The Merchant Navy

[rich49]

Hi all,
Just looking for a bit of advice really.
I'm thinking about how to pay for flight training, having managed to achive 2 D's and a C at A level. Not great. I really don't think that many options are open to me because of such poor grades. However, I am looking at the merchant navy. The training is three years, after the course is complete you work four months on, two months off. The pay is ~ £20000 p.a, but of course cost of living when you are away is almost nill, being on a ship n' all! My way of thinking is that I would have ample time off (two months) in which to do my flight training, a career to fall back on, and I will be earning.
What do you think? Is £20000 p.a enough do you think? What will the airlines think of a MN officer? How long do you think it will take for someone on this wage and time off to get CPL with MECR/IR?
Any thoughts much appreciated!
Richard

[XL5]

Shiver m' timbers, the MN 'get out of jail free' option once again rears its head.

For myself as well as numerous others it worked like a charm although I'd never call it a soft option. Life aboard ship can be conducted at a brisk tempo with the routine often calling for interminable stretches of 6hrs on, 6hrs off. There were times that I thought the MN training establishment was most probably fronting for a slave labour organization firmly under the iron like fist of a latter-day Hitler youth type movement.

Cadets are awarded the jobs that real people (i.e., those who are not cadets) don't like doing and after several months you'll have acquired intimate first hand knowledge of elbow grease powered rust removing equipment and primer, paint brushes and red lead paint along with the technique that, when using rubber tools, best facilitates the removal of residual waxy sludge from oil tanks. The tank dig is best thought of as a long and tiring day out when you'll get to play with your little bucket and spade in oily muck digging away without getting a suntan in an environment that doesn't smell too good. Sounds a bit like the Skegness day trips made in your very early youth doesn't it?

After your first trip to sea you return to college for some high powered theory before more sea time when you'll be grudgingly allowed to haltingly put your newly acquired knowledge into practice. And practice it will take because practice makes perfect and as a consequence, from this point onwards, there is not quite as much time for painting over rust in your future. More periods at college follow more periods at sea, life slowly gets better and then comes the big day when you sit the exams (about 25 in all) that will award you your ticket. The first time pass rate is appalling, second time pass about 50% and lots and lots of potentials who started their MN careers with paint brush and chipping hammer will now leave with nothing to show for their 3-4 years of effort.

Point is, you will have little spare time in which to study aviation related material if you want to successfully get a class 3 ticket, earn some cash and then move on to better things. The academics in the MN (maths+ physics) far exceed anything you'll need for the ATPL and some of the crossover material such as met, nav, radio nav, radar, etc., gets covered in much greater depth. Just worry about the MN requirements until you've got the ticket in the bag. I did most of my serious ATPL study in the two years it took me to earn sufficient funds for flight training once the class 3 (2nd mate's) ticket was safely out of the way. I honestly enjoyed my time in the MN although it's a young persons game and I'd certainly never even consider going back to it.

Things to increase your earning ability: Defer leave earned as a cadet to cash it later at a much higher rate of pay once qualified, deferring leave also gets the training completed at an accelerated rate. Schedule any foreign flight training along with sea going trips to stay out of the country long enough to avoid paying income tax.

Above all, when planning the course of your future flying career remember that places in the MN are fiercely competitive and that what ever you do, don't mention your aviation ambitions to the interview board. Even in my day they weeded out the less than ( seemingly) truly committed. Finally, beware when taking the endless written psych tests; they'll tell you "there is no wrong answer''....... but they lie. You get the idea, now go do some serious research.

I think something nautical would be an appropriate header for this posting. A happy yellow fish will do nicely.

Regards,
XL5

[rich49]

Thanks for your help. I realised what the workload was like (I have done some serious research, mainly through the MNTB material). I was not planning on doing any training until qualifying in the deck department. The thing is, that this is not a thing I want to do just to get some money. It is something that should I not make it to the flight deck, I would be able to enjoy.
Anyway, thanks for your help.
Richard

[englishal]

I got a grade E in A level Physics many moons ago, then went to University and got a degree in Electronic Communication Engineering.....Then after working for 4 years for the MoD I went offshore to work on survey vessels, not as a seaman (fnar fnar) but as a computer geek and have been for the past 8 years. We do 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off, and I personnaly wouldn't do any more time offshore than 6 months out of a year. I hate the job now, its sh*te, but its a means to an end, and the benefits are that you don't have to pay tax:ok:

My brother went into the merchant Navy at 18, did all the cadet stuff, and now at 36 is a Captain of a dive support vessel working out of Trinidad, and gets paid a wad. The thing to do is get a bridge ticket, then get a DPO (Dynamic positioning officer) course under your belt, then freelance as a DPO on a day rate. Typical day rates are around £200/day.

Working on a ship has its moments, like when you're stood on deck at 6am watching the sun come up on a beautiful morning (or rather when you're in 84kts of wind in the North Sea in the winter, and the waves are peaking at 15m; ~50 feet and a high pressure fuel leak occours in the engine room:hmm: ).

Good luck
EA

[VFE]

Great posts XL5 and Englishal. Never really considered a MN career meself but have always been interested in that stuff as the old man works in that field.

Got a question which XL5 might be able to answer for me..... I heard of guys with their master mariners ticket and ATPL writtens working as deck crew on the old SR.N4 hovercrafts across the channel. You got anymore info on that rumour? What routes of entrance did those guys take to get into that game? I am fascinated at the unknown hoops one would've needed to jump through to get a rating on large transport hovercrafts.

Couldn't have been easy!

Cheers,

VFE.