Having not cleared the final hurdle at Cranebank I have now received the inevitable invitation to go back to OAA and consider the Self Sponsored Route. I am quite sure that if I was a fresh faced twenty something I would probably be jumping at the chance.
However as a 39 year old the risk/reward balance does seem to be stacked on the wrong side.
I successfully negotiated the early stage interviews/aptitude tests back when I was 26 years old and it was the full scholarship deal. BA were forced for one reason or another to change their age restriction from under 28 years old at the commencement of their course to 26, this left me out in the cold by 16 days! At that point I put a line in the sand and decided to pursue my current design career and get my flying fix from competitive gliding.
3000+ gliding hours, British Gliding team member and Director of two companies coupled with a broad spectrum of interests and experience, I still wanted to fly big jets for a living, some things just don't go away! For me the BA FPP was the golden solution. Great company and an all but guaranteed job after training with a BA secured bond. With continuing good health I would still have had time to reach long haul captain if I so chose. But despite what I thought was a really good final day at The Rivers it was a 'no', disappointing and I would still be tempted to try again if BA do continue with the planned FPP programme, but with no feedback it is difficult to gauge where I went wrong. Of course BA cannot say it, but if I am too old for them then pursuing another day at Cranebank next year would be a waste of time. I had thought my age could even be an advantage to BA as I would not be at the top of the pay scales for very long before retirement, but perhaps that is something the accountants think about more than those in recruitment!
I am probably asking for it but any thoughts or suggestions?
ps Really well done to those who made it though, and yes I am a tad envious!