friday,
If you want cold hard facts let me give you mine.
I have spent the last 9 months working very hard to pass the JAA ATPL Ground Exams and complete the CPL Skills Test. It is not easy. It is very expensive. I spent 6 months in Coventry learning some fairly useless facts that I certain I will never need to know again. All that and having to pay for the privilege.
When you are flying a twin engine aeroplane it costs about ₤5.00 per minute when you are training. You will spend in 2 hours more than the average man in the UK earns in a week. You will suddenly get used to saying things like "Oh it was just another ₤1500". You will not be "pampered like a schoolboy", you will be made to feel inadequate, your flying skills questioned at every turn, every change of altitude, every decision put under the microscope during a de-brief. It is not like doing your PPL, where you are doing it for fun. You are training to become a professional pilot, and the passengers you fly are entitled to expect the highest standards from you as a pilot. It will be painful; it will be unpleasant at times. You will question your decision to become a professional pilot. You will wonder why you ever thought you could do this. You will watch your bank account emptying a rate never thought possible. You will become despondent. You will ache to go home. You will consider throwing the towel in and saying sod it all. You will look at the weather forecast with a sinking feeling in you tummy as you see that you cant fly again for probably the next 3-4 days.
Once you have completed the CPL training and passed the Skills Test, you will suddenly be confronted with the reality that a CPL is about as much use as chocolate fireguard. Oh well it is just another ₤12,000 for an IR.
I have stopped at the CPL level, waiting until there is a realistic chance that low hour guys might get a look in again, before I commit another bucket load of money to this project.
What has it cost me so far? About ₤25,000, 9 months away from my wife and child, more stress than I thought was possible and possibly damage to my marriage. I had a back up plan but sadly with the reduction in spending in the IT industry I am now unemployed wondering how I am going to pay my mortgage for the next few months. The money I had earmarked for IR training will probably go that way.
I look at one of my friends who did a MCSE course for about 1/5th of the cost of my training and he is walking from contract to contract earning on average ₤50 per hour. He can pick and choose where he works and for how long. Am I jealous? Maybe a little. He will probably do more flying this year than I will as he has just bought a share in PA44
Am I beaten? No, not yet. I will get to where I want to be come what may.
Do I appreciate people like you, Friday, who have yet to begin on the difficult path of training to be a commercial pilot making patronizing remarks? No, sir, I do not. Maybe once you have been through the mill you will understand what smartcol and myself are talking about.
WWW, I don’t want to get into arguing about the semantics of words and their usage, but if someone you knew had enough money would you advise them to pay for their CV to be read, pay for an interview, pay for a sim ride and pay for a 737 type rating a la Ryanair?