Originally Posted by
Kundry
Except SOAR doesn't deliver an integrated course... try picking out a school that fits your narrative next time.
Wasn’t aware of that, Kundry - so I stand corrected and take your point. Now I’m confused as to what, exactly, SOAR offers that is so popular... because they aren’t cheap (based on what I hear) and their level of customer satisfaction seems to be lacking. Another story for another thread, perhaps...
However, that doesn’t detract from my point - and to get back on track and reiterate my point despite the confusion I may have created...
Integrated training, by and large, is a shambles. The concept is fine, in theory, but the execution in industry by the sausage factories is poor. Reducing the minimum flight experience requirement to qualify for CPL by 25% simply because a trainee does their theory in a certain sequence doesn’t really make sense - and doesn’t work when most of the instructors at the sausage factories are really junior pilots themselves, with little or no commercial experience, often simply graduates of the previous course... Nowadays they are being mentored by “senior” instructors who have worked at the school for a year or two - and nowhere else. This doesn’t lend itself to quality “integrated” training - which would / should heavily rely on the context that only experienced and well trained instructors can give. Sorry to be harsh, but that’s the state of the industry now...
Related to this, VET FEE is one of the worst things that ever happened to flight training in this country. Again, the idea is great - helping those who would otherwise struggle to afford flight training - but the sausage factories often use it as a vast money grabbing scam to the detriment of those the scheme is supposed to help. Further, these kinds of operators may go beyond potentially being grubby little opportunists and may soon possibly start hurting people. What did I hear happened yesterday? Bloody lucky not to have ended in tears, in my book...
Plus, with the increasing difficulty and cost to insure GA charter aircraft of all sizes, very few will employ a 150-170 hour CPL graduate of the sausage factory. Certainly, I won’t.
So...
Do a 200 hr CPL. Do it in an aircraft that will set you up for what you will likely fly in industry. Do it with a school that has dedicated instructors who care - and preferably are current in flying commercial operations outside of the circuit / training area... these schools are still out there, and likely still will be long after certain others have gone by the wayside. Perhaps that school might have contacts that will help you get a start (as a pilot, not an instructor) after you finish training.