Flight school whilst studying secondary school.

[afis44]

Hi, I am 15 yo and turning 16 quite soon. I've taken about 3 flight lessons so far and I intend to continue training for my gfpt... and the subsequent ppl (I wanna be an airline pilot). I'm having flight lessons on and off, around once a week sometimes less often. I'm just wondering whether I should be able to fly and study for the last two years of school and not completely fail both. I live in Australia so the last two years of school involve completing the "HSC" so I will have to study a lot to pass that. Will I be able to fly and study maths... physics etc. at the same time?

Answers appreciated,
P.S. Please no hating.

[lk978]

You will be fine. I did HSC and CPL IREX at the same time. At the end of the day HSC means stuff all. Just get enough to get into uni (if thats what you want) nothing more is needed. I have never been asked what grades I got in High School ever.

Try and stick to a schedule like 3 lessons per month or more as it will be easy to learn if you are having consistent lessons and not having to relearn stuff if you have 3 months off... It is also a good way to break up the study at school.

[peterc005]

My son did his PPL while in Year 12 in 2012 and it worked out fine.

In Victoria you can do Aviation as a "VET" subject that counts towards you VCE result. If you complete a CPL at the same time you get extra marks and a Cert IV.

He did his PPL at Royal Vic Aero Club (RVAC) and I thought they were excellent. Turned out to be a good place for younger people to train, as it was big enough to have good resources, but not so big that a young student gets lost in the rush.

One piece of advice is that doing your PPL part-time while studying full-time will take much longer than you'd think. Start you training early so there is no last minute rush.

After Year 12 he started Aviation studies as Uni and went straight into second year because he already has his PPL, so it turned our very well.

[aviation_enthus]

I did it back in 2003 in QLD. PPL completed by October, the flying school was a Registered Training Organisation so it went on my Year 12 Cert as a Certificate IV in Aviation. Completed the CPL the next year while working full time!


Definitely doable :)

[avconnection]

Do yourself a favour and get a usable degree before you move away for your flying career. Paths change, life changes and the time it takes wont hurt your flying in the long term. I flew once a fortnight towards the end of my training and that was adequate to finish within the timeframe for the integrated course. Your school should be able to help you structure your training so that you can manage the time between flights and still stay within the integrated CPL guidelines.

[djpil]

High school scores determine your choices at Uni and I recommend that you aim for the best you can do so that you have the best options. Very competitive for most things these days.

[VH-XXX]

I have never been asked what grades I got in High School ever.


That's a tad unusual.

How about:

- Getting into Uni, you need a good result depending on the course
- Any apprenticeship you will apply for
- Any employment opportunity in private industry
- Any Government role such as Police, Ambulance and public service
- McDonalds

I can't think of anywhere that you wouldn't be asked... other than a trades assistant or basic hired labour.

DJPIL is correct, do the best you can possibly do. Nobody celebrates mediocrity and the one thing you can count on in life is human laziness, so if you can rise above the others that rely on these traits, you have a fighting chance.

[avconnection]

What a lot of qualified and experienced workers in their late twenties and 30s are not aware of, is that a degree does not guarantee work any more. While I'd still highly recommend doing a degree (or any other qualification for that matter), the realities of the working world for most newly minted graduates is years of "free" (crap pay for experience) labour before seeing returns for their intellectual investment. Very few of my younger cousins are in paid work after graduating, most are still living at home and the future is bleak. We're not talking crap arts "degrees" either, we're talking doctors (albeit in the UK), engineers, teachers, zoologists and scientists. I currently earn more than all of them combined, working in GA. Sure a mate earns twice my wage as a carpenter/come site foreman but I don't have his work ethic.

I had heard of these issues from a few friends but no idea that it had escalated to this level. Even scoring the heights possible TER means nothing if you choose a career that is not in demand.

[TSIO540]

Do you have the money to fund all of your training now or will you have to save and pay as you go?

It is very easy to waste a lot of money stopping and starting if you run out of money like I did. In that case, it's better to wait until you have reliable funding.

[Homesick-Angel]

The old argument of is a pilot a trade or a profession comes back.

I think its a trade.

After a more than a few years in the game the only things that have mattered in interviews are:

Do you have the licences and ratings required- tick

Do you have the hours required for the particular position - usually never quite enough of right type or on the required aircraft.

And are you willing to work hard and do your job well while keeping out of trouble. - tick.. most of the time!

[pilotchute]

A few places will want your HSC results like Skywest and Qlink but unless you just left or are applying for a Cadetship no one really cares about the HSC marks. They probably will want you to have the HSC but if you didn't get a TER/ENTER of a zillion they won't care too much. Getting a good mark in the highest level of maths you can do and physics is good. Not just for your CV but I found that having a good grasp of maths does make a lot of aviation type study easier.

Remember the 200 hours CPL course is supposed to be a full time study course. If your only doing a few hours a month you should really be on the 250 hour course.

[avconnection]

And there's no requirement for an integrated course to be full time.

[lk978]

My point was that there is far too much emphasis put on these marks. At the end of the day you can choose subjects that maximise your outcome or you can choose subjects that you may use in the future as a Pilot (English, Maths and Physics for example.

- Getting into Uni, you need a good result depending on the course
There is other pathways to get into uni other than HSC results (I did it)

- Any apprenticeship you will apply for
I have never done one (my brother did however and didn't finish year 10)

- Any employment opportunity in private industry
I have had one or two of these (never was even asked about the uni degree's)

- Any Government role such as Police, Ambulance and public service
You are probably correct I have never had one of these

- McDonalds
Well I better go back and get that excellent HSC result then :ok:

[pilotchute]

Im pretty sure CASA were asking questions not long ago about people on the 150 hour course still not having a CPL 18 months into training. The CASA website even says that the reduction of 50 hours is due to the continuity of training that the approved course provides.

That sounds to me like a full time course.

[Capt Mo]

As Cynical Pilot said - as long as it's integrated and follows the syllabus, there is no need for it to be completed full time. I had many part time students on the 150 hour syllabus, and also a few I picked up later in their training who ended up on the 200 hour syllabus.

It is important however that the flying school is aware that this is the path you wish to proceed with and that you inform them from the beginning that you are working toward a CPL so that you can do it in line with the 150 hour syllabus and though it has been a few years since I was working on the desk/as an instructor so a bit hazy on the matter I believe those on the 150 hour course are exempt from paying GST - am I correct?

If there is no record of being enrolled in the 150 hour syllabus, you sit exams out of order or before you have certain qualifications (eg sitting certain CPL exams before having solo cross country time) you will need to continue with the 200 hour course.

Of course this could have changed, or could be changing next year with the introduction of Part 61.

But my advice would be that if you have the money available to be able to fly as regularly as you plan to, there is no reason you cannot achieve your PPL before finishing school. It would certainly allow you to achieve your CPL sooner and get out into the industry!

Good luck! :ok: