What to do? Help Please.

[NickGooseBrady]

Hi All,

I am just about to take my final 7 ATPLs.

This means the clock starts seriously ticking for completion of CPL/IR.

My dilemma:

I have just been offered an extension of my current career for another 6 years. This will take me to an immediate pension point. I will be 39 at this point and able to draw on a sizeable pension lump sum of approx £60k and take home approx £9k a year pension, index linked. In other words I would be a total mentalist not to take this (especially in the current climate).

Assuming then that I remain in my current employment for another 6 years. Is there any point at all getting the CPL/IR done within the three years?

Stretching things as far as poss these are my timelines:

Take final exam at latest date (within 18 month window and allowing for a poss faliure) = Oct 2009.

Oct 2009 + 3 years = Oct 2012 to have CPL/IR completed.

Leave current employment earliest = Feb 2015.

Thus I would be trying to keep a CPL/IR current for just under 3 years before I would be in a position to seek a flying job, and who knows what the climate will be like for a 39 year old new boy in 2015.

Any suggestions what I should do? I feel I need to start taking some action now. Is it really worth doing the next 7 exams? Should I therefore just cut my losses for another 3 years and then do all 14 again.

Are there any cunning ways to keep a CPL/IR current and in regular practise for 3 years whilst still working full time?

I know this sounds a little like I can't whipe my own arse!! It's just that there isn't anyone with the faintest idea what I'm talking about that I can have a chat with.

At a loss,

NGB

[Nashers]

if i were you i would do the exams and get the rest of the flight training out of the way. the 14 exams are due to change soon anyway so you dont want to go through all that again.

stay at your current job if your happy with the deal you have.

when you finish flight training, the only thing you need to worry about is not letting you IR expire and and forgetting about it for 7 years, otherwise you will be back at square one. make sure your IR stays current and your fine. its probably going to cost you just as much if not more to do the exams again (ie- study material, course fees and time) than to keep all your ratings current.

[Shunter]

Why not get yourself an FI rating and do some instructing during weekends/evenings? That'll keep you current, you'll make [a little] money, be racking up the hours. If you were to instruct at a proper FTO that can do them you might even be able to do a deal on your rating renewals....

[Cobalt]

You could also just do the CPL and the IR and then keep it ticking over spending just as much money and time you want to spend. Your could let your IR lapse if that is too expensive to maintain and make do with IMC rating and privileges only for that time, or you could use the annual renewal as a really good brush-up to get you back into shape.

You could even stop flying entirely, save the money, and then use it all in one glorious burst in the end to get back in the saddle.

There really are only two things you have to avoid

1) Letting any rating lapse more than 5 years. SEP/MEP/IR renewal up to 5 years is a not too onerous extensive check flight with any qualified examiner, after that for the IR it is a full IR skill test with a man from the CAA

2) Letting the Class I lapse - check with the CAA how often you need to do it to avoid needing a new initial examination at Gatwick

Presumably, as you like flying, you could just step down to SEP/IMC or SEP/IR and get back in the MEP business... up to you

[corsair]

I have one question: Do you really want to sit out the next 6 years, watching opportunity after opportunity to start working as a pilot go past you?

If you think you have the patience for it, go for it. If not, you know the answer already. Personally I would sign up for the extension, you never know. But one day you could be faced with the dilemma, a letter of offer from airline X on the one hand and your lump sum and pension on the other.:confused:

What to do, what to do?

[Floater AAC]

The situation you are in sounds familiar and I may be wrong but I would suggest you are military. If so and you decide to stay in, have you considered the use of ELCs to fund your recat if you go uncurrent? Some fixed wing flying may be available to you at a local airfield for a low cost e.g Brize club, Wallop AFA.

If you are not mil then I appologise for waffling ****e for the previous paragraph. http://static.pprune.org/images/icons/winksbuddie.gif