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Thread: On my way
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Old 14th Mar 2003, 08:05
  #7 (permalink)  
FlyingForFun

Why do it if it's not fun?
 
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Bournemouth
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Slow down!

Flypuppy is absolutely right!

Let's forget about all that "got all your life ahead of you" stuff - it's very easy for us old gits to say it, but much harder for you to believe it. Instead, let's get a bit more practical.

First of all, you can't take your skills test for your PPL until you're 17. So why rush into buying an aircraft which you can't use for 2 years? Ok, so theoretically you could have your PPL instruction on your own aircraft... but here's a much better idea:

Why not start lessons on a club aircraft. Because you won't be able to take your skills test for 2 years, there's no rush at all - you certainly don't need to stick to the absolute minimum sylabus. So you can try a few different aircraft along the way. By the time you reach your 17th birthday, as long as you've got the money for it, there's no reason why you can't have at least a half a dozen different aircraft types in your logbook. As well as the standard training aircraft (Warrior and C152 - which aircraft was your trial lesson in, by the way?), why not try out a C182. And a Piper Arrow. And maybe something like a Super Cub. Have a go at some aerobatics, maybe?

As for your commercial aspirations, you need to take it one step at a time. You can't get a CPL until you're 18. You would be well advised, though, to go to university after finishing school, possibly continuing your flying training part time whilst at uni, or possibly leaving it until after you finish and just flying for fun in the meantime. Whichever way you do it, when you eventually get your CPL, you will discover that jobs are very hard to find, and you will be extremely grateful to be offered a job flying a Cessna Caravan, let alone an A320! Of course it can be done, but you certainly don't want to be restricting yourself to a particular type. Even long term, if you restrict yourself to Airbus and refuse to look at Boeing jobs, you'll only have half the number of jobs available to you as the rest of us. So by all means dream about sitting in the front of that A320, but remember that it's a very long road, and that a B737 job, although just as difficult to get as the A320 job, shouldn't be ruled out as a long-term aim.

Good luck - but above all, remember that we're in this for fun, so enjoy yourself along the way!

FFF
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