Well, I'm another one - Here's my plan
Hey everyone,
After doing extensive research around these forums, flight schools, talking to people etc, I've got a pretty good idea of what's going to happen to me in the next few years.
However, I've decided to be another one of "them" and put my situation across to all of you guys to see what you think.
So, here goes. I'm 17, I live in Preston, Lancashire. I'm just going into second year A-Level and I'm taking maths, physics, geography and computing (and I took the same for A/S level). After 18 months of training (I'm sure you all know the woes of British weather!) I finally managed to gain my PPL at Blackpool just after Easter this year. Since then I've just been keeping my hand in, flying approx. once every 3 or 4 weeks, and I currently have around 65 hours, 20 of which are logged as P1.
So, my future then. Naturally, I want to be a commercial pilot (how romantic!), and have done for many many years. I love (almost) everything to do with aviation, and frankly can't get enough of it, as, I'm sure, is the case with you guys. I've looked at all the different routes, and I'm pretty much set on a modular route (though I'm always open for discussion!). Apart from the fact that it seems a far more cost-effective way of doing it (while, for various reasons, cost isn't a massive deciding factor, of course it plays a large part in training, and I want to do it with as little incurred as possible), it seems far more "me" than going on an integrated course with CTC or the likes.
I have a friend who lives in Canada, and I went to visit last year. He's also got his PPL and wants to do the same thing as me. The plan is that next summer (once I'm done with college) I'm going to hop over the pond for a couple of months to do some "hour-building" with him. I'll need to get almost up to my compulsory 150 hours, with (I believe) 70 hours of that being P1 time for the MEP rating.
After that, things get a bit more blurry. I'm very interested in doing a distance-learning ATPL course after that, to allow me to live at home (hence not incurring accommodation costs), so the plan is so far that I'd complete that, either through BGS or by signing up for the OAT Waypoint scheme. Once done there, I'd either progress with OAT, most likely through their Arizona base (especially if I'd done the ATPL ground exams with them) or, if I'd gone through BGS, perhaps finding a different commercial school to complete my ATPL (f) and quite possibly my MCC too.
Of course, the question is "Then what?" to get an airline job, but I think from what I've read and heard so far that the best thing to do is to concentrate on actually getting through flight school first, before worrying about trying to get a job with the biggies.
What does that sound like as a plan to you guys? Of course, I'm open to any of that plan changing if we figure there's a better way of going about it. Any comments, suggestions or otherwise would be very much appreciated indeed.
Thanks a lot in advance!