Apologies for the length of this post.
It's all about timing. Global airline growth combined with pilot retirements predict a demand of 17,000 pilots per year for the next 20 years. The current situation, however, is dire.
The pool of unemployed pilots continues to build, meaning that when airlines do start to recruit in earnest once again, it will be sometime until the pool is diminished to the extent that a graduate fresh out of flight school can be confident is securing a job within a short timeframe. When doing your sums therefore, you must take into account the fact that your son, once graduated, could be without a job for quite a period of time.
Integrated or modular?
In the current environment, neither route will make your son more employable, for the simple reason that if he were to graduate tomorrow then his chances of securing a job would be minimal, to put it lightly.
Integrated has the advantage of being a fast-track training route (approx 18 months) and airlines like integrated graduates given they can be assured of a consistency of training. That is why certain airlines, such as BA, will publicly state that they only employ low hours (graduate) pilots off integrated courses following recommendation from schools. This is indeed the case in times when the pool of pilots seeking work is over-flowing (such as now). However, in times of high demand and low supply, the training route becomes a moot point, and airlines will recruit graduates irrespective of the training route they have chosen.
Integrated has the distinct disadvantage of being more expensive than modular, primarily because a lump sum will have to be paid up front, and so unless you have the cash to hand expect to pay as much as £20,000 interest on bank loans. The total cost from zero experiene to an airline job on an integrated training route in the UK has been put at £130,000 currently, which I will breakdown shortly.
Meantime, the modular route is much cheaper, as one can pick and choose the cheapest schools and train at a rate that finances allow - meaning hefty interest payments can be avoided. The traditional way of doing this is to start with a PPL, then hours build before becoming CPL rated. Following a CPL, many students become instructors in order to avoid having to pay to accrue minimum flight hours experience, before progressing to the instrument rating and MCC. This route traditionally takes anything between 2-3 years.
The gotchas for the modular training route are: First, airlines, in times of low demand, may prefer to look at integrated low hours graduates in preference to low hours modular graduates. This is a contentious subject however and many will disagree. The second potential pitfall concerns the training. Airlines want to see that a pilot has received a consistent level of training, meaning that if you spread your training out between too many budget schools, both in the US and at home, then they will question the standard to which you will have been trained. As with anything in this world, you get what you pay for. It is essential therefore that you research schools thoroughly before signing up to them. This means visiting the schools, talking to the instructors, as well as the slick sales staff, and most importantly, speaking with the students. You should also be extremely careful about paying money up front as unfortunately it is all too common for the smaller flight schools to fail, leaving you stranded and out of pocket in the process – there are a myriad of threads on pprune that will attest to this. Airlines will tend to recommend that the bulk of the training isn't spread out over more than two schools (ignoring PPL).
Now for the £130,000 integrated training price breakdown:
£66,000 school training fees
£6,000 CAA exam and flight test fees
£8,000 living and accommodation costs
£30,000 aircraft type rating
£20,000 loan interest payments
If your son is planning on attending university first, then you may want to factor in £10,000 - £20,000 of university debts as well.
Will your son have to pay for a Type Rating?
Thanks to the avaricious nature of low cost carrier’s HR departments, which are currently being run as profit making centres, the answer is likely to be yes.
How can he avoid having to pay for a Type Rating?
If your son decides that an integrated course is the right option for him, then I would recommend very strongly that he tries to get himself on a mentored scheme. These training schemes are ones where an airline will pre-select a student before they start training. They then mentor them through their training before employing them on graduation. They often include a small amount of funding assistance, although not always, and on most occasions the airline will pay for the type rating, although they will likely bond the pilot to the company for a minimum period of time to offset the risk that the pilot will decamp somewhere else once rated.
What next?
As your son is only 15, I suggest that he does as much as possible over the next few years to increase his knowledge of the world of aviation. Not only will it give him a better grounding in what to expect from a career in aviation – and remember, there are plenty of other jobs in aviation which don’t involve airlines – but it will also demonstrate to his future employers that he has the right level of enthusiasm and drive.
Get him to join a local flying or gliding club. Get a weekend job cleaning aircraft. Join the Air Cadets.
Most importantly, contact the Guild of Air Pilot & Navigators (GAPAN), the Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS), the British Gliding Association (BGA), the Light Aircraft Association (LAA), the British Microlight Aircraft Association (BMAA), and the Air League, and learn as much as you can about the large number of sponsorships and scholarships available to dedicated and enthusiastic youngsters in the UK.
Best of luck!
jez