I have just read this entire thread from the very beginning and now I can safely say it has been 7 hours well spent as it has cleared my mind. The last post from Jugs08 seems to be the only true validation of the main point made, based upon the facts which he has to hand, paying your loan off will be incredible hard. Jugs08 offered to me a keen insight in to the aviation industry and it would also be good to hear the posters' view during the summer months so that we may have an all round opinion of what they feel the industry is like- I am sure this has been covered many a time in the terms and endearment section though. I do understand that some of the more prominent posters have a good sound industry knowledge/ job behind them so are no doubts best placed to offer advice.
It became obvious pretty quickly that there is no real data available upon which an educated decision can be made and I have no reason to believe that any form of data like this will ever be made available except from those that have a vested interest in the matter. And as we all know data can be manipulated to concur with your own ideals.
One thing which I think everyone needs to be aware of flying for a living is expensive, not just in a financial respect but also with respect to standard of life e.g. Partners, lack of a solid work pattern and constant fear that your licence may be revoked at any point due to competency and medical based issues. Even with all those factors in mind I am not dissuaded.
I do have a point of view on this matter which I wish to share! I do not really think it matters which route you choose to take. Hard work lies ahead for anyone choosing to be a professional pilot. If you can offer far more than just flight time to a company it will put you in a better stead. I have my own personal view as what the extra skills should be and the methods about which to go in order to attain them.
I recently completed an application for a airline sponsored training and the knowledge I took away from that was invaluable. I learnt I needed to not only be able to fly well and have first time passes on exams but that I also need to be a rounded individual. I need to develop a sound understanding of the industry, the history , current developments and trends and remain in touch with the current economic climate. (Things which all students should be doing anyway) I need to be able to prove leadership skills and have multiple examples to call upon if asked to go to interview for a position. I need to offer external skills, not just transferable ones but ones which will save the airline time and money. These will not only benefit others but will aid in my own development and help me change my life for the better. The application process left me feeling that I personally am not ready to join the industry(Yet) a fact which seemed to only further fuel my desire to achieve success.
The questions this evoked for me all boiled down to this... If you wish to apply you need to ask yourself one important question, What is it that you do to differentiate yourself from all other potential candidates? Furthermore how can you prove it? When and only when you can provide a substantial answer to this are you ready.
Anyway I have digressed, the original question is modular vs integrated.
I am only going to list the benefits as I have seen them as common sense dictates that the drawbacks will simply be the converse. No two could have the same benefit really. I think it would be of great help if I have missed any that other people contribute their ideas to this and who knows this may lead to a definitive guide later on down the line.
So down to it then
Modular-
1) Relatively cheap and you will not feel you are, or be accused of by strangers, propping up a training industry and severely lining shareholders pockets
2) Time is on your side, training can be matched to current industry requirements and allow you in your non flying time to move around creating your own industry contacts
3) You will meet a lot of people and have a lot of fun flying around wherever it is you choose to train. The training company (ATO?) near me offer fun days and groups will go out in an aeroplane together all over the place, this is extracurricular and I am not sure whether you gain PIC time or not from this.
4) You will get the same licence as you will if you go down the integrated route, you will also gain your ppl which you don't if you choose the MPL route!
5) Standard of living and family life, friends you already could possibly be maintained, the support you already have all around you will never fade and you will be constantly reminded as to why you are doing this- to better yourself and your families standard of living (unless you are John Travolta and just doing this purely for the passion of aviation)
Integrated-
1) Meet lots of people with a similar interest to you and be part of a team whilst training from day one, lots of help and support available from peers if you are struggling
2) Well structured training, including ground school, you will have a good idea (I say good idea as all the schools I have visited state that the time is a guideline and is weather/demand for cadets dependent) of when to expect your training to be completed. There will be no financial aspect to hinder your training process.
3) You will make a lot of friends, which won't initially help you in the industry as all of them will taking entry jobs and have no authority but may be further down the line they could help with introductions etc.
4) Your training provider must show a further interest in you once your training is complete in order to maintain their placements statistics. This could be seen as extremely beneficial as not only will you gain experience of working in the industry but you would be foolish not to use this time to generate contacts and further knowledge.
If, and only if, you have a sound financial backing, or cash, I would be more tempted towards the integrated/mpl route purely because I would hate to have the possible regret that I hadn't got the job I wanted because I hadn't ticked the correct box on an application form due to my training history.
One final point I would like to interject, something which I feel no-one else has looked at the entire training situation from, and one which I fear may lead to a lot of nay saying (may be even a lynch mob) and disgust but....
Would it not be better to view the whole training process as the basis for an apprenticeship? I have served a full apprenticeship in a trade and learnt a lot from it. I spent the first 3 years of my working career earning £100 per week (2004 -2007, to give some idea of the value of this) which I could barely pay for my board, a car, insurance mobile phone bill etc with. After 3 years I earned £200 per week, enough to live on but not to save properly, it was only after being with the same company for 5 years that pay improved to the point at which I could afford to save for my own house. It took hard work and a long time to be able to get a decent standard of living.
I am the first to admit that I am looking at this from a "naive" outsider point of view and willing to accept that it is thinking like this that has probably destroyed what once was an incredibly rewarding career. I do not want anyone to even think that I am suggesting that this situation is great and that it is brilliant that the companies are willing to offer out this olive branch like some sort of ceremonial Gods. I am merely offering food for thought on a less than ideal situation.
I think that if the industry was looked at like this it may start to make more sense and that the level of remuneration should indeed lie with capability to perform and merit? How many people do we all know that get a degree and start at the top pay scale? Not many. Most I know have £30-50,000 worth of debt and are working a job in an office selling things or even worse on a daily basis completing a mundane task which they A had no desire to do in the first place and B have grown to despise a fate which I hope none of us ever have to face
One thing I would like to add is that I thoroughly enjoy reading the posts from "Ghengis the Engineer". They seem to be impartial, have a true understanding for the quest for knowledge and promote the need for people to better themselves. I wish you all the luck in the world for your desire to become a professor and it is my sincerest hope that you make it.
I would also add I am not a pilot,I am a wannabee- a term which I have grown to dislike greatly as it seems to spurn a certain sort of prejudice and disdain. I am not 18 and fresh out of school either so I have a little bit of life experience behind what I say. All the opinions and ideas I have put forward are based on my own research and ARE NOT to be taken as fact. As everyone has said research yourself, generate your own ideas and follow your own path
Success is measured only by yourself, if your only idea of success is to fly for a regional airline then that is your yardstick do not believe that others have failed because they do not measure up to it and they choose not to be blindly duped by false promises of glamour but instead to fly for fun and experience in the far reaches of the world