Lucretian From United Kingdom, joined May 2009, 3 posts, RR: 0 Posted (3 years 12 months 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 1790 times:
Did a quick search for some general ideas but I feel a thread of my own would be a little more help.
This is my first post here, but I hope to contribute for some time.
I'm looking for the best tentative steps forward into a career working as a commercial pilot. I have always wanted to fly from a young age, but my dreams of being an RAF pilot were dashed as I reached the age of 13 and my eyesight fell below minimum requirements.
Although fully correctable and stable with glasses, this was not acceptable for the military.
So I would like to chase that dream again..
I have flown aircraft before (bulldog trainer in air cadets)
Am currently looking to start light aircraft lessons and get some hours under my belt
I have dual nationality... UK/USA
I can speak English and French (thank you Rosetta Stone)
I am 24 Years old
I currently work in retail
I studied 1 year at college before moving to the USA and working there for a couple of years (I am now back in the UK)
I am acquainted with a commercial pilot who informs me my best chances are to go to America and study over there...
Can anyone suggest a good way forward from my current position? I'm not rich and would need to take out a loan for flight school (£70,000 in the UK/Ireland)
Swiftski From Australia, joined Dec 2006, 2701 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (3 years 12 months 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 1712 times:
Quoting Lucretian (Thread starter): Can anyone suggest a good way forward from my current position? I'm not rich and would need to take out a loan for flight school (£70,000 in the UK/Ireland)
Contact Cabair and Oxford Aviation.
They do assessment tests and take on high quality, ab initio candidates into their schemes. Nothing lost by getting in touch with them
In these days the name of your school is important too.
Even if the lessons are (or should be bij EASA standards) the same.
I did my course in Spain with the books of Oxford Aviation and I can tell you, they are very very good books
Oxford also has a lot of good contacts with airlines.
I think they're the highest provider of Ab Initio's at BA.
Good Luck if you're going to start !
And don't forget to enjoy it
Leezyjet From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2001, 4041 posts, RR: 55 Reply 3, posted (3 years 12 months 3 days 16 hours ago) and read 1676 times:
Unfortunatley these forums on this website are not best suited to the information you are after.
The forums linked below are much mre geared to your specific requirements - tons and tons of useful info relating purely to flight training can be found :-
Integrated - all training provided by 1 supplier, intensive course usually lasting around 14 months and done full time. Costs are in the region of £70K + living expenses, so you are loooking at not much change from £100K including test fees etc.
Modular - training provided by multiple suppliers - YOU pick and choose what school you want to go to for each part of training. You can also do a 1 stop modular, where all the flying training is done with 1 school, but you have to do the ground school elsewhere. Modular can be done at your own pace, and allows you to carry on working whilst still training. It is also cheaper too, with costs in the region of £35-50K.
Quoting Lucretian (Thread starter): I'm not rich and would need to take out a loan for flight school (£70,000 in the UK/Ireland)
Not a chance of getting that amount. Even the banks associated with Oxford will not lend any more than £50K, and that need to be secured - usually on a property. IMHO anyone even considering taking out such a huge loan in the current financial crisis should not even be let loose near the cockpit of an airliner as they are clearly not cut out for it if they are prepared to take such a huge risk - not the type of person I want flying me on my holidays.
You have plenty of time ahead of you. There is NO rush. The job market is screwed at the moment. I finished training last year, and have not even had a reply to an application. My friends who finished training last summer are also in the same boat - not even a sniff of a flying job so it isn't just me who is not getting anywhere at the moment.
The reality is there is a MASSIVE over supply of experienced pilots out there who are still unemployed at the moment, guys with 737 type ratings and hundreds of hours who flew for XL and the like are still unemployed so there is no hope for the next 18-24 months at least for us new guys. BA have announced just today that they are going to be shedding staff too which won't help either.
Your best bet would be to go modular, keep working and save like hell and borrow as little as you can. The maximum you can get unsecured is £25K, but even that will be hard to come by at the moment. Spread your training out over the next 3-4 years to give the market time to suck up all the experienced guys, and all the low time chaps who the schools are still pumping out at a rate of about 3-4 a week and hopefully by then things will have picked up again.
One last thing, DO NOT be fooled by the marketing of some of the big UK schools. They will make you think that if you train with them, you will be guaranteed a job - this is pure marketing rubbish preying on the hopes and dreams of young wannabe's. Granted they may have plenty of airline "contacts", but it is usually only the very top 1-2% of students that get placements, but even they are not getting placed in the current market. Also remember, YOU are paying THEM, not the other way round.
[Edited 2009-05-22 06:04:24]
"She Rolls, 45 knots, 90, 135, nose comes up to 20 degrees, she's airborne - She flies, Concorde Flies"
Lucretian From United Kingdom, joined May 2009, 3 posts, RR: 0 Reply 4, posted (3 years 12 months 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1499 times:
Thank you this is exactly the advice I was looking for...
I feel the modular approach is best as well, gives me time to get my hours in and not rush things... less pressure since I would need to wait for the market to recover anyhow which no doubt will be a couple of years yet.
Mhodgson From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2002, 5047 posts, RR: 30 Reply 5, posted (3 years 12 months 2 days 8 hours ago) and read 1438 times:
Quoting Leezyjet (Reply 3): Not a chance of getting that amount. Even the banks associated with Oxford will not lend any more than £50K, and that need to be secured - usually on a property.
Actually, they do. BBVA (Dutch) have started a loan that will cover the course costs entirely, or at least up to £75,000 IIRC. Obviously this will still need to be secured, and will cost a lot in the long term, but it is an option.
Quoting Leezyjet (Reply 3): One last thing, DO NOT be fooled by the marketing of some of the big UK schools. They will make you think that if you train with them, you will be guaranteed a job - this is pure marketing rubbish preying on the hopes and dreams of young wannabe's. Granted they may have plenty of airline "contacts", but it is usually only the very top 1-2% of students that get placements, but even they are not getting placed in the current market. Also remember, YOU are paying THEM, not the other way round.
Affirm - Oxford graduate here, still unemployed after 15 months. That said, I am the only person on my course without a job (bearing in mind I graduated just as the recession hit hard), which I don't think is too bad. Oxford aren't bad at all - I think all the main schools have their good and bad sides - and most of them have similar bad points, from talking to graduates of CTC, FTE and Cabair!
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