I have some questions

[Chael]

First of all, I would just like to say that I am very sorry if this is in the wrong place, and Im sorry if these questions have all been answered many times before, which Im sure they have, but I was ready alot of the threads in the sticky and I found myself a bit lost, so hopefully someone can help.

A couple of years ago, I was very interested in becoming a commercial airline pilot for my career, but after a few bad years in school, I did not think I would get the grades to do this sort of thing, but having just recieved my GCSE results, Im now interested in it again.

Id just like to say again, sorry if I seem completely off with this, but I do find it all quite overwhelming at times, with so many different thinkgs to take into consideration.

heres the questions:

-I am choosing to do my AS and A levels in school these next 2 years, so that if my initial ideas of doing something in aviation dont work out, I have something to fall back on, but I have choosen to do 3 subject which I enjoy and also think might be useful to help me become a pilot, these 3 are ICT, Physics and Maths, can these A levels help me at all in getting a career as a Pilot?

-I have been reading alot on these forums, and I THINK I have the general idea of this, but please correct me if Im wrong. What I would be doing is trying to obtain a PPL first, maybe while still doing my A levels, before going on to do CPL and ATPL or fATPL I think. What are the requirements for these, specially for the PPL, If I do the 40-45 flying hours, where do I go form there to obtaining the license, and do I need to do any courses to complete it?

-I rememeber reading on Easyjets website a couple of years ago about a sponsorship scheme they offered, where they train you and after completeing the course, you work for reduced pay for them for 2 years I think, to pay off the training costs. Can anyone give me more information on this sort of thing, and are there any requirements to get into this, and isit hard to get in to?

Thanks for reading this, and once again I'm sorry if your fed up reading the same questions over and over, but I was just a bit lost. I just want to know really what I need to start doing now to get on the road to becomnig an Airline pilot, or in the very least obtaining a PPL.

~Chael

[pre3mhjt]

Have a look through this, it should comprehensively answer most of your questions:

Balpa (http://balpa.org/intranet/How-to-bec/index.htm)

The easyJet scheme you saw was probably the CTC route and is detailed here:

Airline Pilot Training with CTC Wings (http://www.ctcwings.co.uk/index_home.asp)

Good Luck

[Chael]

Thank you very much, I will have a good read through both of these :):)

[waiterpilot]

Chael,

I was in a similar position to you, deciding which A levels to take a few years ago and settled on a similar selection (maths, physics, and computing, with further maths chucked in there for good measure and guaranteed thrills :suspect:). Having done all of them, I can't really say that at the A-level stage any of them are particularly relevant to being a pilot. You are never going to need to differentiate, know about Poisson distribution or up and down particles or write an entire computer program at FL390. Most if not all of the theory that you will need to pass the ATPL exams and operate on the line, you will have already covered at GCSE level, except perhaps a tiny bit in (the equally thrilling) theory of flight. So I slogged two years to sit back slightly in one lesson for one hour.

That is not to say don't do them! If you are good at them and enjoy them go for it; they will increase your confidence in those subjects, and will give you a deeper understanding that can only help when it comes to the pilot exams (which are predominantly maths and physics). What I am saying is don't feel as though you have to do those subjects just because you want to be a pilot and that job sounds a bit computery and wingsy and calculationy so they look about right. It would be better for you, and probably for your CV to do A-levels that you enjoy and you are likely to do well in than to feel as though you must 'fit in the box' and not achieve as high grades compared to if you did something else.

With regards to what licenses and in what order they come - look at the bottom of this page, (http://www.profpilot.co.uk/startout.html) follow the timeline, and click the buttons for more information.

Hope that helps!

WP