Pilot training worldwide - please help

[apocraphe]

Hi all!

I'm 25, 26 in November, and own my own retail business. I'm planning on selling the business next July time and hopefully training to be (eventually) an airline pilot. Having looked around extensively at training programmes across the world i'm confused as to the advantages of some courses over others as the difference financially is massive.

For example:
To train at the Oxford Aviation School i would be looking at £64,000 plus accomodation and food/living expenses etc...

To train in Spain i'd be looking similarly at around £64,000 but with accommodation and 3 meals a day included

To train in New Zealand i've found a JAA training course that works out at about £31,000, and i've even found a course at Hawkes bay which is the New Zealand qualification rather than a JAA (tho it seems almost identical in content and says it can include anything necessary to comply with JAA conditions) for about £21,000 including accomodation!

Basically primarily I've got quite a few questions im struggling to answer through my own research and any help would be greatly appreciated -

What are the advantages of training in certain areas?

If i do a non-JAA course (ie the Hawkes Bay one) can I still work eventually once i've built my hours up for a UK/European airline?

My initial plan is ideally to go and train at Hawkes Bay, then spend a year working over there as a crop-sprayer/tourist flight pilot or officer and build my hours up, then eventually head back to England probably looking for employment. How well recieved would my path of independent training followed by building up my own hours be recieved?

Finally, what state is the job market in in the moment for aviation? How easy is it get gainful employment in cabin crew with an aim to progressing eventually to captain status without having gone through an airline-sponsored training programme?

I hope that you can help me answer some of these questions - i really fancy this as a career path - it seems like something i could actually look forward to getting out of bed and doing! - but i need to get as much information as possible to make such a massive life-change, especially with intending to fund it myself!

Many thanks in advance...

[newbie008]

Pointer - The more expensive ones are likely to be integrated and the less expensive modular. Up to you which way you go but my opinion is modular.

[YYZ]

Job market looks OK at the moment but can change over night, and will change in the year it will take you to get your licence.

If you do a search on the Prune search facility it will highlight the Modular Vs Integrated battle that has been raging since the dawn of time, all the info will take days to get through.

And finally, if you go none JAA, this can work and save you money, until you have to convert, this is costly, and can be timely also.

You can travel throughout the EU to many JAA schools that can save you thousands, its all down to what you prefer, do your homework and visit the schools you are interested in prior to booking anywhere, and never pay upfront

Good luck
YYZ

[captwannabe]

Have a look at the "Dunnuda and Godzone" forums to talk to people already in NZ. There are plenty of expats there too. They'll be able to give you good advice about training in NZ and Oz, and also the state of the industry there. If you get a NZ licence, you'll have to convert it to JAA if you want to fly in Europe, so the costs do add up. By going to NZ and then returning to Europe to convert your licence might cost as much as modular JAA training. So don't rule out going down the modular JAA route, because if you do want to fly in Europe, then it is probably the most effective way of training.

Good luck,
Captwannabe

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