My first post on here and most likely my last depending on how well it goes down! I give it 10 minutes before it's locked or deleted on site...
I have been researching and scouring the internet and other sources for the past month or so on how to go about actually realising my dream of becoming an airline pilot. Quite clearly the main obstacle for most people is cost. Anyone who isn't phased by this probably doesn't need to be in employment in order to enjoy flying.
Between integrated, modular, pay-as-you-go, sponsored, non-sponsored, whitetails (still not really sure what that means) and BA's oh-so-generous offer of give us £115k and we'll give you a job (no thanks), I've come to the conclusion that flight training is something of a false economy and as Duncan Banatyne would say if you asked him...."I'm oot".
The reason for this...I don't think being a pilot is a great job anymore. If one of the best case scenarios for someone that say, goes down the modular route, is they invest £80k+ in achieving a B737 type rating and get a job with Ryanair, what do you actually get? A job where on top of everything else they actually make you pay for your uniform and don't even provide you with water? (if the headlines are to be believed). It's absolute nonsense! Not even a free
shirt and tie after you've spent £80k training to do a job they need you to do to in order to run their business! And like I said this is one of the best outcomes you can hope for.
I don't think that people should not have to contribute anything at all to their own career development, but it has to be proportionate to what you expect to earn. I can't imagine lawyers, accountants, doctors etc spend anywhere near this amount.
I still have a passion for flying and my aim is to get my PPL and go from there. If I go further I will only be aiming for maybe a FI rating or I could just endlessly wait for a job ferrying skydivers around.
The reason I'm typing this is simply because I'm angry. Angry that airlines take such advantage of people with a passion for aviation. Such an outlay for your own training with no guarantees simply wouldn't happen in any other job so why pilots? I guess I'm appealing to people in my shoes to really think about what they're doing. Only when there is suddenly a shortage of people willing to do what I've described will airlines take responsibility and go back to paying (not lending!) a decent proportion of the training.