Should I leave school? - Need advise

[wwejosh]

Hello everyone,
I am a 16yr old male, that is extremely passionate about aviation and wants to be a pilot. I am doing well at school and are going into yr10 this year. With the pilot shortage at the moment, which is suppose to get worse. I have being thinking how important my VCE is to me, in regards to getting a job in Australia. Put it this way I don't want to waste time, if I don't need to. The only airline in Australia I know of that requires VCE is Qantas. That is my first question that I would like advise on. If I did leave High school I would hopefully get into the Rex cadetship, otherwise chip away as much as possible at my training funded by a part-time job. Considering if I don't complete VCE, there is the Maths/Physics equivalent at WA Aviation College. Which they say is regarded as a Qantas equivalent see here: http://www.waaviationcollege.com.au/courses/coursedetails.asp

At the end of the day Ill probably only want to work within Australia. If I ended up at Virgin Blue, Jetstar or Rex my dream has came true. If I end up at Qantas it would be just a bonus. The thing is I am really paranoid about becoming a pilot and I don't think, I could go another 3yrs without a dose of it. I have a severe case of the flying bug.
Could those out there please, give their opinion on all of this?

Thank you for reading.

[tail wheel]

Josh.

There is a time for schoolin' and a time for workin'. :)

Finish one before you think too seriously about the other.

Qantas is not the only carrier looking for acceptable levels of literacy and numeracy!!!

Tail Wheel

[FullySickBro]

Mate, your determination is commendable.

Academics aside, a bit of life experience outside of aviation always helps. A couple of extra years at school is not going to make a lot of difference in the long run but the sporting, cultural and social interactions in school may just help make you a better balanced person and perhaps a better candidate for employment in the aviation world.

A couple extra years of schooling may have helped some pruners spelling skills too. :}

[ABX]

Hi Josh,

I'm sure you will receive many opinions about this mate, but here is mine.

I left school at the end of year 11 and I have regretted it hundreds of times since. I am now 38 and doing year 12 via bloody correspondence - which is much harder than doing it while you are young with a 'chalker & talker' up the front of the classroom guiding you through it.

Pilots will always be in demand, whether there is an oversupply or a shortage.

Without trying to make you feel bad in anyway at all, the composition of your question reveals that you still have to perfect your schooling a little. (Just my opinion and I'm not being a smart*rse.)

Why don't you start your PPL now, part time, and as you get older, if the bug still bites, work your way up to CPL/MECIR/IG3/ATPL? You are too young to hold a CPL right now anyway.

Cheers mate, I know you'll work it all out the best way for you.:ok:

ABX

[mainwheel]

Leave school now?

NO! Don't even consider it.

[Awnick]

I would recommend staying at school and finishing year 12. It may seem a long way off now, but it will soon pass by very quickly. You are still young and have plenty of time. Once you have left school and enter the work force you will realise how grat school was for socialising.

Maybe start your flying training and when you have finished yr 12 really hook in and get all your flying done. You may decide later on that you dont want to be a pilot, and your yr 12 marks will be there to help follow a different path.

Good luck with it all.:ok:

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

OK, PAY ATTENTION!

FINISH HIGH SCHOOL - with the best grades you can reasonably muster.

Message ends.

Dr :8

[ABX]

LOL, Doc.

Army right?:ok:

[Chimbu chuckles]

Stay at school an finish what you started...and finish well...later on you'll regret leaving early if that is what you do.

On your school holidays (they are closed on weekends) you could work as a hangar rat for a GA maintenance facility and you might even get a little stick time from aircraft owners...or join a gliding club and learn to glide while you're still at school.

But stay at school!!!!

[mr.tos]

Speak to your careers adviser. I think you should stay at school. But if all you really want to do is fly planes then go for it. There would be no point to staying at school if your not going to put in the hard work and just fart around.:ugh:

[clear to land]

There is no reason that, as previously suggested, you can't start your PPL now, part time between school and your job, and have it finished prior to finishing school. I would suggest that it is ESSENTIAL to FINISH SCHOOL. Enjoy the fun bit of flying on your weekends/days off. Ideally get a part time job at the airport- which will feed the bug. If you can't work at the airport no problem, make the most of the opportunity to gain life experience, which is possible in ANY job. You will ultimately be a better person for it, and also appreciate more what you do have when you become a career aviator, which you will if the drive is there. I know that it can be hard to see the relevance of some subject matter (been there - done that), but ultimately you will look back on school fondly as a simple existence when dodging around bad weather in the middle of the night in a cargo plane full of rubber dog@#%t out of Hong Kong. Believe it or not age is on your side, so enjoy. :)

[johnriketes]

STAY AT SCHOOL!

You only get one chance at schooling, so make the most of it.

It won't make you a better pilot but while the "top jobs" are in demand operators can be choosy.

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

"Should I leave school? - Need advise"

.... and for the record, that would be "advice" with a "c".

Repeat after me, "advice" (the noun) with a "c", and "advise" (the verb)with an "s" !

For example:

I advise you to pay attention to the good advice being given to you here!

Dr :8

[NAS1801]

FTDK..... you beat me to it! I cringed when I saw the title of this thread.

[Ideal Line]

I agree with all the comments so far. You should definitely stay at school. Year 11 and 12 are generally the best years of your schooling life. You will certainly make life a little more difficult for yourself (inside and outside aviation) by not finishing Year 12. I can't imagine anything worse than you missing out on a job because you didn't complete Year 12.

I also disagree with mr. tos. You are better off farting around and at least getting that piece of paper than not finishing Year 12 at all.

[bushy]

There is a lot of good advice here.
Get as much education as you possibly can, and do it as well as you can.
One of the things a pilot has to do is communicate precisely and well, both verbally and in writing. He also has to understand complex systems, and some science. He needs people skills.
You can learn the skills necessary at school.
If you don't you will wish you had.
I wish you well.

[MLW10]

Stay at school, without hesitation! I left in Year 10 and have always wished I'd stayed longer.

[Ideal Line]

Just another thing. You may regret not finishing Year 12 but you will never regret finishing Year 12.

[737opsguy]

There are two things that may stop you from realising your dream. Cash and a medical.

Firstly, finding a good job may come a lot easier if you've finished Year 12. Secondly, if for whatever reason in five or ten years time you lose your medical. You can't fly and you're out of that career and may need to look elsewhere - Year 12 suddenly becomes critical.

If you are seriously contemplating leaving school to start a career as a pilot, go and get a class one medical first. Sure you'd be getting it early and you wont need it for a few years (possibly a waste of money) but at least you've eliminated the risk of you not being able to get a class one medical.

[Mr. Hat]

Hey mate, tail wheel sums it up nicely.

Young people are often so keen they often can't wait for time to pass.

School is good fun - its one of the best times of your life and you shouldn't get too concerned with decisions regarding your career you have another 44 years to sort that out.

There is only one year 12 and one muck up day and many girls to chase. So go to school, have fun and when the time comes roll those sleeves up and get cracking.

Enjoy - its a very exciting time.

P.S. if you don't get the best marks in the world then don't worry most pilots don't!

[sam.lk7]

i would stick with school,

it keeps doors open,

besides, qantas requires minimum year12

hope this helps

[Brian Abraham]

I'll give the same advice I got from a crew while standing between them on the flight deck of a Convair 440 circa 1958 "MAKE SURE YOU FINISH SCHOOL". Good luck and hope you have the same good fortune as I. :ok:

[teesa]

finish school!!! and get the best mark you can. when i went for an interview for cadet program recently those on the panel were very concious of my UAI, they knew it to the .05 without even looking it up. a good mark at school isn't everything, but it's another tick against your name.

work casual jobs as well if you can cos when you're young (i am too!) and go for an interview where they ask you basically all behavioural questions you need to have lived and worked a little in the world outside of school to have an ok source of answers.

[VH-XXX]

Stay in school as long as you can and consider university. I don't want to upset you but your grammar needs some serious attention and you can't improve that with a job elsewhere.

[VH-FTS]

Don't you have to be 18 to hold a CPL anyway?

[Taildragger67]

Mate,

DO NOT LEAVE SCHOOL before you do your VCE/HSC/etc.

Let me repeat that in case you were not getting my drift:

DO NOT LEAVE SCHOOL before you do your VCE/HSC/etc.

A couple of years' more education at your end is the BEST investment you will ever make.

Personally I'd then go onto do an aviation-related degree (uni is a lot of fun) but that is something you can come back to if you're so motivated.

Yes there are lots of stories out there about penniless migrants starting with nought and ending up billionaires but for most of us, some bit of educational attainment is worth several times its weight in gold along the way.

And even if the Big Q is the only show who currently demands your VCE (and I'd be surprised if VB did not, also) - you're 16, so who knows where life will lead you over the next 30-40 years? And who knows what

Start flying now if you want - toddle off to your local aero club or AAFC Flight where you might be able to access flying camps, etc. You will have to pass many exams to get to ATPL and beyond so the exam practice you get in school will be no load to carry.

Put it this way (and I'm not saying that anyone who, for whatever reason, did not stay to year 12) - requiring a VCE/HSC etc. is a standard. Would you, as a passenger, like to fly on an airline which did not at least require its pilots to have achieved certain educational standards?

One more thing - don't just do the time for your last two years; try to do well. Give it your best. The application you show in that, will be to yourself - as in, when presented with a challenge, you can say to yourself, "I know I can do this".

You don't know where life will lead you. Take a couple of years at this end and give yourself the best preparation you can. Finish Year 12.

:ok:

[NOSIGN]

Wwejosh,

finish year twelve mate.

[Nards]

Just to reiterate what has been said...:} and if I was doing it again I would follow these steps.

STAY AT SCHOOL!!!!!!

ACTION 1: Get a casual job somewhere, anywhere, preferably one where you have to deal directly with customers.
REASON 1: You will learn valuable skills on dealing with people that you have no idea you are actually learning. You should also be able to put away a good amount of money (mind you you still need some to waste on your girlfrind/s:E) In fact give your parents 50% of your income to put away for you to spend only on flying (or more if you can - assuming you can trust your parents!!) This is so they only give it to you for flying lessons and not for underage drinking, crappy presents for the chick whose pants you are trying to get into etc.

ACTION 2: Get a class 1 medical
REASON 2: You will know that you don't have any pre exisiting conditions that will stop you from holding a Commercial Pilots Licence.

ACTION 3: Go to your local flying school and take a TIF with the money from your casual job.
REASON 3: You will quickly know if this is for you.

ACTION 4: Start the theory side of your licence.
REASON 4: If you can do school work and also get your theory done at the same time then you are showing that you can study and apply yourself to more than one thing at once. In my case I used my PPL and CPL study as a break from "boring" or "monotonous" Year 12 and Uni study. (I am not blowing my trumpet but I believe these breaks - whilst still studying helped me to achieve very high marks in Yr 12 so that I easily got into an Aeronautical Engineering degree, YMMV).

ACTION 5: Save as much money as you can and during school holidays do your training in blocks.
REASON 5: This is the most cost effective way as you won't need to revisit your previous lessons and you can progress very quickly. I did this and flew two, sometimes three flights a day and quickly achieved solo and GFPT on one break, PPL over Christmas break etc.

As has been said you cannot be issued with your CPL until your 18th birthday so there is absolutely no reason at all to leave school. And if you do the above few actions you will find you have developed skills, matured a little and are ahead as you only have to complete your CPL and you are off at the ripe age of 18.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Cheers

[flying-spike]

For what it is worth:

Stay in school and finish year 12 ,WELL!
Join Airforce cadets and get some cheap flying training under your belt
Get an after-school job to suport your habit
Think of your hourly pay in terms of flying hours (.1 or .2 etc)
Start studying your flying theory and put your school work into practical flying applications (then it all seems worthwhile)and......Good Luck

[rep]

finish yr 12 kiddo

[ForkTailedDrKiller]

wwejosh

PM me with what part of Oz you live in.

Maybe we can arrange a lap with the Dr in the Forktailed Dr Killer (Bonanza V35B) to help your motivation to stay in school.

Cheers

Dr :8

[Pinky the pilot]

I concur with previous posters. Stay at school and complete Year 12!!:ok:

[Brian Abraham]

In my previous post I failed to mention why the copilot was insistant that I "finish school". My father met him in New Guinea in 1935 when he was flying the aircraft pictured below. When war broke out he returned to Australia to fly transport aircraft (DC-3). Following the war when licencing requirements changed he did not have the education (mathematics in particular) to be able to pass the exams. Even though he was probably the most senior man in the airline (Guinea Airways) he lived out his days in the copilots seat.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m56/babraham227/Ju.jpg

[bigsquirrel]

Mate, stay in school as the other guys have said. The other thing to consider is that if you don't go to YR 12, you have no chance of being a pilot in the military. You need to have done advanced maths in YR10 to do the higher stuff in YR12.

I know you have stated that you want to fly for the airlines, but cash may get tight somewhere down the long road in aviation, and you may want the government to pay your way. It is a very rewarding career, and if you don't have YR 12 maths and science you have not got a chance. I know you can get waivers for education, but not very often.

As you have stated you want to get started flying, spend $100 and get yourself a flightsim, Fs2004 is good, and start getting a feel for what you want to do in your career.

good luck

[Walrus 7]

Firstly, I need to commend the members of this forum for providing solid, unanimous advice to this young bloke.

Regardless of what you want to do, stay in school. I wanted desperately to leave, but the RAAF wouldn't have me, so I finished and have never regretted it. Year 12 was the most fun of all years and I remember it most warmly of all years. I know it doesn't feel that way at the moment because you've had enough and are itching to get behind the stick, but there's a long way to go.

No-one I know of has ever regretted finishing school, but there are several I know of that regret having not done so.

And if you're in the Melbourne area, PM me and we'll go do some laps in an A36 Bonanza!

OK, I know it doesn't have a forked tail, but in the absence of something sexier it's the best I can do.

Walrus

[wwejosh]

Hello everyone,
Thank you so much for taking some time to make a post in this thread, everyone’s advice has been taken onboard. I am extremely grateful to have access to this forum and be able to talk to people that are or have knowledge in the industry. Id just like to say a few things about where I am at. Firstly I have done a TIF about three weeks ago as a birthday present. Pretty much because it had reached boiling point for me and I just needed to be up there. Secondly I am currently In the process of looking for a job, hopefully becoming employed in the not so distant future. The last thing I will say is in regards to my work ethic. In anything I take up or do for that matter, I give it my 100% because that is just who I am. So in year 12 and 12 this would be no different.

After getting some silly thoughts out of my head I am going to do year 11 and 12, once again thanks everyone for helping me clear this up. I am so frustrated that I have to wait so long, I just want to be in the industry. Anyway I’m going to Tullamarine tomorrow night so that might help, but then again it could make it worse. Never the less I’ll have to sit tight and try and make the most of my remaining years at school.

Once again I am truly grateful for each and every response I have received.

Thank you

[Hawksley]

wise choice mate :ok:

[baffler15]

Free ride with Walrus and the Dr :8? I never got bribed to stay in school by ANYONE!:{

The Baffler:ok:

[Stationair8]

Do Year 11/12 , plenty of time to learn to fly.
Best get school out of the way first, not a fun way to spend your holidays from your flying job back at school doing abridged year 12 subjects, so you can get that jet job!!
Most management in GA in Australia do their management training by correspondence course, unfortunately some of them the lessons must get lost in the mail.

[Taildragger67]

One more small point - a small poll: I am, in my family and friends, surrounded by current and retired aviation people - commercial pilots, a test pilot, military pilots, engineers, cabin crew, instructors, even some managerial types. Not one does not have their HSC/VCE or equivalent (ie. they all have that - they all finished year 12) and most have a university degree as well (some more than one).

Mate don't grow up too fast. Enjoy your youth. Get out there, get drunk, sh:mad:g girls and be silly while you can get away with it. Life will catch up with you fast enough, don't go looking for it.

[Capt Wally]

If this kids only main problem here by some others is his spelling then I wish I was that dumb ! Oh to be 16 again & know what I know now !:bored:
Youth is something that you never can improve on or keep. Wisdom on the other hand (like spelling) you gain & hopefully take thru life getting better all the time!:)
You want advice???............read again here over & over again, stay at school & dream of commanding a 747 for dreams are what life is all about !

Luck be with you

CW:)

[Mr. Hat]

Dont forget to take time to smell the roses (and flowers for that matter:ok:) on the way josh. Its not a race.

Enjoy now mate.

[PyroTek]

dude, I would have come and replied earlier, but finding internet in this italian valley is like finding a needle in a beach...
anyway..
i've started my GFPT, I am doing year 12 this year, I reckon you should stay at school.

My training is happening with a lesson every 2 weeks on a weekend, giving me time for school, and the way i'm reading my BAK/SPL books ill be finished by the time school starts meaning it will be a bit less of a study load for me from a flying POV (ive read half my bak book in 2 days)

I might recommend to you (like what i have done), wait until the next summer holidays if you are that eager, and get a good foot into your training during the holidays, so it wont be such a big move to get started once school starts for the year.

[Stationair8]

A number of other considerations have to be taken into account with flying as a career, and these include:

1. Health what are you going to do if for some reason you fail your medical or something happens and you get injured and cannot hold a pilots licence. I have seen two guys under the age of 30, lose their licence's on medical grounds. Good thing they were paid up with the loss of licence insurance!!

2. At sometime in your flying career you will be unemployed for any number of reasons including the company has gone bankrupt, downturn in the economy or lost a contract to a competitor.

3. Flying is job that may also require you to live in a remote area,for some period of time. The novelty of living in Port Headland, Oenpelli, Gove may wear of after sometime and may require a career change.

4. You may decide after flying a C210 in a remote area on ****ty dollars perhaps you could do better career by going back to university, good thing dad and mum made you do year 12.

5. I have also seen a few pilots careers cut short by fellow pilots putting knives in their back or Chief pilots not liking you for some reason or another.
Only have to read Jon Johansen book to find about the joys of dealing with a chief pilot that had a chip on both shoulders and was generally a large useless **** and now enjoys driving taxis !

So a number of things can happen in life so it good to have all bases covered.

[discus177]

If you happend to live in Brisbane i could line you up with a half decent paying job! Although when people ask for a hand, they're always in based in Melbourne.

I applaud everyones comments on this thread, it's to be commended. The aviation industry bands together every now and again, despite us not agreeing on all arguments. A bit like an eclipse of sorts lol.

Hope you do well through school, i wish i could go back, the freedom, your mates, the women! Unbelievable! :D

Cheers

[Islander Jock]

I left school at yr 10 (NSW 4th form) back in 1974.
If I regret anything it is maybe the fact that I did not study hard enough at school nor have the drive to go onto tertiary education. School is such a short part of your life. Cherish it and get as much from it as you can. There is plenty of time to pursue the career goals later on.