Originally Posted by
EK77WNCL
I wish I hadn't read this now... Badly wanting to fly the A330, it sounds like an absolute treat
N.b. 17 year old aspiring pilot without a clue (anymore) how to get there
My dear Chap or young lady, There is no indicator as to your gender.
Simply go along to your nice , warm and friendly, local flying school - there is one near you. How you get there is all part of the parcel. When you arrive - you should have a warm and supporting and informative . . greeting (if not go and find another one - where they seem to be on your side, this is important)
From there on they will guide you towards the Private Pilots Licence
(PPL) you can also make enquiries on here but you never know who you are talking to on the internet - it could be a pilot or a pudding maker and you could get into conversations that last forever . . . with nothing being done . . .
While you are at your flying club, go as often as is physically possible, as often as you want to.
Keep your ears open to those who are going through the stages of becoming a professional pilot - if you want that for yourself. If you want to have a Private Pilots Licence and fly around at weekends then you will have arrived at your destination and all you have to do is the training consisting of about 9 papers or more to pass but they will teach you with books and groundschool and of course, the flying training itself. Depending on:- the amount of money in your bank - your wages or inheritance - the weather, your general health and availability - you could get the PPL in a year. You don`t have to pay in one lump sum, you can pay as you fly.
No real sweat. At that time you might like to ask the RAF if they want to take you on as a career officer as a pilot. You can ask them anytime after you are 17 and a half (I think). If you go to a verrry quiet club with not much happening - you may not get the electric buzz of what is going on with the world of pilot training and jobs be it for airlines or the RAF or Night Mail or whatever area of flying. so, hopefully, try to be part of a flying club consisting of young `uns like yourself who are thirsting for knowledge and dead keen to get in and up flying. Good luck. It all starts with you finding a cool club. You can also join the Air Training Corps (ATC) but you may find that you rarely know when or where you are going to fly next. Apart from if you are physically blind or too disabled to fly - steer away from those who negate your efforts of becoming a pilot from the outset. You will need determination - because you want to do it but the weather and other factors cause delay - a lot of waiting around. Dropping a paper or two.
You really need to `want to do it` to offset, twinges of fear in the beginning, or possible airsickness - none of which are always going to happen - aaaaand . . .
m o n e y. You might get away with paying about £7 grand to £8 grand for the whole PPL - you can get the same licence for £11 grand to £13 grand if you go swanning off solo every 5 minutes during your course (like one chap did).
So - stick to the curriculum - it was designed well, in order to teach you to fly.
The instructors will help you through everything.
Go to your flying club - make enquiries with the RAF - you are at the best age (sigh - I wish I was 17 again . . ) and I and everybody on here would like to wish you the very best of luck and - go and do it - its such fun - you can`t believe how fun it is. It is also highly addictive.
Watch your airspeed!
With the PPL you can fly whenever the flying club is open and the weather is within limits - (you will learn how to determine whether or not the weather is within limits and you will hopefully become a very critical meteorologist too) - and take your friends up flying, or go on your own.
From the PPL, if you want to go Commercial - i.e., become a money earning pilot, you need to get a Commercial Licence (CPL). This needs more studies - more flying (ooops, and more money). (The Commercial studies are along the same lines as the PPL ones - (so its not like changing from Psychology to Astrophysics) - some flying colleges allow you to do the Airline Transport Pilots Licence (ATPL) studies at the same time - or at least shortly after the CPL studies/exams. Pilot usually go for the Airline Transport Pilots Licence as (in Europe at least) - I don`t think you can fly for an airline with only a Commercial Pilots Licence but you can carry parachutists, take up photographers (aerial photography) or quite a few little things which demand only a "single pilot" - flying instruction is one of them. To become an instructor you would have to complete an instructors course and then you can teach people to fly a most rewarding occupation.
Whatever you do in aviation will invariably end up with an exam.
With the ATPL all done and dusted you can then apply to the airlines and fly multi-crew - entrepreneurial skills with getting your foot in the door would be an advantageous quality - networking and contacts are sssooo important at this stage. Or you can simply apply and get accepted, good luck as the closing date for most big airline application campaigns is weeks away and yet the application process usually closes in 24 hours. - There are that many applicants, so you have to have your finger on the pulse at that stage in your career. But don`t worry about any of that until you have finished your studies.
There is an up and coming world shortage of pilots - whether that is true or not, there are many pilots, freshly qualified who cannot seem to get a job AND there are many pilots, freshly qualified who have got a job - YOU DECIDE which one you want to be - employed or looking. The top skill in being a pilot is a high level of commonsense and a realisation that flight safety is and always will be paramount. there it is - off you go
Come back when you've got your licence.