Yet another mod vs int question...
OK, here goes a question that I know has been asked in one way or another hundreds of times before! I must have read the answers to every thread out there but things change over time and every situation is different so I will ask it anyway…:
MODULAR or INTEGRATED ???
I am a PPL with a little (‘unstructured’) hour building post-qualification. My ultimate aim is to work for an airline, and although I wouldn’t mind doing a bit of other aerial work in the short term, I would appreciate it if people keep sight of that in their answers.
So the question is that given I’m still at a fairly early stage, would it be worth starting again on an integrated course, or carrying on modular? As with many things in life it’s about weighing the pros against the cons. The way I see it I have 3 options, all with their own plusses and minuses. I’ve listed them here, and I would be really interested hear whether people feel my pros/cons are justified, and how much weight people would put on each…
---option 1---
Modular training at my local FTO (Flying time aviation in Shoreham)
Pros: cheapest option (ME-CPL/IR cost £20,000 with cheapish hour building), local
Cons: Not one of the big training schools, no ‘partnership’ with any airlines.
---option 2---
Modular training at one of the bigger schools (eg CTC Takeoff)
Pros: Eligible to get into their APL pool, school many airlines know well and are used to recruiting from on your training record.
Cons: More expensive (a bit), second class citizen as far as the APL pool is concerned (you give way to their cadets and may never stop getting bumped), extra cost associated with moving/commuting to Bournemouth!
---option 3---
Integrated training (eg CTC wings)
Pros: Enter the APL pool on completion as ‘first class citizen (ie cadet)’. Well known training school on your record.
Cons: Much more expensive. Not possible to build around work so would have to take a lot of time off (adds a LOT more cost again!)
---
The way I see it the modular course is gonna cost me say £50,000 where as the integrated will be more like £70,000+. Obviously I would like to save that 20,000+ but at the end of the day you spending a lot of money either way. Spending 70,000 and maximising ones chances of getting a job is, imho, far preferable to spending 50,000 with very little chance of actually making it to the right hand seat of an airliner. I know of many integrated pilots who have gone on to get airline jobs with fairly low hours (250-300 seems typical), and have still yet to hear of any modular pilot who have got an airline job, especially with sub 1000 hours. For better or for worse it does seem that the integrated method is what the airlines seem to be going for these days. With this in mind, would people bite the bullet if in my shoes and go integrated (I know a job is still not a guarantee!) or take your chances with the modular/ If the latter, anyone got any tips/ideas for how to actually get an (airline) job at the end of it all?!
Thanks in advance for any replies.