Buddington
Hi,
I'm a tiny bit older than you Buddington (21) I am married with a young child and have long had the bug for aviation. At 11 years old I was at my local airfield (GA) cutting the clubhouse grass, cleaning the windows, vacuuming, making tea for instructors, cleaning out aircraft and was able to, at times, retrieve weather updates (met office) and if I was there early enough was able to taxi piper PA-38's from the hangar to be fueled and then to the club house grass area. Very exciting for a 11 year old and of course was taken flying, by many members flying for fun!
I had two flying lessons at 14 years old, but sadly had to stop due to my parents not being able to afford the £110 per hour. I finished school and worked as a junior admin throughout summer and during my first year of college I dropped out and worked for my dad as a finance assistant whilst still working as a junior admin.
Met my wife at 16, engaged at 18, married at 19, father at 20 and very happy! I supported her through university and she finished last year... Now its my turn and I am going to do my degree this september. Why am I telling you all this? Well....
I too was in your position, around a similar age to you and had been brainwashed by the big FTO's proclaiming that their placement record would have you in a job asap, if not immediately! But like you I decided to do more research and (thank God for pprune) found all I needed to know about the nitty gritty of this glorious industry, from this website! I still want and can only see my self flying for a living, because having flown a few times and getting the bug it never fades...but that does not mean you can't be wise about how to reach your dream.
Which takes me to my 60k degree which is not 60k, but infact £5700 for two years and I think £2700 for the third year (Don't quote me but it is close to that)! Do the maths! Not bad at all and at the end of it I will have a BA hons in Education. Great back up for when the flight training is complete and wait...wait.... here is my secret. After applying to student finance they told me (not literally but on the breakdown) that I would be taking just shy of £12,500 a year for the first two years straight into my bank! £6400 (for the two years) of which I have to pay back on top of my student tuition fee!!!
So over two years saving just shy of £25,000 towards flight training, with at the end an overall debt around £21,000ish. My course only requires me to be in one day a week for two years (only six saturdays in the final year). So I will be working two days in the office and around 4-5 night shifts on top to save. My wife has been offered a great job and is going to help some of the bills I pay while I save the rest for my flying! I will be taking it slowly, enjoying my flight training while enjoying life, gaining a degree which provides an excellent plan B should all airlines 'slam the door on me' and best of all leaves me with a flight training debt balance after 3ish years of £0.00
You have done the right thing asking for guidance here and trust me, being a debt free pilot (minus a student loan which does not require re-payment immediately after) with a degree under your belt will deffinately help when you join the hundreds, if not thousands of hopefuls looking for that first job (and I am not talking the airlines, frieight or business). Love flying for flying. Take your time. Be smart. A degree is certainly a smart move. It does not have to be aviation related although that may help...
My advice would be complete the degree, if you don't like the size of the tuition fees...find a cheaper university/college. I am not a proffessional pilot, nor am I close, but I will get there. If you love flying don't let anyone sway you from pursuing this career, but at the same time look at risks involved i.e high chance of redundancy at least once in career, away from family and friends, 'shift work', the economy etc(numerous more)...
If you have a passion for FLYING and are willing to put in an enormous amount hard work and studying you'll get there and will hopefully love your job. Just be wise.
(P.S pm me if you want any info about university and saving and doing your training the modular route)
Last edited by BemaR; 4th Apr 2013 at 00:30.