.....reading the post's with regard to pro's and con's etc., well, have to say i am more in the "camp" that Corsair mentions - not wishing to appear negative but IMHO, with £28k on the hip, the last place i would be investing the cash is a career as a Commercial Pilot at this given place in space and time - the opportunities, rewards and enjoyment are just not there and are not in line with the time, effort and money spent to obtain the necessary qualifications.
I personally came to the above conclusions by looking at my own flying career thus far, many will do the same and come to their own conclusions totally in opposition to mine - and this i understand, as to be fair a totally different experience can be gained from, say working for a large-ish airline as opposed to working for a biz-jet operator (my arena).
My advice, and it is only advice, if i had my time again i would certainly fly but it would only be on a private, recreational level as i would satisfy my flying passion without the expenditure i still experience today - sad ? yes, for sure, i just wish i'd been more honest with myself in the early days of looking into training - i had a desire, passion and probably wouldn't have believed the negativity displayed on here had i read it - not all of course is true and lots of posts need resigning to the "delete" option, but it certainly isn't what i thought it was in the beginning - and i worked my way through many facets of aviation before "taking the plunge", so was what i thought to be a fairly un-biased idea i had - how wrong i was !
Anyway, for all future aspiring commercial pilots, be very, very careful when debating the pro's and con's as it is sooooo easy to convince yourself it's all going to be plain sailing for you when presented with overwhelming odds to the contrary.....i've been there and seen and done it trust me, and so have many others as well. If you still choose this industry, well i hope it works out well for you, for some it does no doubt BUT please assess very carefully and try, try, try to be emotionally removed and level headed about your expectations - failing that, ask an independent financial adviser or city type investor (a good one !? lol) if they would "invest" hypothetically in your "business idea" - if a "yes", well maybe you have the right idea, or as i suspect, a "no" then maybe, just maybe a second look at what your about to embark on might well be in order - after all, you need a return on your investment - or your could be inclined to sucuumb to a further "investment opportunity" at a certain irish carrier ??!! - down to the individual i guess.
