kingsbury5
29th Jul 2007, 20:33
i am 17 and am about to start my second year of sixth form (A2's).
I want to know anything about the best way to get into commercial flying as i have a passion for it after doing work experience at heathrow airport.
few questions:
What are the best pilot schools to apply to in the uk and what are the chances of attaining a placement?
How would i go about finding sponsorships from airlines? (ie where? when?)
Should i apply to universities for my other interests as a back up incase i fail in getting a place?
If there is anything i haven't asked which you feel is important please dont hesitate to add it.
much appreciated,
Richard
On these forums, you generally find that pretty much any question you can think of has been answered at some point in the past so might I suggest you hit the search button and just have a browse through a few of the threads that come up.
Briefly though, main thing for you at the minute is to focus on getting the best possible grades you can at A-Level. You should be aiming for grades that would happily get you into university (and maths and/ or physics is quite beneficial if you are doing eitherr but by no means essential). Whether you go to uni of not is up to you - there is a great deal of opinion both ways and each have their up and down sides. My personal advice would be to go to uni so you can get some life experience behind you and no question uni is an awesome experience. You also asked whether having a plan B was a good idea - yes, yes and a thousand times more yes!! This industry is like no other in that jobs are fairly unstable and very dependent upon the condition of the industry at the time and also requires you to maintain a fairly healthy medical standard for your entire career so you can appreciate that having a back up in case anything happens landing you out of work is a very important factor.
I ma sure you are aware that training is very expensive - you can spend £100k on some courses by the time you have a type rating on your licence. You need to think how you will find this - sponsorship does not really exist any more apart from one or two schemes which are very competitive. Oxford aviation Training have links with a couple of airlines where they operate a kind of sponsorship, but you still pay for the bulk of your training. CTC Aviation again offer a form of sponsorship which requires you to secure a training bond in your name, then they will find you employment and the employing airline will pay back your training costs while on a reduced salary over a specified time period. And apart from Highland Airways and maybe one or two more, thats your lot. Most people have to find the cash themselves.
Perhaps get some flying experience in - you live in West Sussex...get down to Shoreham and have a chat to a couple of the clubs down there - Sussex Flying Club are excellent. Gliding is also a very good way of demonstrating your passion so perhaps give that a go too.