who are able to perform robust safety measures instinctively will improve the industry.

Bradley is keen to use his qualification as a foot in the door to work for MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) and help out overseas. Mark Fox, MAF’s New Zealand CEO says that Jessop has a real chance of making it.

“Across the world, we are really short in engineering,” says Fox, “we're trying to find new ways of stimulating interest… to get men and women trained and licensed, so that they can come and work for us overseas.”

The Mission Aviation Fellowship is a charitable, international organisation that flies small aircraft to developing countries.

Fox says that NMIT is a brilliant training ground for aircraft engineers.

“Our relationship within NMIT enables us to work with and mentor students so that they are able to come and work for us overseas.”