Hi, It's time to start planning and I'm stuck for what to do. I've wanted to be a pilot for a long time and although the costs involved are discouraging, it hasn't deterred me. There's so many opportunities, but aviation is the only one that truly excites me. I'm nearly finished my exams and then I'll be onto my last year of school and I need to make decisions. I'm currently sitting my Higher exams (equivalent to A-Levels) and next year I'll be doing Advanced Highers (almost university level).
Like the majority I don't have the money to take the integrated route just now, so we can cross that off from the list. A solution to this would mean finding a job and saving up until I have enough to pay for integrated training, which could take a while, or I could use that money to pay for modular training and in addition would also be cheaper.
I've heard that many airlines are now beginning to accept mostly pilots with a degree, which puts me one step back as it adds time. If I went to University and did a degree it could land me a slightly higher paying job, helping to save up quicker. But if we add the time it would take to do a degree, and then the time it would take to save up the money, that could turn into quite a while.
I think I have found a solution though; an apprenticeship. If I were to do an apprenticeship in aircraft engineering, I would be paid during it and it would not take as long as university. In other words I'd get a job with a higher salary than if I didn't do uni or an apprenticeship, and comparing an apprenticeship to university it would take less time and I'd be paid during it. But, would airlines consider this as valuable as a degree as it is also to do with aviation, especially since a lot of people who for example apply to airlines or tagged integrated training schemes and have degrees that are irrelevant to aviation.
To summarise the options:
- Grab any jobs I can and save for intergrated training.
- Grab any jobs I can and do modular training.
- Get a degree at Uni, get a job from it and save up for training.
- Find an apprenticeship related to aviation and save for training.
Anything involved in saving up and achieving my goal will be good experience, but which is the quickest and most effective way forward? any guidance would be really appreciated, thanks.
