Originally Posted by
AdamSt205
For 15 years I was working for a large manufacturing firm working my way up from the shop floor to a decent managerial position. Ended up getting made redundant in 2020. Changed jobs for about a year but found them all a bit rubbish and the people around me terrible. I looked for a quick way out and ended up retraining and doing my HGV Licence and have been doing Class 1 lorries for the best part of 3 years now. I love the job compared to my old site based roll. Job satisfaction, travelling all over the country, the journey and everything is fantastic. The Hours do not bother me either as I have been used to that all my life. The only thing is the pay which just isn't good enough for what responsibility you have and the future looks the same. I am not really grumbling as I have a very good life and I am in a fortunate position compared to most in this country but after my redundancy it has opened my eyes a little to possibilities. I guess it is very easy to get into a rut with life as it was in my old job instead of pushing forward.
I have done a couple of flight experiences over the years and was a bit of flight simulator fan in my 20's and absolutely loved it but never thought I would ever be able to do it due to cost. I have a general love for engineering, absolutely love my cars and have a very mechanical mind and skillset. I self taught myself to do pretty much everything from welding to stripping and rebuilding engines. I would say I am a very good learner and pick things up quickly. Out of the 100+ drivers at my workplace I am consistently in the top 10 with the KPI's they measure us by. I am also very safety cautious and rule regulated person (My father was a career solider of 22 years) so I think I would fit into the pilots workplace.
Academically I was quite good at school getting 10 GCSE's A-C with A in Maths and Science. I did AS level in Maths and BTEC Diploma in computer programming. Unfortunately my father got cancer and died when I was 20 and it turned my life upside down a bit. I had a child at 21 with my now wife and was just looking for a job to provide for my family. I have worked hard throughout that time to get to this point where I am looking at still working for the next 30+ years and what I want to do with that.
I started browsing about flying and what is needed. I always new it was going to be expensive but there seems to be a lot of different ways to get on the ladder which seems a little confusing.
Financially it is not a problem for me. I have been very lucky with investments and buying my house directly after the financial crash. I have about 50k of capital in cars that I could sell and my mortgage is basically finished so could easily get another 100k on top of that. I can also do add hoc HGV driving all around the country on my days off if needed. That being said I would rather get the most thorough learning that will most likely land me a job at the end rather than the cheapest option out there. I am also under no illusion that this will be long and I will most likely be 50 before I even get the possibility of captain.
I have both UK and Polish passports and my wife is Lithuanian with right to live in the UK so we are pretty fluid in that respect although I would rather train in the UK. I also have a camper van and am totally used to living in a truck so I am quite flexible on being able to travel the country for training although i currently reside in Lincolnshire (About 10 minutes from RAF Coningsby).
I was initially looking at generation CAE MPL easyJet but it seems a couple of posts on here say it is not very good and doesn't live up to its promises?
It seems during March/April a lot of the big carriers start their recruiting is this worth waiting for or am I looking at a impossible lottery with that one?
Am I too old and should just forget it?
First of all 37 is not to old, but there is some nonsense advice given by some here.
37 - 40 is not really to old, if you are healthy, and you can bare the financial pain of the training.
I had my PPL when I was 18, struggled to have cash to go further that time, than I ended up in a great business that I did enjoy that lasted for over 20 years. I used to play around on Flight Sim, but I stayed away from real airplanes, as I never saw myself being able to make it a career, due to my prescription on my glasses, what I initially was not aware of was that the EASA regulations had changed since I took my PPL when I was 18.
Around 18 - 19 years later I discovered the new medical regulations after I had decided to redo my PPL, I was now around 38. It was fly as required, and I already had a logbook with around 250 hours, so I did not need to do any hour building. As I was still running business, I decided at the age of 40 to start my modular training, I did it part time over approx 2 years, I was done training at the age of 42, and I got my first job at the age of 43 with a total of around 300 hours, RHS with a solid good European company (before Brexit) I had to commute 4 hours by flight, every 7 and 9 days, for around 2 years I was home around 3 out of 10 days. It was part of the reasons that it cost me my marriage, there were other reasons too, but the commuting certainly did not help.
During this journey, I would like to mention that there was age issues with recruitment with some companies, Ryanair did that when I tested them once by changing my age in the dropdown box, and applied with an age of 10 years younger than I really was, within few days I had an email confirming interview date, I emailed them and told them I had inadvertently made a mistake with "year" drop down box, and gave them my correct age, and within days my interview was cancelled.
So my experience is that it is harder get first job when older, but it is not impossible.
I was to this month 42 turning 43 when I got my first airline job, and at the age of 51 I got my Command with a major European airline, I was delayed by 2 years because of Covid. I enjoyed the job before I got my Command, but becoming Captain made the job great. At "our" age, you don't want to spend to long time in the RHS, hence when I say consider your options for future career progression, long haul you might never get LHS, some short haul companies might also take long time. Wizz, Ryanair and Easyjet it generally goes quite fast.
First have in mind when you go modular, there are many airlines that will not employ you unless you have experience. The only companies that I believe in UK might employ would be Ryanair, Wizz. Logan Air, maybe Titan if you have done the modular route, the integrated will give you many more options. I personally dislike those training schools, because I do believe they are overpriced, but on the other hand they do increase the chance of employment, so at an older age you need to try to deal yourself the best cards possible,
After Brexit, you are limited to UK companies, if you want to apply outside you need to consider first if you have the right to work, than getting the EASA license / medical, and many companies have language requirements.
I am not a big fan of the MPL schemes, but in fairness they are great options as they give you a guaranteed job. And those who talk down the easyJet MPL scheme clearly does not know what they are talking about. For an older candidate it is the best way, sure there will be some hard times in the start, but you generally have good career path, and can reach the LHS within 6 - 7 years, which is not bad.
What you need to consider is what you would like to do, some seem to believe easyJet is just a "stepping stone", there are few European short haul companies that will give you better conditions, if you want to be home every day, part time options etc., go to BA / Euroflyer short haul and you will be living in hotels everyday, long haul again is another game, getting LHS Long Haul with BA might never be achievable. So these are things to consider.
Wizz offers quick career progression, maybe the quickest, but you will have not many good benefits, and you need to work hard for your money, as basic pay is low, flight pay is the largest part of your pay. So if you end up some months sick, that won't be great.
But in the start beggars can't be choosers, so nothing wrong going 1 - 2 years with companies such as Wizz, get your experience / hours and move on.
Personally I love to be back home in my own bed each night, seeing my kids and wife, sure can be hard sometimes, but it is worth it in the end.
So my advice would be try to get into some of those sponsored programs, or MPL programs, I also believe Wizz have some cadet program, but again they can also be a bit funny about the age thing, they might not want to pay your training in those cases from what I experienced. I am not so updated anymore on all these various programs available.
So do some research first, the most important thing is that you get an interview after your training is completed, or even better you pass the interview before your training starts.
Financially it might be hard for the first 3 - 4 years, depending on what you are used to from before of course. But don't delay your start, because it does not get easier with age.