Personally, and this is coming from somebody in the RHS on a lovely new 737NG, I wouldn't reccommend anybody who wants to be a 'career airline pilot' goes and does a degree.
Seriously, this job may seem fantastic when you're a passenger sat behind the wing skimming at 300 knots over the stratus bathed in the gorgeous golden light from the setting sun, and you may think 'bloody hell, I'm gonna have to be a Physicist to achieve this'!
Trust me, when you're in the job, you realise that it really is hyped up a LOT. It's very nice, there's no doubt about that, but that's all it is, another job. My mates aren't doctors, or lawyers, or MPs etc. They work in warehouses, they're retail managers, they're HGV drivers, one's a P.E. teacher. Do I have a better job? Not really - when you've done your 100th landing in the 737 and taxiied up to the stand having a chat with the skipper, you realise that it IS only a job.
It's CERTAINLY not worthy spending four years at university specifically for it, as it will not help you in this job that is no longer so unusual. Do you need a degree to fly a PA28 or a 172? No. Do you need a degree to fly a 737? No. In fact, do you need a degree to fly aeroplanes full stop? Go figure.
It's a fabulous career for me, I thoroughly enjoy it, but I wouldn't have learnt 4 years worth of unrelated material for it... Those who really DO have the motivation to fly for a career, will do so with relatively few gaps in employment. Go drive a truck for a few months. If you love flying, you must accept there probably will be a few times in your life when you're not flying. What does it matter whether you then fall back onto a job in a warehouse or as a lawyer?
Why study all that time at uni for a job/area you'll probably only be in for a few months in your life? Hey, if you've got two brain cells to rub together you will put enough savings away each month to keep your going in times like these when the pickings are thin.
I don't tend to enjoy myself as much these days for exactly that reason. I spend NOTHING that I don't need to right now, because I am always anticipating I may need the money in the future, and in ten months of flying I've put away enough to keep me going for about the same time frame in my current conditions.
Just my two Euros
