PTC degree course

[kkelly77]

Has anyone heard about this or even taken the plunge and applied? JAA Pilot Flight Training - Pilot Training College Ireland - professional pilot courses honours BSc degree level (http://www.pilottraining.ie/)

Basically it's 35,000 euro extra than what PTC quote you just to acquire your commercial pilot training (85,000 eu), except you will have a degree on top of it.

After speaking with PTC a few months ago they told me there we 2 local financial institutions willing to finance courses. However, a week or two after that conversation I got a phone call from them telling me one of those lenders had decided to withdraw from offering potential students loans to finance the courses. Credit crunch perhaps......? Discuss.

K

[geordiejet]

I'd be careful about degrees in Pilot studies and the like.

It's not much use if you loose your medical.

Choose something you can fall back on, when times are tough.

Yes, there are some important "generic" skills learned, but if you turn up for an IT job with a degree in how to fly a plane, it's not going to go down too well.

To be honest, if I was a bank manager, I'd be withdrawing the product!

Just my 2 eurocents.

[preduk]

So 120,000Euro Plus interest for a degree which is pretty pointless and a flight school that is slaughtered on this forum.

I would stay clear!

[corsair]

The thing to remember kkelly is that in Ireland there are no college fees. So what's the point of paying for a degree when you can go to WIT and study something else for nothing? That degree would be great if you want to pursue a career in airline management. It isn't much use to a career pilot.

[a higher plane]

From speaking to them about this course. The whole reason is so that you do have a degree to fall back on if the airlines do take a tumble or you do lose a medical.
All other employers look for potential employees to have a degree in something as it is a requirement to hold a management position. The subjects outside of the ATPL cover areas which would help you get a job in the airline industry such as ops manager, flight planner, airport manager etc.

They said that the subject choices had been determined from consultation from staff in Aer Arran, London city University which runs a similar programme and with Waterford Institute, also I hear Embry Riddle from the US were involved and they are one of the best at these type of things.

As for whether it would get you an IT job or something like that I don't know . But still it is good to hold a degree of some sort.

[Lord Lardy]

Why not get your license, then get a job and then do a degree part time while working. In fact some airlines structure your roster and indeed pay for these courses. A number of FO's in the airline I work for are starting degrees later this year through company sponsorship.

[preduk]

Higher Place,

Do you not think that if the airlines do take a tumble it would be better to have a degree in something else? When airlines tumble, they staff usually go with them and recruitment stops.