Hello ford
Quote ford cortina:
"Colomiers, you seem to contradic yourself there. On the one hand if you are already £60,000plus in debt its quite easy to get anither £20K or so? "
Of the people i trained with, many had a £60k loan from hsbc. upon finishing their course they then did sim checks and interviews with an airline/training provired. They were offered a place on a type rating (which they have to pay for) and given a letter which basically says "if you pass this typerating to our standards and we still needs pilots in 3 months we'll give you a job".
This letter is taken to the bank manager and the student tells them how they've already succeeded at oxford and they now have an airline interested in them. with £20k they can get on this course and barring some pretty bad luck, get a job at the end of it.
lets call this scenario case A.
now look at case B. you come out of oxford and can't get an interview. you go to the bank manager and say "i've suceeded at oxford but can't get a job. i want to borrow another £20k to pay for a typerating which will hopefully increase my chances of getting a job"
for a bank manager Case A is far, far less risky than case B. Even if case B was modular and had less debt to begin with they are a much higher risk. what the bank manager is interested in is your ability to pay back your borrowings. the amount of borrowings is less important.
I know quite a few 'Case As'. they all managed to secure the extra funding without too much bother.
Quote ford cortina:
"I have also heard from the mouths of Chief Pilots and Recuitment Managers that by Self funding type ratings is one hell of a way to show commitment and they would and do employ people going down this route."
I don't know if we're talking about the same thing here. you can 'self fund' a typerating after interviewing with an airline, upon completion of which they will (almost certainly) give you a job.
You can also pick a type yourself (e.g. a320) and go and do a typerating on it, after which you start looking for a320 jobs.
If chef pilots are advocating the latter then i would do everything in my power to avoid them like the plague. An fATPL is highly transportable. An a320 type rating with generic SOPs is useless to any airline as it stands. they have to undertake serious retraining to convert you to their SOPs.
regarding going to an American company an getting some hours, i don't know what you're talking about. i would be interested to know if you'd care to expand.
I stand by my original advice though, DO NOT PAY FOR A TYPE RATING UNLESS THERE IS A JOB AT THE END OF IT. paying for hours is equally out of the question.
People say Ryanair is a sh1tty outfit - and they are!! They certainly wouldn't be anyones first choice BUT, they do offer a good stepping stone if other more desirable options are not available. you pay (less than many other airlines) for your typerating and that is it. granted the pay is crap for the first 6 months but at least you're getting paid as opposed to paying for the privilege of flying passengers around. and after six months they pay is actually GOOD. get 1500hrs and get out!
Compare this to the likes of Astraeus (pure evil in my eyes). pay for a type rating and then pay more to fly our paying passengers around for 40 hrs. where do you go from there. i'm pretty sure any of the uk 75/73 operators won't be too interested in you with 4o hrs on type.
I can't imagine how sh1tty it must be to be sitting around qualified for a year and no sign of a job. but surely the likes of astraeus must be the very last resort. with china and india expanding like they are are there any opportunities down there? spend a year and a half, get 1500hrs and move back to europe. i have no idea how viable this option is but it's something i'd look long and hard at before paying to fly passenger jets.