Is this true?

[Felix Saddler]

...nowadays a person wishing to become a pilot without a-levels and without rich parents, have a very small chance of getting to the RHS of a commercial airliner?What are your thoughts?

FS.

[Deano777]

For info read me (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=164926)

[Felix Saddler]

I am fully aware of this, however, someone without A-levels will find it incredibly difficult to get a decent enough job to raise 60/70/80k for training, right?

FS

[Jez_G]

Really depends on your definition of a 'decent job'. If you pick correctly then you should be able to find work that pays fairly well without having to have A-levels (e.g. Plumber). I realise that you might not walk right into a lot of cash but the potential is there with some 'on the job' experience. For expample, I recall working every weekend during my A-levels at a cake factory for 10 pounds per hour. It wasn't enjoyable (at all!!) but the money was great (for a 17 yr old)! Wish i had saved it for flight training - less beer = more flight time!

I am by no means suggesting that A-levels are not a good option and I think it is extremely important to have a back-up option in case the worst happens - loosing your medical for example! In my opinion grasp every possible learning experience you can while you can, it's not that easy to go back!

Just my 2 cents worth anyway.

[Frank Furillo]

Felix,
A Very good friend of mine used to be a Plumber not that long ago, he was'nt self employed worked dammed hard and now drives a 757. He is like me in his late 30's. I used to sell cars in a dealership now I drive a 737.
Neither of us has any A Levels. If you have the ambition you can achieve anything as long as you are prepared to work at it.
Good Luck
FF

[maxdrypower]

I kinda hope its crap , Im 37 with 200 hrs im with bgs and hopefully in about a years time Im going to do the cpl/ir. I have no a levels and scant few o levels due to not listening to parents / dicking around / knowing everything etc etc when I was younger . I am currently a copper which pays me quite a lot of money although I hate it with a passion. The only downside for me is that the maths is killing me (my own fault) But sod it hopefully like our hard working plumbers and car salesmen I will strive hard to get that place in an airliner . Your occupation prior to , should not make a difference if it pays for your training who cares , join the police its crap , but its piss easy to get in due to the new recruitment process , and you get paid a lot and have a lot of time off stay for about four years which should be long enough then leave fully qaulified to fly whatever they will recruit you to fly .
Im just relying on hard work ,belief that it will work out , and a lil bit of bloomin luck

[Megaton]

I have friends flying for all manner of airlines with no A levels or rich parents. Ex-policeman, technicians, electricians, drivers - all of them worked hard and paid for their training themselves. It depends how much you want it really and your level of motivation. From leaving school at 17 it took me twenty years to get my first flying job.

[effortless]

If you pick correctly then you should be able to find work that pays fairly well without having to have A-levels (e.g. Plumber).

Heh my plumber has a Bsc. in experimental Psychology.:p

[Tex®]

I believe money *IS* an issue. Not the only one, probably, but, yes, it is an issue. I believe your capacity to struggle for achieving results is something more involved in this type of carreer.:ugh:

What I find hilarious in this sense is that on pprune there are many pilots, and many more aspiring pilots, who state that being a pilot is *NOT* an elite job but then, looking through any of the thousand threads, you encounter many people moaning because the aviation industry is not the one of a decade ago, because it's hard finding a job, because sometime you have to pay for your TR, because no airline will hire someone with a minimum of flight hours and so on (just search any thread).

So I have to end up that, with all these unemployed pilots on the market, all these "hidden enemies" and "connections-related" job opportunities, yes, being a professional pilot *IS* STILL AN ELITE JOB.:oh:

Ciao

[ramshorn]

I think that you'll find that some of the most succesfull people in our society have got to where they are with the drive and ambition that they have to SUCCEED. To name just one, That Cockney bloke who heads up the Apprentice series on TV at the moment! He is happy to admit that he left school without any qualifications at all. He presently runs an empire worth 700 million quid!! :eek:

[C-17 GLOBEMASTER III]

What a complete load of BS! I am a pilot and certainly did'nt need a levels to succeed!(although I do have a BTEC National Certificate which is worth two a levels and AAT Qualifications)

All I needed was a good job that paid well and was able to develop similar skills I'd need to be a F/O or a captain! and in a few years I had enough to pay for training.