to the above:
Your post seems incredibly short minded.
- Even cadets from those insanely prices schools will pay for their type rating. They will also pay the same inflated price for their TR (as in 30k £ + for EZY? for a flexi contract?)
- CTC/CAE/whatever students are not guaranteed a job at the end
- Some are forced to take very ****ty deals (Check linkedin and look at some Volotea crew, some of them did CTC .. and then check PPJN.com for rough salary predictions ..) just hoping to get some hours going
- You are very unlikely to earn as much as today's pilots are, just as they are earning less than their predecessors. It will never just be pocket change. Airlines are waiting for the old pilots, with their legacy contracts, to retire. You will not make those figures in your lifetime. Terms and conditions for new contracts have been reflecting this for over a decade. Even Ryanair is reducing their hourly rate pretty much yearly, At the moment it is 20€ an hour less for FO than it was just 5 years ago, and their type rating cost has increased as well. Also, the tax loopholes across the EU are being closed so even less earning potential.
- At those high salaries you will be taxed appropriately.
- The first years of professional flying, assuming you did get a job, you will have to scrape by just because of your obscene mortgage.
- Chances are your debt will increase substantially by the time you can start making payments
- I know people that started training with 125 000€ loans (KLM Flight Academy if you care), that had 180k € in debt by the time they got their license 2 years later, that are still unemployed another 2 years later (at least, no flying jobs) and so far spent everything they earned just paying of their interest. Yes, just the interest payments, not even touching their debt.
- Another guy I know did CTC, is 100 000£ in debt, and is making about a 1000£ a month as a flight instructor. He is literally losing money every day, hoping for his chance in the end.
Do you really want to be 35 and still paying of a massive training debt? It might pay out in the end for some, but chances are it will not for a many.
Please, please
take off your rose tinted glasses and have a critical look at this industry before advise young, impressionable people to just spend 2x or 3x the market value for their training. Be critical, think ahead, and know that there will always be people ready to take your money as long as you're willing to fork it over!
This is an amazing industry to be a part of and I am convinced it is a satisfying and worthwhile career, but so many young pilots seem to have a more passion than common sense!
