So let me get this straight then !

[icarter]

If when I do my PPL, then sit my ATPL exams, then do an MEP course, CPL course & an MEP IR course.......

Other than hour building, what do I need to do to stop any of these ratings/qualifications from lapsing before I actually manage to seek employment.?

[redsnail]

Without diving into LASORs (on the CAA SRG website), you'll need to keep your IR current. (You can allow it to lapse for a couple of years but there is a time limit)

Strongly recommend you download LASORs, turn off Top Gear and spend some time wading through it. :E

[Adios]

You might also need to keep your ME current. Some airlines won't care. Companies with smaller twins may want you to keep it current or at least to revalidate it before you apply.

[gone till november]

Ahhhhh Red.... Top Gear was good this week.
If i remember correctly (Note this was few years ago) Your Initial IR was valid for 5 years after which if you didnt keep up the renewals you had to do another initial. Very expensive and very scary whichever way you do it.

Good luck and its all worth it when you get there.

[pablo]

turn off Top Gear

priceless!

f:mad: flying, I wanna drive one of those cars


going back to topic... if I were you I wouldn't let any of the licenses lapse. Chances are someone will be hiring 1 week after they lapsed.
And psychologically is the only way you will keep some contact with the industry. As you have to renew, you try to seek employment and keep contact with your buddies and so on, because it's a lot of money, and the circle continues.

In my case I didn't want to renew after 3 years of 'darkness'. And if I didn't I would have lost all contact with aviation, and I think I would feel even more miserable nowadays.
I'm not that happy with my career and my life (too much stuff going on), but at least I made it. And I still have some hope I will have a decent job someday, and a nice lifestyle.

(or at least have 'nuff' money to buy a bike - or a car :E - fast enough to leave redsnail behind)

[antonov09]

Dont bother training there is not going to be any work for a number of years for lots of pilots-----it is as simple as that.

[pablo]

Well... I agree somehow with Mr. Simple.

Maybe a good idea is to go to university, study something interesting that can be a backup or a complement to your flying job, and if you are enthusiastic about flying go for gliders or PPL. It's a perfectly decent way to learn to fly and you'll enjoy it.

But... you can be never 100% sure of when the upturn is coming tbh.

What if in 2-3 years this starts to boom?
Then 2010 would be a perfect year to start.

You really never know for sure.

[ba038]

This is exactly what im woried about........


"But... you can be never 100% sure of when the upturn is coming tbh.

What if in 2-3 years this starts to boom?
Then 2010 would be a perfect year to start.

You really never know for sure."

[pablo]

Well... mate... believe me I understand 100% how you feel.
Been there, got the t-shirt, and now again once more.
It's a nightmare to choose which second studies to do.

But that's something you have to... "gamble". You have to risk it either way.

Even if you study medicine... maybe in 5-10 years there are too many doctors and it's impossible to find a job. Who knows?
At least it happens with every other job now and then. Some of them go through cycles, and depending on how lucky/unlucky you are... you might end your studies in a low demand cycle.

About flight training... you have to consider all the money involved, and that it will be difficult to find a job.
It's not easy to find a job in any industry, but if you are a pilot it costs a lot to renew your licenses and you loose your skills quickly.

In most other careers you have many ways to improve your c.v., and many cheap options for it. At least in Spain.
You can go for a 2nd university degree related to your job, a Masters degree (some of them can be expensive tho), languages, a variety of courses for specialization, etc...

For a pilot there aren't cheap options, it's either 10k Euro in an FI rating, 25-30k in a type rating or time building in the weekends for a price of 120-150E/hr, unless you are really lucky and get hired by a company that doesn't require additional qualifications or you get your type rating paid for.

This same ideas have been discussed over and over in this forum, if you read through some threads you'll find many different opinions.

Some people happier, some people not-so-happy. It depends highly on how successful you are, and how positive you are.


By the way... nobody holds the absolut truth. Everybody will give an opinion, but it's just that. Don't base your decisions on the opinion of just 1 person.
As just a small sample, a good friend of mine is flying as F/O in a Belgian airline. He tells me each one of the captains tells something different about what's going on with the airline (economy, aircraft orders, upgrades, etc...).

So if 2 work-mates don't have the same opinions about what's going on or what will be the future of just 1 company, imagine how valid can be the opinion of 2 individuals about a WHOLE INDUSTRY :E


best of luck

[greggx101]

If when I do my PPL, then sit my ATPL exams, then do an MEP course, CPL course & an MEP IR course.......

Other than hour building, what do I need to do to stop any of these ratings/qualifications from lapsing before I actually manage to seek employment.?


What is your time-scale for all this ?

Its all well and good using the downturn to start training and I'm not being rude but at 36 you're going to be 40+ the time job situation improves, if it ever does.

Do something better with your money mate.

You will come across a few members on here that went from "Zero to Hero" and found employment at a late stage in their career but the world is a very different place now and will be for a number of years.

gx

[pablo]

didn't pay attention to the age part

IMHO why don't you think of it as a part-time hobby (PPL, gliding, ultralight) and have lots of fun with it, rather than going through a lot of pressure to get a job etc...

just my humble 2 cents worth but I think greggx101 is quite right

[flyhighspeed300]

PPL. your renewal licence from test vaild for 5 years
however SEP (single Engine Piston) rating
which you fly on you PPL is vaild for vaild for 2 years

Atpl exams you have 18months to pass them in.
you also have 3 years to get your I.R rating (mep-ir-spl)
within this date!!!! otherwise they are u to u-less

hour building is logged flying hours
"experience gain in flying"

Cpl licence vaild for 5 years
same for PPL SEP, two years if you choose
to do it on that aircraft. thats the "rating"
to what you can fly

remember your cpl licence takes over your ppl licence normally after you
completing it.

your MEP (mutli Engine Piston) rating vaild for 1 year

your MEP-IR-SPL vaild for 1 year
(Mutli engine piston, instrument rating, single pilot licence)


MCC is an add on going towards a type rating.. nothing to keep up
JOC is an add on again, but is not needed to do at all. extra simulator hours.


the MEP, and IR rating are the costly and have a shortter vaild point.
the is meant for saftey in the sky.

[ivor 4goldbars]

Hi Guys,

Take it from somebody who has failed class 1 medical exam (EEG btw) a few years ago......whatever you do - don't procrastinate!

I procrastinated, now my dream will never be....

If I was given the opportunity to start training now, I'd bite someones hand off....irrespective of the bleak jobs market.

I wish you all the best and I hope the blood sweat & tears will be worth it.....

Cheers,

I4