THE DADDY
Yes it did amuse me and probably dozens of others, so thanks for that!
And no, I doubt you offended anyone at all, probably not even current Ryan pilots. You just displayed quite a level of naivety of the current job market and the aviation industry as a whole. Fepilot just said that they were 'options', you said 'even' Ryanair! I don't think that's paraphrasing. But we digress.
I agree with Truckflyer, you need to do some more research. Out of curiosity, do you know what FOs start on at Eastern or Flybe for example or what an integrated cadet is likely to take home in their first 8 month flexicrew contract, before being stood down for the winter at Easyjet (before the cycle repeats itself)? Or how the integrated flex contracts tend to work for tagged schemes? These are just tiny snippets of information in the bigger picture of the industry that you are hoping to work in and that's just on the recruitment side.
Thanks for the put down 'I'm glad it amused you' comment, that amused me also. But why do you think that your biggest contributors to your post are from Truckflyer and myself so far!? We are both older and have young children and have been through all of exactly what you are planning on doing and it aint no walk in the park!
If you re-read my post, excluding the bit about Ryanair that you didn't like, you will see constructive comments about both modular and integrated. You are ideally positioned to take advantage of 2 good modular schools on your doorstep (it's gold dust to train close to home with a young family - I had a weekly 5 hour commute each way to get to Exeter). And don't discount doing your ATPL theory distance learning so quickly. Being a teacher you obviously have more study techniques and discipline than most. I did it full-time and passed all subjects first time with quite a high average, like most who do the course to be honest. It's tough due to the length and breadth of the subject, not that the course material is actually hard (give or take a few bits and pieces like Polar Steriographs or whatever they are called!?). 6 months of study at home versus 6 months of theory study away is pretty attractive. Probably like you I could be flexible and be away from home for extended periods, but **** always happens and its nice to know you can get home if needed?
I initially considered integrated, but the advantages were outweighed by the disadvantages due to my age and personal circumstances. Consider how long and where each of the different elements of training are conducted and how they will affect you? Like how long you are going to be away from home at anyone time and how easy would it be to get back should you need to? A good FTO doesn't necessarily mean that its the best fit for you? This only tends to apply to people in their early 20s with no ties etc. I wish I lived where you do as I could have done my entire flight training on my doorstep!
Don't be taken in by the gloss of FTO marketing. Unless you're on a tagged scheme, integrated or modular, you're still effectively on your own. A new employer is always going to ask you to pay for your first type rating one way or another. If you go modular, you will probably save the cost of a type rating. And the gloss of an FTO on your CV doesn't tend to open any doors for you and if anything, can sometimes put some TP operators off?
No one is trying to bash your enthusiasm, just trying to help you see and consider all options that are available to you. So many people post on here who have already made up their mind and discount anything that they don't like to hear. Posting from the outset is a great start, use pprune as the powerful tool it can be to gather and draw upon experience from like minded people who are doing it or have done it.
Like I said before, good luck - it's tough out there!