Piper1,
Thanks for post. I agree that people should be wary about the effect of the war on the industry, especially before going through self-funded training. But I also believe there are some points we should consider before deciding that if we start training now we are never going to get a job and the war will ruin the industry for a million years:
- Courses such as the APP are nearly a year and a half long. So if you started in a couple of months that would give the industry 18 months to sort itself out before you were looking for a job.
The professional studies loans that HSBC are giving out for the APP don't have to start being repaid until six months after the course. This theoretically gives you 2 years to let the industry sort itself out. That is why I am not going to wait too long to see what happens. It should all be over in six months max.
- If you start training now you could hit the boom at just the right moment. There is talk of a retirement bulge in 18 months. Is it true? Who knows. But I do know that I'd rather be there with a CPL and bells on, than reading about on PPRuNe and deciding that I should go and start training.
- Let's face it. Our governments will always be fighting some war or resolving some conflict. I admit, it won't be the same as being at war, but I am just saying that there is very rarely periods of time where there isn't something brewing. After Iraq we'll probably back into Afganistan (sp?) and then on into North Korea.
Just some thoughts.
One other thing that I forgot to mention in my other post is for people that think that the selection will be easy. Yes, the entry standards may vary depending on the number of applicants but I only know three people that have applied and two of them got it the other one failed on the personality questionnaire.
PT