The more I look into it the more my dream gets crushed to bits. You get one shot at this life and to spend £85k on a job where you might end up on £25k is just bloody awful. Im better off flying as a qualified PPL pilot as a hobby and enjoying flying whilst earning a nice salary as a salesman. This is the reality. Sad but true?! Someone please convince me otherwise.
well thats not strictly true, you have quite a good chance of getting the £25k, and you have some chance of becoming a north sea co-pilot (depending on your timing) getting £50k and ultimately £100k after years of experience / command etc.
but its all about percentages and as time has gone by its become an increasingly difficult path to follow, for example CHC paid my IR for me but that was 15 years ago and now there is no chance of that, and right now plenty of highly experienced guys have no work and some have no prospects either, and many others are on short term contracts or freelance where once they were permanent, basically its all gone a bit rubbish in the last 2 years.
right now getting the ATPL(A) seems like a much better plan to me, so please follow your dream, but remember we did tell you what its like at the beginning.
p.s ask your instructor how much he earns and what is he trying to do and how it all worked out for him