Advice for new female pilot
Hey everyone,
I am looking to get a bit of advice on employment and moving forward with my aviation career.
firstly let me introduce myself, I am a 23 years old, female pilot from the south of England, my mother & father were both commercial pilots & my grandfather flew in WWII & for Dan air on the comet & 707
I have always had a keen interest in aviation to say the least!
I did my initial pilot training in the UK & got a CPL,ME,IR & Frozen ATPL my total time is around 300 hours.
I finished flight school 6 months ago and have applied to literally hundreds of jobs, knocking on doors, waiting for hours just to have 2 mins with the CP, only to be told you need to have experience on our aircraft type.
now..my question is
I have seen opportunities on the internet to buy Type ratings plus 500 hours line training, these are very expensive, however I can afford them, should I go for one?
when I was traveling up and down the country knocking on doors it would appear that if I had a type rating plus 500 hours I may have had a chance at interview and possible first job!
if I did go ahead I would be left with 800 hours TT
the other question is which program would be best?
so far I have seen
500 hours on A320 £63,000 (including TR)
500 hours on B737NG $49,000
500 hours on B737CL £58,000 (including TR)
500 hours on Metro III/B1900D/Shorts $26,500
500 hours on Learjet $33,000
500 hours on Challenger $66,000
a lot of options but which would be best? my goal is to fly short to medium haul flights within a charter or airline.
also I have read a few of the forums and there are some negative post's about paying to gain experience, but how do I know these comments are valid? are these just other pilots that perhaps could not afford to do these programs worried about new pilots overtaking them in the job market?
well thanks for reading, I am happy to be part of this new community and will respect and listen to all advice good or bad.
also please note that my family have given me good advice but they say the job markets have changed drastically over the last 20 years and are not up to date with how things are done these days. ( they are both retired)