Increase the odds to become involved in Flight Testing (career advice)
Good evening,
I am reading this forum for some years now with great pleasure. I also have read relevant treads related to my question / feeling, still, I would like to hear from professionals some advice on what I feel are principal decisions and thoughts about my job life.
I am a recent ~1 year aerospace engineering (2yr M.Sc.) graduate at a high ranked technical university. After graduation I found a job at a flight simulator company, this job is for me only so so connected to actual aerospace engineering and deals more with implementation and software and therefore ...
... I had a job interview today at an aerospace research institute. The job would be to work on a set of research simulators, mainly development and implementation of simulation software (flight models, systems, hardware), basically the same as my current job but more connected to research. One good thing about the institute is, they operate some aircraft which they use for high-profile research. The bad thing, my job there would not deal with those planes and the interviewer let me know in clear words that applying for this job to get into the planes department could prove to be a wrong bet. So, I am scared that taking this job will not bring me closer to ...
... My dream job of old which has been and is, flight test engineer, or at least, be an engineer involved in flight testing. I am a passionate engineer, I love the art of the plane, but I need to smell kerosene occasionally, and that is what I severely miss in my current occupation and probably my hypothetical next job.
Now what would the advice be to a 30yr old aerospace engineer who seeks to get into that FT profession. I have no flying experience other than the occasional flight-lesson-for-birthday-xx. My personal situation is such that I could start taking flying lessons. But, from 0 to CPL with no serious savings is a harsh and long road, and the question anyway is, will this bring me closer. Another question, given the fact that I can never afford myself a ETPS, or the likes, course or education, are there other current (most threads about this topic are some years old) educations I should seriously consider ?
I don't consider myself old, but saying that I can postpone this decision another 10 years wouldn't be very true. I feel that getting into such job will not happen by chance only and decisions need to be made. The question is, which decisions are in my case the most efficient.
In summary I feel I have these options:
- Take additional courses related to FT (Cranfield comes to mind);
- Take the modular road to, at least, a PPL + IR + CPL;
- Take the job at this research institute and hope that one day I will meet the chief pilot in the elevator;
- Pack my suitcase and leave for the US (UK) where I feel the chances of getting into the FT profession are higher (then in NL);
- Leave this whole FT idea because it is not as great as I think and the smell of kerosene comes only from the pilots who walk into my office.
Any of your thoughts and ideas are very much appreciated. Thanks a lot in advance!
ps: please advise if I posted this in the right forum, considered this one "Professional Pilot Training (includes ground studies)" as well