Where do I start?

[ge.eng]

I am an engineering apprentice working for General Electric, due to finish my training in a year at the age of 24. I have always loved the idea of becoming a pilot but have always pursued a carrer in engineering, through university and now this apprenticeship. Recently however I have been seriously concidering this option but unfortunatley have no idea where to start. Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Send Clowns]

Start with a trial lesson. Contact a flying club (I'm sure there must be one at Cardiff airport) and book for an hour. Let them know you want to fly more, and make sure you fly most of the flight. I always encourage trial lesson students to do the take off, but many instructors don't like to do this.

The next course depends on what you want from flying. If you only want to spend money towards a commercial licence then go to Gatwick for a class one medical. If you would want to fly as a hobby anyway, then don't worry about a medical yet.

Next book yourself onto a PPL course. If there is more than one flying school nearby then visit all and find which you prefer. Spend as much time as possible with pilots or at the flying club. You pick up a lot by being in the environment.

The next things you need will be to build your hours up to 150 and complete the ATPL groundschool, but that is something you will get to know more about as you learnt he PPL and talk to other pilots.

[ge.eng]

Many thanks for the advice, Cardiff airport has a newly refurbished and unfortunatley more expensive flying club.
I shall take your advice and get as much experience as is possible. I always knew that this was never going to be a cheap carrer option but I am begining to realize just how much this is going to cost.
This is something I really want to pursue though, its only money...right?

[G SXTY]

I’m sure that last bit was tongue in cheek, and I’m sure you know that there’s a lot more to it than just money, but just in case anyone thinks a large enough cheque is all you need to get into a right hand seat – it isn’t.

You can have all the money in the world, the 3 most important things are still commitment, commitment and commitment. When you’ve just missed out on sponsorship schemes, or had qualifying cross-country flights postponed 14 times in a row, or arrived at a flight school 3,000 miles from home only to find it was shut down the day before, or spent months studying for written exams that often bear little relation to real-world flying – you’ll need to call on deep reserves of commitment. And I haven’t even mentioned trying to find your first job . . . :ooh:

I’m sure it’s worth it in the end - otherwise I wouldn’t put up with it all – but many, many people decide it’s not for them. I was told, by someone who should know, that around 90% of wannabes who start out with the dream of being a commercial pilot will never make it.

Not trying to put you off – just make sure you know what you’re getting into!

[EvoIV]

Start with a trial lesson. Contact a flying club (I'm sure there must be one at Cardiff airport) and book for an hour. Let them know you want to fly more, and make sure you fly most of the flight. I always encourage trial lesson students to do the take off, but many instructors don't like to do this.

Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread but this just reminded me of an event which must have been 11 years ago now at Bournemouth Flying Club (before it became what it is now). It was a "first lesson/trial lesson" scenario where because I was an excited 15 year old the instructor let me do the take off. It was a standard Sandbanks or Hengistbury departure off of 26 at VFR below 1,500ft. I remember the instructor castigating me for bursting the cleared limit on take off (even though I obviously had little idea what I was doing). I never really thought about it but thinking now, the instructor can't have told me what to do!?! If I wasn't complying with his instruction then he should have taken control. In any event, it doesn't matter because I am in an even worse position to commence training now than I was then...

To add something actually to the topic, I agree with send clowns, and if you can afford to get a PPL do it while you can, before you get other financial commitments that mean you have to work a job you hate to get by and spend every day wondering "What if?". You wil surely have a better idea once you have your PPL whether you can and want to put the extra financial effort into going all the way to a frozen ATPL.