I suppose my 2 penn'orth may be of some use !
I wanted to fly helicopters for the RAF - so a 15 year ofl telling that to his careers officer as school got short shrift, then the RAF careers officer said "Don't tell them that, say you want to fly fast jets then get streamed off "
Long story snipped, I got my PPL in 1989 and hour-built to get to the 140 or so hours purely to go to Bristows for the sponsorship. I got an interview but no job, so carried on in IT. F/w commercial flying got nowhere, so I was resigned to private f/w flying.
Until I went to Oz for work on year, and an Oz PPL(H) was viable. So I did that, then converted it on my return to the UK. Then I found out about the UK CAA exam date cut-off, so did the exams in July and November 2000.
Hour building in 2002 in California, then the modular course at the end of 2002, so an ink-wet CPL(H). R44 rating, taken after some thought, which resulted in 0.7 hours total since doing it for various reasons. Next week sees me at Alan Mann for the 206 factory course, and I may have both R44 and B206 work line up for 2004.
My plan is to get to 300 hours to do the FI course, with the requisite number of hours to instruct on R22, R44 and B206 straight off, sometime in 2005, maybe early 2006.
Like I say, that's the plan. I have funded this through redundancy settlements and IT salary (say no more) until the end of the course next week. Then it's back to saving for the course and to cover a week or 2 unpaid leave to do the FI course itself in one block.
If it goes to plan I'll be 40 when I get the FI, but a) some one else will be paying for my flying, and b) I've the option to find more CPL work if needed.
Some things I've found useful:
- Make sure, if you have a partner, that they're on board and fully supportive - it makes life so much easier
- Age isn't a disqualifier in my case since I'm not planning to go NS - if your plans don't call for that, take your time
- Ring fence money specifically for flying, and keeping current as far as your flying organisation is concerned in lean times
Whatever you do - it's your decision, if you're happy with it then go for it and make sure you enjoy it.