The CTC Wings (Cadets) Thread - Part 2.

[Zippy Monster]

I'm not sure if DavidG88 is a troll, but since I've got nothing better to do at the moment I'll assume he's not a troll, just another starry-eyed lazy naive young wannabe who hasn't even bothered to read the last couple of pages of this thread, never mind the thing in its entirety.

David, like jb5000, I'd also like to pick up on your "dream career" comment. What exactly do you forsee this 'dream career' entailing? What is it about this 'dream career' that attracts you so much? Can you put into words what it is about flying a jet for an airline that makes you willing to invest nearly £100k in it?

Is it the utter lack of job prospects on completing the course? The high probability that you'll be working as a contractor with minimal pay and conditions and virtually no benefits or allowances? The possibility of having to live and work abroad, miles from your family/loved ones/mates and not having much of a life? The crap rostering, which sees you doing a block of earlies on minimum rest, after which your days off will be spent mostly catching up on sleep, before switching to a few lates then a few overnighters thrown in for fun? The constant battering of what little T&Cs most of the industry still enjoys by ruthless short-termist bonus-hunting directors who see the F/O as nothing more than a legal requirement the aircraft could quite happily do without, and will go to great lengths to pay you as such?

Or is it the 'dream' of being able to saunter around the airport in your nice uniform past the lines of girls in the check in queue for Ibiza and Ayia Napa, while admiring your reflection in your expensive sunglasses?

If it's something from the former bunch of suggestions, train slowly and modularly and whatever you do, don't over-expose yourself financially. Get your ratings cheaply, and then if all else fails and you're desperate for that jet job, go to Ryanair and pay for their SSTR and join as a contractor; you'll be on similar terms and conditions to a CTC FlexiCrew contractor and you'll have spent a good five figure sum less getting there. You could even spend the leftovers on a 9-month holiday in NZ with a hundred hours or so of light aircraft flying, a few crates of beer and a few trips to Firecats budgeted in and STILL be up.

If it really is the love of flying and the feeling of freedom, liberation and happiness that you can't get out of your system, then go and do your PPL and enjoy flying for fun. I constantly look wistfully back on the days of buzzing around in a 172 or a Twin Star. If you want to fly a big jet for the enjoyment of it, I remember seeing once a programme about a guy who bought a Tristar cockpit from the Mojave desert and rigged it up to MS Flight Sim. That'll be much cheaper.

If it's something to do with the uniform, go and buy yourself a pilot uniform and some sunglasses from Transair or eBay, put it on and go to an airport. Total spend less than £100.

Ok, sarcasm over.

I've been doing the job for a few years and I can't reiterate enough how much the novelty wears off after a VERY short time. Yes it's quite nice when everything runs smoothly, you've got a nice view of the mountains full of snow or the city of London or the French Riviera etc, it's calm/CAVOK and you grease it in and hear a round of applause from down the back, etc. If you're with a decent captain it even verges on being enjoyable. But, knowing what I know now having been here for a few years and seeing how the employment market and new entrant T&Cs has totally and dramatically imploded since I started, would I outlay that kind of money again for this career? Not on your life!

You wanted info about costs? Here you go... £76k, the course costs right now. As a basic cost. (£69k 'bond' + approx. £7k for the compulsory foundation course.) Without insurance, living expenses, and the £10k or whatever it is that is now required as a contribution to the TR should you decide to join the FlexiCrew scheme and join the big orange. Sometimes I don't think people realise that the number on those forms you sign actually MEAN something.

If you have access to that kind of money and you still really think you'll regret it if you don't go for it, and it's still your 'dream career' go for it. The standard of training at CTC is very high. You'll have a cracking time in NZ, great fun at Bournemouth and you'll be under the watch of some very good instructors and some very decent people at Nursling.

If you don't have access to that kind of money, and you're thinking of staking someone's property as security on the loan you'll therefore need, just sit for a while and imagine what it'd be like if/when the bailiffs and locksmiths come round for your (parents'?) home. You should be awoken from that particular daydream when the men in white coats arrive for you.