I’m with G-SPOT on this one. I’m 30, half way through my PPL, and planning to take at least another 2 years or so before I get my (modular) fATPL. This will obviously take longer than throwing myself into an integrated course, but I can keep the day job and finance most of the cost that way. I can also think of a few other good reasons for taking this route:
(1) Even if I don’t manage my first job until 35, that still gives me a 20-25 year career to look forward to (and I’ve met enough airline pilots who changed career in their 30s not to be worried about my age).
(2) Jobs for low hours fATPLS are – to put it mildly – scarce, and are likely to be for at least another couple of years. A modular route, where you can dictate the pace (and budget accordingly), seems a much safer bet than writing a cheque for £60k and hoping everything will be alright by the time you qualify.
(3) I’m 2 years into my first mortgage, and already there is enough equity in the house to go out and sign up for an integrated ATPL course (the joys of S.East house prices). The thought of actually doing this – and the consequences if it all went pear shaped – would keep me awake at night. And that’s my house; putting someone else’s home on the line for the sake of my career would scare the hell out of me.
(4) Doing a part-time, modular ATPL, I could slow it down or even walk away from it at any time up to the CPL/IR without losing too much money. Anything could happen - I or my wife could be made redundant (it’s already happened), I could lose my medical – I may even decide that commercial flying just isn’t for me. I’m sure that won’t happen, but my view of the world was very different when I was 20, and who is to say what my attitudes / ambitions etc will be like when I’m 40.
I don’t want to seem unduly pessimistic, or pee on anyone’s bonfire, but you would be foolhardy not to have a viable plan B, and the modular route allows for much, much greater flexibility on that score. Unless, that is, you are in the enviable position of being able to withstand losing £60k+. It can happen, and it’s happened before.
