I’ve spent a long time on this forum as a wannabe commercial airline pilot. I know the route I’m going down, and it’s the modular one. It’s cheaper and you get the same thing at the end of it. There’s lots of arguments for and against modular/integrated, but I’ve done my research, and despite what other people’s opinions may be, I’ve made my decision on what I will do to embark on my dream career. If I was in your shoes I’d make a calculated decision as to when to start your training and how you’re going to fund it and go for it down the modular route!
The one thing I don’t understand about this website though, is the fact it’s so negative. It’s full of people (a handful of which claim to be real world commercial pilots) who will post and re post threads and replies trying to put people like us off a career we want. I’ve given up wasting time on arguing with people like this. It’s easy for someone who became a pilot in the glory days of fully funded sponsorships to look at us with their current lifestyle and slate us for being willing to take a risk on becoming a pilot. The truth is, there’s a need for pilots, and there will be for the foreseeable future, there will always be slumps and booms in recruitment. There will always be new hires and retirements, there will always be lucky and unlucky people. There will always be good and bad jobs within the industry. It’s just life. If we followed most people advice on this forum, there wouldn’t be any pilots (which makes me question some peoples motives for posting sometimes).
I know many people who are current airline pilots, all with different stories. All got hired at different stages of their life after being in different situations. All a mixture of modular and integrated students and all of which are very interesting and motivated people, who don’t have a bad word to say about finally doing the career of their dreams. The fact is, this site, especially this section, is cluttered with out of work or bitter pilots ranting and putting off others who might even consider a career in aviation. The truth is the many pilots who made it and are living out their dreams as a pilot are not wasting time on the wannabes section of pprune. And as for the whole fact of ‘Piltdown Man’ saying you’ll be lucky to earn half of what you’re on now... well yes, maybe for a while, then your potential earnings as a pilot can sky rocket. It’s in the top 10 of most highly paid jobs in the UK for god’s sake.
I’ve got my head guard on and gum shield in ready for being quoted and ‘ripped apart’ by people who can’t stand what I’ve said. Then maybe I’ll change my mind and go and become a cowboy builder earning 50K a year, and to feed my dream of becoming a commercial pilot I’ll buy a glider and thermal my way to the south of France and just play flight simulator for the rest of my life.