Originally Posted by
Danak95
Hi all -
a few weeks ago I turned 30 and had a serious conversation with my father about where my life is heading. We talked about how I’ve spent years chasing income, running a business, working 7-day weeks, and that maybe now is the time to start chasing dreams instead of just financial goals.Becoming a pilot has always been a dream of mine. I’ve finally reached a point in life where I can start exploring that seriously.
I know there are hurdles ahead, as I’m sure many of you have faced too. I’d really appreciate some personal perspective on the following:
1. lack of formal education
Mathematics comes easy to me in comparison to other subjects
1a)
I don’t have any formal high school education, though I have basic maths and English qualifications from an apprenticeship. Is that enough?
1b)Would you recommend I take GCSEs or A-levels in maths or physics? Partly for personal development, but also for future CV credibility?
1c)
due to a low level of education, I’m hesitant on my learning ability - and honestly haven’t been the greatest at learning from apps or textbooks. Is there other options people have tried, that they’ve found works for them? mixing different ways to consume the information?
2. life/lifestyle change
currently working extreme hours, but compensated very well.
2a)
has anybody spent (for me) 7 years of their life building a business, getting to the point of “success” (local market leaders) and switched over to being a pilot?
2b)
how did you (or somebody you know) deal with leaving behind a really challenging and demanding lifestyle (24hr phone calls etc) to becoming a pilot, did you feel the pilot lifestyle could replace running a business?
2c)
has anybody got to the airlines and felt, it isn’t what you expected?
3. Opportunities, future and advice
With current life commitments and work commitments I plan on 3-5 years to get my ATPL
3a)
is a healthy income realistically possible for somebody who gets a frozen ATPL at approx 35 years old?
3b)
I currently have 3 flight experiences at different companies, 2 at a local airfield to me, and 1 further afield (approx 1.5hr).
what should I be looking for,
and is a company reputation important for the CV?
3c)
Although always paying a keen interest in the matter, I’m not as informed as I would like to be, do you have any advice that you think I should know, that I haven’t asked?
I really appreciate I’ve asked a lot of questions here, but it’s a serious decision in my current life.
if you are able to just respond to one of my points, I thank you, and even if you’re just browsing, thank you for taking the time to read my questions.
** edit -
I am located south east England
have not started just yet as currently getting some medical stuff sorted out before looking at a class 1 medical, and want to have a few different days with different schools to see how I feel.
I’ll try and take a meander through your questions, but the very short summary is that I can see nothing in what you’ve written that screams this will be a complete disaster. Quite the opposite, given what you’ve achieved by 30, learning to fly shouldn’t be all that difficult.
1a. Depends. It will stop you getting on sponsored schemes. It may limit your very first job. Once you get your very first job it will never be an issue again.
1b. GCSE Maths and English can only help, but I don’t think I’d put off training to get them. Most sponsorships now want GCSEs only, so that is a guide as to where airlines may want their academic bar to be.
1c. ATPL groundschool is mostly learning question banks and learning from instructors. There’s not a massive amount of studying from a textbook per se. Good idea may be to focus on a training pipeline where you do groundschool first. Then you’re in the bubble for six months, can get really into it and it’s done when it’s done. Bluntly if it’s too much of a leap academically then at least it’s a fairly small amount lost.
2a. I have not, but you’d be very surprised by how many pilots are on their second or third careers, very common. Owning a business is just another previous career once you start flying.
2b. Not once the buzz of training wears off and you’re fully qualified. Day to day it’s a fairly monotonous job, or at least it should be if you’re doing it right! Plenty of people run businesses on the side. Our job, on a normal day..!, leaves an enormous amount of head space to focus on other things as it doesn’t follow you home and requires no work outside of just flying the thing. I personally love being a worker bee and having no additional responsibilities apart from ironing some kit before I go to work.
2c. Yes, but in a good way. I thought airline flying would be pretty dull if I’m being honest but it’s been great, really do think it’s one of the best jobs in the world.
3a. You’re under 50, forget about your age as you can have a full career. Yes you’ll fly with captains younger than you. Doesn’t matter in the slightest. You’re 30 now so by 35 you won’t be a captain but if you’ve been on a 320/737 jet for a couple of years you’ll be close to £100K in today’s money. Another couple of years you could well be a captain on the nice side of 150.
3b. Not qualified to answer
3c. Start getting your head around what route you want to go down. Integrated vs modular, EASA vs CAA, or both. These sorts of things are big calls to make and they’ll happen soon.
Yes, get your class 1 ASAP