Once you've gone and got the CPL, is it difficult to get work???!
No, not really....................McDonalds run a continuous recruitment programme.
foghorn
10th Mar 2003, 08:13
It's hard in the good times, nigh on impossible in the bad times (ie. now). As the laws of supply and demand go there is always a large oversupply of pilots with CPLs. Expensive though it is, there are more than enough dreamers with the motivation and access to funds to pay for self-sponsored pilot training.
There are well over 1,000 CPL/IRs actively chasing airline jobs in the UK. The majority of them have low hours and are not currently employed as professional pilots. There is also currently an ever-growing oversupply of PPL instructors in the UK, on the back of shrinking demand in that market.
Compare this with a total of about 6,000 airline pilot posts in the UK and you'll see what I mean about oversupply. The schools churn out 150-350 new ones a year. That doesn't include any net immigration of JAA-licensed pilots from overseas which fluctuates but is often more inward than outward.
The airlines want to hire people with 1,500 - 2,000 hours and 500 hours multi-crew time, ideally on the type they are flying, to minimise insurance and training costs. There are few ways in Europe to get from a new CPL/IR with 200 hours to 1,500 hours, and virtually no other ways to get multi-crew time, other than in an airline.
Result: Catch 22.
Somewhere in the middle hiring gets done. After all the airlines do need new pilots eventually. But those that do get hired usually invoke personal networks, recommendations from friends, suffer a deal of personal and financial hardship to go chasing flying jobs or even non-flying aviation jobs around the world, plus have a healthy portion of luck.
A lot get bitter and drop out - especially those who have access to a comfortable alternative career which pays the mortgage and keeps food on the table. It's an easy trap to fall into - I myself have felt the powerful lure of that over the last 18 months.
But there is only one certainty in aviation: if you give up you will never get a job.
Things will pick up eventually. The winners will be those with the cash, alternative career options, staying-power and youth to sit out the recession on the sidelines, building funds, letting the pilot backlog clear, and be ready with a shiny new CPL for the next set of good times. Which I reckon are at least a couple of years away.
cheers!
foggy.
Ananas
10th Mar 2003, 08:34
Foghorn,
I know you're right, but there still is a way to put things.
Your way could discourage youngsters.:(
Hard to encourage and be truthful at the same time, is it?
foghorn
10th Mar 2003, 08:39
Edited to be a bit brighter now!!!