Originally Posted by
Uplinker
There is no free ATPL training to my knowledge.
Agree with all the rest of your message, but for this part : yes there is ! Actually two : ENAC, very competitive, and Air France cadets.
Only catch : you have to be fluent in French, in both cases. But it may very well be the case of OP's son ?
How long have you all been living in France for ?
About the Air France cadets. They may very well open again in the coming years.
It is competitive but not so much if you're really motivated and at the right time in your life (not too early, you need at least 2 years college or better : "classes
prépa")
About the salary, Air France is about the best you can hope. He will make about 45k€/year with no debt whatsoever.
So, in short, finish the PPL, start a "classes
prépa" (any math and physics "prepa class" will do, preferably the best he can get in your area though), if he has time, do the ATPL theory (it can very well be after the classes
prépas because they are very demanding), and at some point during this curriculum or right after, the AF cadets will hopefully open and he will be able to prepare and hopefully succeed.
Having a double culture, if he speaks perfect French, will only be a total advantage.
Originally Posted by
T Father
Really taken back by the amount of replies & advice here, you are all clearly very knowable & have that ''thing'' you cant buy ..... Experience!!
He is doing his PPL at the moment & has flown around 20 hours so far, its a local flying club down the road from us @ EGC Bergerac Dordogne Périgord Airport. Fantastic place & very fair with pricing but there is a limit to what we can offer him & to be honest putting our family home up to secure the funding or debt is NOT something we would do.
He would only have to fail a medical by the sounds of it and thats that - no job ! plus we would lose our home. In my option its also not fair to let a young adult sign up to / agree that his family home is being used as collateral.
We tell our kids to aim high, try hard & then try harder lol the world is tough & as its been pointed out its also changing very fast - Once again thank you for the feedback & advice. So helpful & lots i didn't even think of.
T
I'll have more advice tonight.. In short, also think about a very good plan B.