Just another 2c from the industry..
If you are thinking about starting flying training at any point in the next 2-3 years then don’t. If you are in groundschool I would highly recommend taking the £5k hit and leaving. This industry is about to be decimated. There will be mass redundancies meaning a flooded job market. I have flown with many Captains who graduated flight school in 2008 and then spent 2 years searching for an initial job.
This situation is much, much worse. In 2008 the banks pissed a lot of money away and the economy got hit fairly hard. But life went on, people still went to work and it recovered. This is on a different scale. If, and when restrictions are (slowly) lifted, the absolute last thing to go will be international air travel. And even if that’s allowed it could be very well followed with 2 weeks quarantine for any foreigners landing. That’s the end of the holiday market. Cadets could be facing waits of several years for the job market to recover. Do not indebt yourself and your family for this, it is not worth it. No one has any idea what is going to happen past next week, there is no exit plan, there could be a second wave. Life may not return to normal ever again.
There was some Ryanair FO on instagram talking about how it could be a good time to start training as in 18 months they will be hiring again. Do not listen to people like this. Most insta-pilots are responsible for 95% of the material online and they make up a tiny percentage of the workforce and they are not seen favourably from within.
Also it’s a pretty safe bet to ignore anything L3 or CAE tell you, they will lie to your face in order to get you to sign the line and pay them 6-figures. The sales reps work on commission and will say anything for their cut. Asking CAE if you should start training is like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas...
The whole airline industry pretty much relies on the public’s disposable income, in any recession holidays and travel are one of the first things to go.
You are all in fortuitous positions not being in the industry. For the time being, keep it that way.
Also so don’t think (as I did) that being an MPL will offer you any form of protection, the latest MPL course who joined the company earlier this year have had their contracts terminated and told to PFO.
Think about it.
Last edited by skyblue12; 29th Apr 2020 at 15:49.