Diamond Aircraft: Wings graduates are true 'Diamonds'. (New Zealand)

Mitchell Watson, Louis Chia, Elisha Lim, Matthias Guzy, Saga Witjaksono, Calum Burn, Kiran Parbhu and Jagdeep Kang.

CREDIT: Massey University

The first pilots to complete their training on Massey University’s state-of-the-art fleet of Diamond aircraft have received their Wings.

Eight Bachelor of Aviation students from the School of Aviation were presented with their professional pilot licences at a ceremony on the Manawatu campus today.

Receiving their Wings insignia were: Calum Burn, Louis Chia, Matthias Guzy, Jagdeep Kang, Elisha Lim, Kiran Parbhu, Mitchell Watson and Saga Witjaksono.

The students have successfully completed their flying training and are now ready for careers in the industry. Guest speaker at the ceremony was Alison Whyte, an Air Nelson captain, who graduated with a Bachelor of Aviation from Massey in 2002 and was a former flight instructor at the school. She also presented top performing student Mitchell Watson with the Massey University Outstanding Student Award, which she had won in her time at Massey.

Mr Watson, a former pupil at Westlake Boys’ High School in Auckland, also won the Airways Corporation Academic Award, the Feildair Engineering Ltd Aviation Systems Award and the Hugh Francis Navigation Award. A keen cricketer and guitarist, he said he had a lifelong obsession with aviation and plans to commence his career as a pilot through the University’s flight instructors’ course.

The Air New Zealand Flying award was presented to Saga Witjaksono. San San Tan won the Air BP Academic Award. Kiran Parbhu won the Palmerston North International Airport Professional Attributes Award. Tika Thapa received the Craig Merriweather Scholarship. Calum Burn won the Hawker Pacific NZ Ltd Award.

Frank Sharp paid tribute to the students’ hard work and said he was pleased that they were continuing on to complete the degrees majoring in flight instruction or aviation management. “This is a day to celebrate firsts,” he says. “This cohort is the first to complete scenario-based training, which will prepare them for the challenges they will face in their careers in the aviation industry and they are the first to complete their training on the Diamond aircraft – they have worked extremely hard and you could say they are true ‘Diamonds’.”

The day marked a significant milestone for the sole female in the group, Elisha Lim, an international student from Singapore. Guests heard how she hopes to break the glass ceiling and be the first female pilot for Singapore Airlines.

http://www.infonews.co.nz