There's an easy answer to all this - Queens flying club! You're 18, in two years you could be flying a Eurofighter at 600 miles an hour 300 feet off the deck in the Lake District earning £30k a year for doing it with no debts.
Better flying, free training, better salary, cheaper beer, cooler aircraft. Why the heck anyone of your age would even consider being an airline pilot when they could fly for the RAF is beyond me...
Desk-pilot
I went over to Cranwell and took the Queen's flying assessment thingy - results? Motor skills, memory, hand-eye etc etc, the chap actually said to me it's rare to see such high results!
Never continued though 'cos my eyesight falls a few increments shy of perfection unfortunately... oh well, guess I'll slog on with the CPL!
