Was it worth it ?!?!?!?!?

[flyinghigh66]

Seems a simple question, of course flying is worth it, I know this from my private flying, but my question is asking for something a bit deeper.

As someone on the verge of changing my career from a well paid, well respected but fairly stressful job in the aviation business to a flying career where I will effectively be starting on the bottom rung of the ladder, I would really appreciate knowing if it is all worth it?

Can people come to the end of thier training as well as those fairly new in thier job tell me a few of thier thoughts :-

How was your training and what courses are worth it?
How much debt are you really in?
What jobs are really out there for the experience you have?
How much do you really get paid when you start?
and most importantly are you HAPPY? :OAll constructive comments welcome...

[flyinghigh66]

Come on guys and gals, there must be someone out there with an opinion.

[Captain N]

Finished MCC on the 9th and looking for a job, no luck yet! But i'm positive
Every second has been worth it, I dont regret not one bit of it, i'm about 30K in debt!!!

you have stressfull exam periods, boring days sitting on the ground waiting for the weather to improve, weeks waiting for an available examiner on the day the weather is fine etc etc but when u get that blue book its another thing, a totally amazing feeling of achievement;)

I found the MCC the most challenging and rewarding part of the training, its the only time u get to experience proper airline flying!!!

If you can afford it, if your desperate enough to get into that right hand seat, go for it, it is worth it!


Good Luck:ok:

N

[v6g]

I don't think it's worth it - not for someone with a good career elsewhere. Only if you don't have any other useful skills is it worth it, in my opinion.

In most other professions, you're considered an asset. Airlines see pilots as an unfortunate operating cost of doing business.

I'm not bitter, I took my training as a recreational learning activity and didn't get into debt over it - I'm going to be perfectly happy instructing at weekends / summer evenings whilst maintaining a more lucrative career elsewhere.

I can't understand the rational decision making in borrowing huge sums of money to join an industry where you have a 2/3 chance of failure (according to WWW's summation on another thread a couple of weeks ago), the long term trend for T&C's in downwards, the employees are increasingly becoming part of the revenue stream and is 100% reliant on a dwindling supply of cheap oil.

[Dit]

How was your training and what courses are worth it?

Training cost 63.5k at Oxford aviation, it was definatly worth it, as I start with BA at the start of next month. The groundschool is good, the training in Phoenix was good but not great, though it was improvingall the time I was there, IR and MCC training back in Oxford were great. And best of all, they work their arses off to try and get you jobs, despite what various people on here say.
How much debt are you really in?

54k, took out the 50k loan from HSBC to helo fund the course.
What jobs are really out there for the experience you have?

There are 23 people who were on the same course as me at some point, of them 13 have jobs (5 Ryanair, 5 BA, 1 BMI, 1 Flightline and 1 Luxair) of the 10 left, 3 are waiting for a sim check at BMI, 2 had their interviews there cancelled. A bunch have been to flybe with no luck. One guy has a Club 328 interview and a few more are going to the Ryanair interview.
How much do you really get paid when you start?

BA SSP Year 1 wage is just over 28k plus flight & duty time pay
and most importantly are you HAPPY?

Very, can't wait to get started!

[asuweb]

I echo dit's post. It is most definately worth it.

[flyinghigh66]

Thanks for all inputs so far. There are some old threads from a couple of years ago and the same themes come up, good personal rewards if your heart is in flying but may affect homelife depending on your situation. Noone can gaurantee a job but if your determined and have a bit of luck you will succeed.

I've been looking at the three main contenders, CTC, OAT and FTE. Am I right in thinking that all these are pretty much the same, someone suggested that the CTC training is a sponsered course with a better chance of a job following training, is this true?