The trick to going modular and saving money is to study while you're working. Ideally you would make use of your holiday allowance and get a PPL in 4 weeks, or failing that, two 2 week blocks. That's not as hard as you think if you do it somewhere sunny, and turn up with all the exams passed and nothing to do but fly. You could even take 10 hours over weekends to learn the basics, then do an accelerated course full time.
Once you've got your PPL and night rating, start the ATPL exams. Take your time and study no more than 4 subjects at a time, take the exams then move on. 4/4/3/3 still gives you plenty of options for resits. While you're doing that, get a cheap preferably non-equity share in a 150 or PA38 - something that you can fly for less than £100 an hour. Plan to fly around 50 hours making sure you use the time wisely - learning the area for your CPL and getting plenty of cross country time. You should be half way towards CPL, and you've spent less than £18,000
Once you've passed your final ATPL exam the clock is ticking. You've got 36 months to finish up. Start with a CBIR which should cost around £6-8000. An IRR/IMC costs £2500-3000, so essentially to get an IR via the CBIR route you'll need do that twice with an extra 10-20 hours solo practice. So now you've got a PPL/Night/SEIR 150 hours and you've spent £26,000
With 50 hours left to go, I would assess the industry and see if it's worth getting a multi rating yet. Assuming it's not, I would just hour build for another 35 hours (£3500) and do a 15 hour CPL course (£3500) Total spend? £35,000 once you've paid CAA fees. Now you can get an FI rating if you want to teach (£8000) or for the same money you can get your MEP and MEIR *when the time comes.
Of course, if you really want to become a pilot cheaply, have a read of part 61.129 then get yourself a training visa for the US. You can do all of the above for about £20k and come home with over 1000 hours.
Last edited by rudestuff; 3rd Aug 2021 at 04:00.