Job prospects after modular ATPL (UK)? Loan or secure a job?
Join Date: Jul 2023
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Is it financially feasible and ultimately worth it?
Hi everyone new to this forum I’ve been reading alot of the advice put on here. Especially rudestuff i like the way you have been explaining this whole Modular process however I do have a few questions hopefully you can answer them(along with anyone else)
1. Starting with the PPL. Would you reccomend doing this as one lesson a week with a full time work from home job or would you reccomend saving the whole amount and then doing it all in one go. Would you reccomend getting my PPL here, the states or Europe? I am a British National no other nationalities.
2. I see rudestuff you are saying take out a loan possibly to fund the last half of the training, MEIR/CPL. how feasible is this? How likely is it we even get a job after completing the Modular route? And what happens if we don’t get a job. The ratings need to be kept valid im guessing? And how much would that cost.
this is the plan I’ve built in my head which I’ll probably be starting next month
just for reference I just turned 19 years old my income from my main job is 1600 a month after taxes and then I do side jobs which bump it up to about 1900 a month my expenses are about 500 a month so I can comfortably afford 5 £200 flight lessons a month
PPL - once a week until I complete it.
then start my hour building one hour a week may even be 1 hour every two weeks just so I can save and fund atleast a bit of my later training during this I will study for ATPL exams distance learning. Once I’ve got a bit of money saved and maybe found some holiday time I can go and cheaply hour build in the states for cheap until 50 hrs XC, self fund the SEIR and then hour building to 175 and then go the other half maybe my a loan maybe by my own cash who knows.
what are the chances of getting a job at the end of spending upwards of £60k it is a very big amount and my family think I am absolutely nuts for not going to university and choosing this route I am pretty much working like a dog at this point 14 hour shifts a day 6-7 days a week. But hopefully it pays off in the end if not atleast I can tell all my friends i can fly a plane haha
1. Starting with the PPL. Would you reccomend doing this as one lesson a week with a full time work from home job or would you reccomend saving the whole amount and then doing it all in one go. Would you reccomend getting my PPL here, the states or Europe? I am a British National no other nationalities.
2. I see rudestuff you are saying take out a loan possibly to fund the last half of the training, MEIR/CPL. how feasible is this? How likely is it we even get a job after completing the Modular route? And what happens if we don’t get a job. The ratings need to be kept valid im guessing? And how much would that cost.
this is the plan I’ve built in my head which I’ll probably be starting next month
just for reference I just turned 19 years old my income from my main job is 1600 a month after taxes and then I do side jobs which bump it up to about 1900 a month my expenses are about 500 a month so I can comfortably afford 5 £200 flight lessons a month
PPL - once a week until I complete it.
then start my hour building one hour a week may even be 1 hour every two weeks just so I can save and fund atleast a bit of my later training during this I will study for ATPL exams distance learning. Once I’ve got a bit of money saved and maybe found some holiday time I can go and cheaply hour build in the states for cheap until 50 hrs XC, self fund the SEIR and then hour building to 175 and then go the other half maybe my a loan maybe by my own cash who knows.
what are the chances of getting a job at the end of spending upwards of £60k it is a very big amount and my family think I am absolutely nuts for not going to university and choosing this route I am pretty much working like a dog at this point 14 hour shifts a day 6-7 days a week. But hopefully it pays off in the end if not atleast I can tell all my friends i can fly a plane haha
Professional Student
Save up the whole amount and do the PPL in one go, if possible. The odds of getting a lesson cancelled due to weather is rather high in the UK. f you fly once a week, then you will certainly have big gaps. This means redoing stuff that's rusty on the next lesson, which costs more overall.
At one lesson a week, it's probable you'll end up with two or three lessons cancelled in a row at some point, more than once. That's four weeks between lessons.
If you save up and do it one go, you'll spend less overall as you'll have better continuity. Same applies to hour building; no instructor, but clubs schools etc often have currency rules. I.e. must have flown within last 28 days, or check with FI.
Odds of getting a job when you qualify? Hard to predict where the economy will be then. Who knows. You may have lengthy delays after training before landing that first job.
At one lesson a week, it's probable you'll end up with two or three lessons cancelled in a row at some point, more than once. That's four weeks between lessons.
If you save up and do it one go, you'll spend less overall as you'll have better continuity. Same applies to hour building; no instructor, but clubs schools etc often have currency rules. I.e. must have flown within last 28 days, or check with FI.
Odds of getting a job when you qualify? Hard to predict where the economy will be then. Who knows. You may have lengthy delays after training before landing that first job.
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Been through it didn’t get a job - moved on with life.
my advice - don’t do it
If you decide to anyway; get some other skills first do something a bit different first get some money behind you.
if you are willing to spend your own money you will probably be able to keep at it.
easyjet et al only recruit newbies from their ATOs if you want to get straight in with them and others that have a similar set up go integrated.
modular etc is fine but never expect to join an airline - yes it might but you should plan to be an instructor and content on being that way for a good portion of your prime years where you would be developing in another career.
my advice - don’t do it
If you decide to anyway; get some other skills first do something a bit different first get some money behind you.
if you are willing to spend your own money you will probably be able to keep at it.
easyjet et al only recruit newbies from their ATOs if you want to get straight in with them and others that have a similar set up go integrated.
modular etc is fine but never expect to join an airline - yes it might but you should plan to be an instructor and content on being that way for a good portion of your prime years where you would be developing in another career.
Take everything with a pinch of salt. Not everyone has the ability, aptitude or perseverance to become a professional pilot. Someone has to come bottom of the class or get straight 75s in their ATPLs. There are plenty of people that probably shouldn't be in an airliner but are because they bought themselves a licence and got lucky. It's a spectrum. Be at the other end of it.
Remember also it's a cyclical business; a lot of people miss-time it, miss the wave then give up because they can't wait for the next one. Right now it's the perfect time to start paddling, but be quick.
Remember also it's a cyclical business; a lot of people miss-time it, miss the wave then give up because they can't wait for the next one. Right now it's the perfect time to start paddling, but be quick.
Been through it didn’t get a job - moved on with life.
my advice - don’t do it
If you decide to anyway; get some other skills first do something a bit different first get some money behind you.
if you are willing to spend your own money you will probably be able to keep at it.
easyjet et al only recruit newbies from their ATOs if you want to get straight in with them and others that have a similar set up go integrated.
modular etc is fine but never expect to join an airline - yes it might but you should plan to be an instructor and content on being that way for a good portion of your prime years where you would be developing in another career.
my advice - don’t do it
If you decide to anyway; get some other skills first do something a bit different first get some money behind you.
if you are willing to spend your own money you will probably be able to keep at it.
easyjet et al only recruit newbies from their ATOs if you want to get straight in with them and others that have a similar set up go integrated.
modular etc is fine but never expect to join an airline - yes it might but you should plan to be an instructor and content on being that way for a good portion of your prime years where you would be developing in another career.
If you come out of Modular training there are options everywhere. BA, TUI, Loganair etc etc. and those are just the advertised ones, that’s not including instruction jobs, pilot apprentice schemes etc etc. I get why you’re bitter, but don’t try and project that onto people in a totally different scenario to you.
The getting other experience first, complete waste of time and money. Spend five years learning to be an accountant. Why? For the 12 months where you might be waiting for a job. Great, you’ve just bought £50K of student debt and 5 less years making £150-200K as a training captain at the top of your career.
There are thousands of Modular airline pilots in the uk alone. At some point you need to let it go mate.
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Take everything with a pinch of salt. Not everyone has the ability, aptitude or perseverance to become a professional pilot. Someone has to come bottom of the class or get straight 75s in their ATPLs. There are plenty of people that probably shouldn't be in an airliner but are because they bought themselves a licence and got lucky. It's a spectrum. Be at the other end of it.
Remember also it's a cyclical business; a lot of people miss-time it, miss the wave then give up because they can't wait for the next one. Right now it's the perfect time to start paddling, but be quick.
Remember also it's a cyclical business; a lot of people miss-time it, miss the wave then give up because they can't wait for the next one. Right now it's the perfect time to start paddling, but be quick.
As someone who is ready to embark on the PPL journey - I am realising having an aircraft free to book, along with a flight instructor, at the weekends (I work mon-fri), at my local flying club is a lot more challenging than anticipated and its not going to be as simple as completing a weekly lesson with them. So I'm beginning to look elsewhere and I noticed you mentioned USA, specifically Florida, to complete PPL - have you any suggestions of flying clubs/schools in the USA that I could research. Thanks in advance
Thanks! I try to help or at least be sarcastic. Unfortunately it's been a decade plus since I trained in the US. Flight schools come and go so unfortunately you're on your own but I'm sure there are others who can chip in with some recommendations. The main advantage with Florida (or CA/AZ etc) is the weather. By having 99% of days flyable, you can book in advance and know that you won't be sat looking out of a rainy window, and then fighting others for slots on sunny days. If you turn up on day 1 with all the knowledge squared away, you can concentrate on flying and a 3 week PPL becomes very achievable at 2hrs per day.
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Thanks! I try to help or at least be sarcastic. Unfortunately it's been a decade plus since I trained in the US. Flight schools come and go so unfortunately you're on your own but I'm sure there are others who can chip in with some recommendations. The main advantage with Florida (or CA/AZ etc) is the weather. By having 99% of days flyable, you can book in advance and know that you won't be sat looking out of a rainy window, and then fighting others for slots on sunny days. If you turn up on day 1 with all the knowledge squared away, you can concentrate on flying and a 3 week PPL becomes very achievable at 2hrs per day.
When you say 'turning up with all the knowledge squared away' I'm assuming you mean the exam side of things here? Would you recommended going ahead and starting the learning and booking the exams now? And are the Air Pilot Manuals all you need for this? I noticed Bristol Ground School have an online distance learning PPL theory course but as its quite new I haven't seen much recommendations on it
