Originally Posted by
Uplinker
I would suggest that after passing his Class 1 EASA medical, your son does an aviation related degree, and/or applies to Airbus. He is very young so the actual airline flying can come later, and he will have his tech. career to pay his rent and support his loan for the frozen ATPL, and to fall back back on while waiting for that first pilot job opportunity.
I'm going to sound a note of discord here.
An MEng in aerospace engineering costs probably 4 years of dedication, and at-least in the UK around £85k by the time you've added up tuition and living costs. That then qualifies you to apply for trainee positions at somewhere like Airbus - the idea of just walking into a job there designing airliners, is as laughable as getting a long haul captaincy five years after finishing an integrated fATPL. Those jobs go to people who spent years of dedicated study and work to get there.
If the desire is to have a backup to flying, and I totally get why that might be a sensible track - get a skilled trade, not a degree. Plumbing, cooking, teaching first aid - whatever it is. Something that's globally in demand and can be pretty much walked into. Pretty much without exception, degrees don't do that - a vocational degree is a tough, expensive, route into a prestigious and worthwhile profession (hopefully). What it isn't is a sensible backup plan.
The ONLY reason to do that degree, is because that is a realistic and desirable career path to the person pursuing it.
G