mad_jock

Actually I think 50hours in three years is pretty good actually alot more than most others.

It was more the point that even though his CV wasn't working he still kept pumping out the same trash year after year with the only changes being his total hours.

The fact that he had obviously included his sim hours into his total time did him no favours at all either.

BarbiesBoyfriend

It's always a good time to train!

Best time is when all the other guys think it's a bad time. Less competition! (and cheaper training)

When I started I received only advice NOT to bother due to recession etc.

I just laughed.

Popped out the sausage machine just as things were picking up and got hired more or less straightaway.

Parson

MJ - apologies, took your comment in the wrong sense.

Does raise the question of how best to keep current though, if one is not instructing for example. I guess whatever shows you still have an interest in flying and also keeps you sufficently current to be able to pass a type rating.

mad_jock

No apologies necessary, bad grammar don't you know

The how to keep current is a very good point for an ever increasing body of pilots both experienced and inexperienced.

You have to do something that is better than all the rest to be one of the first to be picked up when things start moving again.

ricky81 sti

Mad Jock

Funny you should say that, a couple of things which spring to mind would be a float plane course on a Maule M7 Amphibious at my local airfield right on the waters edge and something I've wanted to do for a long time is climb Mt Kilimanjaro, would be something to stick on the old CV a guess

mad_jock

I was going to suggest that Mountain but couldn't spell it so the mountain leaders course got mentioned instead.

The Maule on its own is OK but going on a tour of Alaska or Finland now your talking.

Your thinking along the right lines though.

Anything that makes the recruiter reread your CV and sets you apart from the other 1000 CV's they see day in day out with exactly the same license and hours.

LAX

My FO debt record is a friend of mine who told me - 2 or 3 yrs ago now - that he had done a special deal with his bank manager to pay 1500euro/month for 7 years then he would be clear with the bank, at which point he would then start paying his parents 1500euro/month for 7 years and then he would be finally debt free. Do the maths its an eye watering amount of cash!

And i'll throw in another word of warning out there despite the many on this forum. A colleagues son finished an integrated course recently, i have some sympathy as it was undertaken in conjunction with an airline with the prospect of a job at the end. Times changed - he works in a supermarket - loan payments start shortly - skills are fading while newbees graduate every month. Airlines have pilot jobs, not the flight schools.

Good luck to all, i dont blame anyone for wanting to train its a great job, please be sensible and realistic. Lets hope in the next few months we can kick Gordon is a Moron out of office and get someone in with a backbone to reel the bankers in and stop this financial, crazy, flight training madness