In my opinion you've got to be brave to start training at all today, the market isn't in a good place with airlines going bankrupt left right and centre and the global economy is very fragile right now with numerous things ready to go off any moment. The aviation industry in particular is extremely susceptible to market downturns. As a new graduate you will feel it more than anyone and if you're -100k in debt well you bloody better have a plan b that's recession proof too.
Anyway putting that part of it all aside, going to train at one of these super cadet schools isn't something advisable. You see I myself a few yrs back was only focused on these schools, they had managed to convince me that only their way was 'the' proper way, anything else was sub standard, inferior. They in every sense 'were' aviation for me, or at least my ticket into it. This is the power of their marketing and it's no doubt having the same effect on you.
Fast forward a few years, i ended up going to another school, spending less than half the price and found a job less than 2 weeks after graduating - all expenses paid type rating. Funny enough the type rating is in CAE at one of their european centres and i see daily the guys doing the ground school on their ATPL programme. There is 100% an air of arrogance about them, a bunch only started and within 2 days they were swanning about with their stripes and sunglasses inside the building giving an impression of 'I am the s***' to every one they passed and ignored. These are the guys these schools create, there is a psychology behind paying more for something and thinking it has a whole lot more value just because you paid more for it. These guys were absolutely ripped off in what they're paying for their course, but because it cost them so much they behave like they're the best student pilots right now in Europe and no one is fit to even tie their laces. Paying more for a product does not mean it's worth more or that you're any better of a person for buying it.
There's something funny about seeing guys who are paying 135k to go get paid 2k a month from vueling doing a full 95 block hrs after training, funny because these guys behave like tom cruise on a movie set ... you would literally be paid more in mcdonalds, it's embarrassing.
Again though, these are victims of psychology, they paid top dollar so therefore they must be top students.
Trust me, if you knew what the real costs of providing flight training were you wouldn't even bother picking up one of the brochures to these places, you'd be too disgusted by their greed. This is another thing i was blind to years back, having actually been through all the training I left with one conclusion - it does not cost 100k, nothing near that. Anyone paying anything above about 50 or 60k is simply lining the pockets of the school. Being a pilot is great, but let's not lose all sanity in becoming one. There are still other sensible methods.
If you fancy being totally ripped off then go to one of these schools, if not then go at it the modular way or go for a decent integrated course in which you aren't going to be taken as a cash cow. 80 - 100k is a lot, the trouble is most of these guys have never worked so they don't quite appreciate just how much it is - i was guilty of it too but thankfully destiny took me down another path that saved me the guts of 60k!
Last edited by Officer Kite; 3rd Sep 2019 at 22:50.