Going for it or not..advice please!
Good day to all,
I am writing to you because I am thinking about a career change and I just can't make up my mind whether to go for it or not. This is where you come in.
For the last 10+ years I have been working in IT (ecommerce, Internet) in London and Paris. I earn good money, work with young dynamic people, I have what people would call a good career so far, but that is not enough for me. My issue: I am not happy and have not been happy since I started this career. I am hence on the lookout for a real sense in my work. Usefullness, satisfaction, pride..I am believing a pro pilot career could give this to me and allow me to be in peace with myself..By the way, a side effect would be to hold a job that people understand when you explain what you do (parents, kids, partygoers).
I am 34 years old now...my objective is to work with a major in Europe before I am 40.
I have a little history in flying and aerospace..
1995: Failure ab initio LH (sim test)
1996: Success PPL A in Florida (50h)
1999: Success Aéro Engineering UK
1999: Failure ab initio BA (group work)
I think I find it hard to get over the failures at the 2 ab initio programs (when I was younger. If I am here writing about giving my pilot career a 3rd chance, maybe that means I am motivated after all?
Today I am looking at the P2F method to acquire frozen ATPL...as I am too old for the rest (Air Berlin aside maybe).
The more I spend time on PPRUNE or speak to AF or other pilots the more I shy away from this new personal project. High unemployment, high risk...
The real showstopper for me is not the financial effort, but the prospect of being unemployed in 2 years time. People on here are quite vocal about the bad situation. Is it the unemployed that moan and that tends to give the general tone, while many others have found and too busy to post here? I see that phenomenon with Customer Service and frustrated Internet shoppers blogging on the net. They are few but they are loud!
In parallel, Airbus and Boing received orders of new airplanes seem at a high level. Will airlines not need to put pilots into these planes? Or could some orders be cancelled. This is the good news I see when I read the economic news in the papers.
In actual facts, these would be my questions tonight:
1) What do you think of my project given the background info I have supplied and the recrutement situation how you read it?
Should I go ahead or continue in my current job?
(I do understand more new pilots is not good news for unemployed pilots today, good luck to those on a side note).
2) What school would you favour?
a) JAA approved shool in US for integrated programme for about 40K EUR (see Ormond Aviation in FL) or school in Europe (where I live) for about 100K EUR?
3) How do I best go from frozen ATPL with 200h (?) to the apparently critical level of 500h? I understand I need 500h. Where can I land a job when I get out of flight school with my brand new licence? (club, P2F, taxi company)
4) The fatal question of the qualification: I understand most users of this forum encourage STRONGLY not to pay for it (737 A320 etc), for the obvious reason of snowball effect etc.. (some sort of union -)). What if I fly for netjets on Falcon or Global Express at the start of my career, I would not need above mention qualification for large jets, will I?
Thanks for your time, help and comments,
greetings from Paris
E