Originally Posted by
_BOAC
Hi whistla, I have researched it and know about the officer training etc. I was just wondering if getting the CPL and ATPL while young (18/19) and having a learning mindset would be better as I want to fly commercially after leaving the army?
I don’t particularly understand what you want to do here - get a CPL / ATPL (H?) and then join AAC as a rotary pilot? The army will train you fully - for free of course - and it’s a different syllabus compared to the ATPL. If you’d like to do that and money is no object then I guess you can, but I’m fairly sure your ATPL will have expired by the time you leave the military so you would have to re-sit most examinations/check-rides anyway.
Also bear in mind the fact that an ATPL will be much cheaper to achieve after service, as your hours (to some extent) will count towards an ATPL. The army will not expect you to have an ATPL nor will any civilian airlines expect you to have completed an ATPL
before joining the military either. It just makes no sense as the two forms of flying are completely different.
Just remember not to mention that you’d like to fly civvy after your military career in the interview! They tend to like ‘army till I die’ folk!