Hi manofeurope,
Flight training is very expensive and if your son wants to do it and you or anyone else cant afford to pay for him he is going to have to earn the money along the way. However his instrument rating, ATPL and type rating will require large amounts of cash up front so he is going to have to save up as well as drip feed his hour building. Your advise as a father is very good. He would do well to have a qualification under his belt to both fund his goal and to fall back on when times are hard. He will also need a good level of maths, physics and physical geography to pass his ATPL exams.
Remember that he could fail along the way or he may get to the end and not find a job or at his age he could decide he no longer wants to be a pilot after all. There is a desperate need for trade skills: electricians, plumbers etc all of which can be achieved without a shining school report. The added bonus is that trades pay big money now and will help fund his flight training.
I am a training Captain with a large airline and it amazes me the debt that cadets have when I am training them. They quite literally have a mortgage without a house. Some, obviously, have rich parents but many don’t. I do my best to nurture and develop every cadet that I fly with but there are still some that don’t make it and I have got to tell you my heart bleeds for them. Not only have they failed in their dream career but they have a £100,000 debt that still needs paying off.
You will get replies on here that will say GO FOR IT and FOLLOW YOUR DREAM otherwise you will always be wondering WHAT IF. I agree with these sentiments but make sure your son has the means to achieve his goal without bankrupting himself and you. There is an old saying “Give a man fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will eat for the rest of his life”. Teach your son to earn his way and I am sure that he will make it. Give him the money and I suspect he will fail.