Originally Posted by
tsabir62
Hi all,
I'm in my early 20s, living down south besides London Heathrow, and i'm finally looking to start my training towards becoming a professional airline pilot.
Might also be important to note that I just received my class 1 medical certificate recently.
Now i'm at the stage where i want to pick a school to train in, going integrated, and at the moment i'm extremely conflicted in which one to pick.
I'd like to train with one that's stationed relatively close by since i don't plan on living out, and I've looked into a couple of the big ones such as L3 and CAE (also attending their open days).
Between the two, L3 sold themselves better, though i know the popular opinion online isn't great in regards to L3.
Right now i am almost set on applying to their integrated ATPL course regardless, but i think i'm still a bit puzzled and thought some further consultation here would help. Plus, i'm not too privy to all the aspects of training they don't tell you up front.
All in all i preferably just want a school that's reliable with high quality training, not too far, not a total rip-off, and gives me at least a solid chance in getting hired by an airline post-grad.
Simply put, as a young man with all the free time and money available for an integrated ATPL course ready to start his pilot training, what are my best options?
Thanks
It’s a shame reading this. Despite the last decade of people posting their experiences, people providing stellar advice as to how to navigate the process and get the best in terms of quality and value from the training, you’re seemingly still just going with the school that’s got the best instagram posts.
Think. What do you want from your training? The most effective route to the RHS of a jet, in terms of time and cost? Or the biggest and most obnoxious epaulettes on your shoulder, from a school that’s more likely to say ‘thanks Tsabir62, all the best for the future 🙌’ on LinkedIn when you post a photo of you grinning at the end of MCC?
And L3 of all places. You say local but to be blunt you have no idea even what continent you’ll be training in. People have been sent to the Middle East to train, might be in the uk, might do groundschool at Bristol, bit of training at leading edge. You have absolutely no idea. And why would you? You sign up they’ve got you £100K in the bank before you’ve even posted your first #TraineePilot post on the gram. You’re tied in, that’s it. There is no incentive for them to look after you or build your training around you. If it’s more profitable outsource you, delay you, back course you, that’s what they’ll do. And of course they will. They’re a business, you’re the bankroll.
Modular school, you get messed about you’d just go elsewhere. There’s a mutually beneficial relationship there. Better the training the more you spend with them. They’re still a business, but there’s inherent accountability. Want to bash through the training? Great. Want to pace it around work? Also great.
Remember that when you’ve got the licence in hand, regardless of where they came from they are identical. You’ll then need a type rating and it’ll be £30K to buy into Ryanair or, bonded with J2, Wizz, Loganair etc or into somewhere like BA on their Cadet entry.
10 years ago there was arguably at least some merit to integrated as there was some bias towards integrated students. That’s fine though, look at the selection criteria for the major airlines. They know the bits of paper are all the same, it’s the individual they want. You’re an awful lot more interesting a candidate as a self made Modular student than a Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V integrated student. And that 30K saving vs integrated, comes in very handy when O’Leary sends you the bill!
I say this as a former integrated student with one of your mentioned schools. Got me the job, as would any other school, cost me though…
Appreciate this might seem a bit harsh but just stop and think about what you’re signing up to. Got loads of cash and do just want to go the way of the gram, fine, it’s your money, don’t let anyone stop you doing that! But please take a couple of weeks and go at this full time. Visit lots of schools, spend hours trawling the websites, dig through PPRuNe etc etc. It’s a 30+ year career you’ll be starting, don’t mess this but up.