Actually, Reddo, my guess is that the success rate in UK is probably even less than your quoted 1% - but it's diffcult to know how serious people are when they say they want to fly for a living before they've started the process of training, so it's difficult to put a realistic number on the dropouts. Whatever the numbers, it's a very high proportion!
Peeps, there aren't very many Wannabe contributors who've gone from pre-fATPL to an airliner flight deck in the last couple of years; as you know, it's been a difficult time. Reddo and Pilot Pete are two of those few, and they're kind enough to share their experiences with you. There are some others of us far longer on the tooth who feel that it's worth sharing our perceptions of the industry, and how it's changed, with you in the hope that you will learn from what we say. Some of what we say is opinion, and is therefore arguable. Most of what we say is fact, and should be believed - although we may not put it as clearly as you'd like on occasion.
As Maximum and Pprune Towers have told you, this is a bloody hard job much of the time. In many so-called respectable airlines, the working conditions are pretty Victorian - and commercial pressures are continually adding to the pilots' burden while often effectively reducing the rewards. The opportunities for losing your entire career are frequent and intimidating, and the pressures on your domestic life are as destructive as any career I can think of. This job is not a licence to print money or to have an easy life, for the vast majority of airline pilots.
I'm one of the lucky few who enjoy what I do enormously, and I work for an airline with a fairly enlightened view (under BALPA pressure....!) of what working conditions should be - yet I'm sat in China now, unable to sleep (it's 4 am here), writing stuff on Pprune. I've been here 3 days and had maybe 8 hours real rest in that time because the time change, added to the overnight flight here, is pretty devastating. I have to operate home - a 12 hour flight - in 7 hours' time..... And then I've got to drive round the M25! I'll sleep all of Monday and most of Tuesday. I'll have Wednesday to sort the washing, claen the house, see my kids, pay my bills, see friends, arrange a car service, do the garden, fix a leak in the bathroom, go to the gym, do some essential shopping, and a few other jobs (takes breath...), before I drive the M25 to Heathrow to do the whole thing over again. For 5 days away with 8 hours bloody sleep again! And I enjoy this? I must be certifiable....
On top of that, I don't yet know what I'm doing in April, let alone later in the year. I cannot commit to any family or other social occasions - ever. I can't plan do get involved in any sporting events, or help out the local amdram society, or charity, or school. My friends (I still have some) have given up trying to invite me to things, 'cos I never turn up. I even nearly missed my own mother's funeral! In this job, you are opting out of normal society. At 48, I'm not senior enough to get leave during school holidays - and I may never be so while my kids are at school. I'm lucky in that at least I get a social life down route. Ask an EZ or Ryan pilot when he/she gets to socialise, and the answer will be pretty much 'never'.
This job is not easy, and there are very real disadvantages. Take all that into account and ditch the rose-tinted specs before you are too committed to change your minds. If you're not absolutely certain that this is what you want to do, having learned all that we are telling you, then go elsewhere and have a nice life.
Scroggs