so scroggs u disagree that with an OAT integrated course your paying your way into an airline job quicker?
No, I don't disagree. I believe that the balance of jet employment possibility is in favour of those students who can afford to do Oxford's APP, CTC's scheme, or FTE's or Cabair's similar courses. That is the way the industry is going, and the way the airlines want it. There's nothing strange or sinister about this; it seems to have taken a long time for employers to wake up to the fact that, if they want reliable ab-initio pilots, and they're not going to provide the training themselves, they have to sub-contract to large organisations that run formal, audited and accountable courses. BA used to understand that, Lufthansa and Air France still do, as do the RAF and most other military organisations.
However, there seems to be a perception developing that unless you do one of these courses, you will have no chance of becoming an airline pilot. That, of course, is rubbish. You may have less (not no) chance of stepping straight into a jet cockpit, but you are certainly not disqualified from becoming a jet pilot. You may have to accept that you'll need to spend some time instructing, or flying in less 'glamorous' roles, but so what? You'll still get there if you have the ability and want it enough.
I think, though, you'll have to get used to the idea that this is the way things are going. Flying is a safety-critical occupation, and legislators will increasingly insist on greater supervision and control of the training process. Continuity combined with continuous assessment (as practised in military training) will, I think, eventually become compulsory. That is expensive, and - at least in part - explains why the courses mentioned above cost a lot more than the modular approach can do.
You wouldn't be too happy if your doctor did his training at home and in spare time away from his regular job, and did much of his learning unsupervised. You'd want to be
very sure he was up to the job if your reputation (or your life) depended on his professional ability, yet you had little or no access to his training record. That is the problem for employers looking at the ex-modular student who did courses as and when he could afford them while continuing to earn a living. It's not an insurmountable problem, but it exists, and you have to be prepared for its consequences if you choose that route - the major one of which is that a jet airline would prefer someone else to take the risk of being that pilot's first employer!
The
desire to fly does not confer on you the
right to fly. As the UK (like many countries) does not offer financial support to those undergoing flying training - or many other speculative qualifications - yet insists that the training becomes increasingly rigorous, you will find that the cost continues to rise above general inflation. That is not going to change. There are no current proposals to make continuous training compulsory, but I suspect that they are not that far off. In other words, if you can't raise the money for the full-time courses, don't wait
too long to start training!
Scroggs