Newbie needs help, advice and support/cuddles!

[Tintin1980]

Hi.
Hopefully some of you out there can give me some real advice and guidance.
I have been serving in the RAF for 10 years now as an Airframe Technician but have longed to fly as far back as I can remember. I have come to a point in my life now where I can realise my dream.
Any advice I can get regarding any available govrenment grants, Enhanced Learning Credits, any courses which might be useful to me whilst on my ressetlement, the chances of employment with an airline after completing all -PPL-CPL-IR-MCC-ATPL, etc. I will be financing this myself and am aware of the costs (Hence I'm wondering about ELC and government help).
As I said I'm brand new to all of this, and I still have two years of ressetlement in the RAF before I have to start with everything, but some early planning can't be bad. Any advice on ressetlement courses which may be of help would also be greatfully recieved.
Lastly, if needed I could also fund a type rating course at a push, I believe these courses cost around £21,000 for 737 or £25,000 for 757 (Just as examples). Is it worth paying for these courses myself or would an airline be willing to pick up these courses for me?
As you can probably tell, I'm a long way off starting anything for real, (not that Two years is a long time!) I just need some concrete facts to start from scratch.

Thank you all very much, and good luck to you all!

Chris. :)

[maxdrypower]

Tintin , if indeed that is your real name :hmm:
The questions you ask are all answered in detail here
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=131649
As these questions are asked so often you may well get sarcasm and flippant responses .
If you have two years left to do . Get as much out of the mob as you can .
If you intention is to go for the full hit in two years , why not begin now ?You can easily have the PPL ,Hour building and ATPL's out of the way and with resettlement you could also get the CPL done , in fact if you boxed clever you could probably do all the modules inside the two years . Give one of the RAF flying clubs a ring
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafflyingclubs/teamsanddisciplines/brizefc.cfm
I think you may well be near Lyneham . Do the PPL whilst on leave or resettlment then do the groundschool. If you are on a flying squadron you will have dozens of people who can help you with the distance learning. If you have any Navs on your squadron youll be quids in , after all they wrote the bloody gen nav syllabus .
As an ex rigger and GD(N) I did a lot of flying with Brize Flying club and its excellent .
Dont wait two years do as much of it as you can whilst still earning a wage

[jb2_86_uk]

Chris,

As for your question on type-rating, I would imagine 99% of people here will urge you not to do it. And it basically comes down to the fact that if you shell out 25k for a 757 rating, you are limiting yourself to the 757 (obviously) and the carriers who use it. I wouldnt imagin there are a great deal of 757 operators who would be looking for direct entry pilots. the 737 and A320 type ratings seem to be most popular, but it is a heck of a chance to take to spend that kind of money without a concrete job at the end.

From what I understand, most airlines will either pay for your type rating themselves, or they will ask you to pay for part/all of it, but at that point you know you have a job at the end, and obviously know which type rating you will need!

Two years should give you a nice comfy amount of time to prepare yourself, and do a bit of back ground reading. I am starting with cabair in July and have just come accross (through this forum) a whole wealth of JAA ATPL ground school stuff, so I am going to spend the next 3 months browing through them and getting an early warning (head-start) on subjects I feel I could struggle with (Met & Nav anyone....!)

All the best mate!


JB

[maxdrypower]

Thats because 90% of people are right. The reason airlines expect people to pay for type ratings is simply because people will pay for type ratings . What would hey do if all of a sudden people didnt ? But unfortunately they will :ugh::ugh:

[magicmick]

There are certain flying training and ground school organisations that are registered with the ELC system, I know that Bristol Groundschool in Cheddar and Aeros Flight Training in Gloucestershire (both excellent organisations) are both registered.

The only snag is that you can only make one claim each financial year so if you claimed now towards a ppl course for instance you could not make another claim until April 2009.

So the best advice really is to find a training school that is ELC registered and start now, get the ppl and 150 hrs built up in this financial year with an ELC claim, complete the ATPL theory exams in the 2009 financial year with another ELC claim, maybe complete the CPL as resettlement and then finish off with the MEIR in the 2010 financial year with another ELC claim. That would be training complete and all three ELC claims made.

I'm towards the end of my training and have used the ELC system to full effect, a few grand offset against the huge training expense may not seem like a lot but it all helps and after a career in the military you definitely deserve it.

I sincerely wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.