A split path...

[Tom.O]

I'm looking to join into the civil aviation world. The only thing is, my friend and I have discussions who to go with. He wants to learn with Oxford aviation and myself with ctc wings. The problem is which one would be better to go with?
Pleas help!:bored:

Thanks:)

[Torque Tonight]

Why don't you go to CTC and he to Oxford then? Or are you a pair of girls who have to go to the toilet together?

Seriously, this is ridiculous. Do your research. Make your own mind up. Follow your chosen course of action. It's not rocket science. Or maybe you should both head down to McDonalds. :mad:

You'll get the same licence from each instution and they're both pretty much equally respected. Use that thing between your ears to decide which course structure you prefer, which is better value, what the alternatives are.

[Tom.O]

fare comment

[Jabiman]

Tom O,
You dont give reasons why your friend wants to go with OA and why you prefer CTC?
Maybe a more detailed question would elicit some serious response.

Based on the minimal information that you supply, since entry is not automatic into either school, I would suggest that you both apply to each school and then see where you stand in regards to their subsequent offers.

[Torque Tonight]

Alister, dry your eyes, princess. Sometimes people need a nasty b'stard like me to give them a boot up the arse rather than a huggy fluff like you to blow sunshine up it. Don't see many gems of advice in your post either. You should know that the opening question is so open ended and arbitrary as to be effectively meaningless.

So, in the interests of spoon-feeding, and leading by the hand...

Maybe Tom should have a read of the 'Oxford vs CTC' thread which was on the top of the front page when he posted his question. Or any of the other million threads about OAA, CTC etc. Just a thought.
http://www.pprune.org/interviews-jobs-sponsorship/315781-oxford-vs-ctc-etc.html

Get the prospectus for each school, and every other one you can think of, and read them.
http://www.ctcwings.com/europe/pdfs/downloads/CTC%20Wings%20icp%20brochure_May%202007.pdf
OAA.com - Oxford Aviation Academy (http://www.oaa.com/pages/training_courses/ab_initio/order_skills_directory/online/index.php)

Go to open days at various schools.
Open Days (http://www.ctcwings.com/europe/OpenDays.asp)

If having done this you still can't decide, then I don't know how you expect other people to advise you. Many people come on here seeking 'The Answer' - a specific course of action that should be followed. There is no such thing. The truth is that everyone must make their own decisions based on their own situations and choose their own path. Modular is right for some people, integrated for others. One school is perfect for someone, terrible for someone else. These tricky decisions never stop - do you push for command in your locost operator or spend an extra decade as an FO in a flag-carrier?

Have a bit of initiative, do some active research, and choose your own destiny. There are no absolute answers. I hope that what I've written here, together with my earlier slightly sarcastic post, will actually serve you better than Alister's meaningless and fluffy post or than me just saying 'go to Oxford, Oxford is better (because it has a slightly fitter girl working inthe coffee bar)'.

Use your head and make your own mind up.

Oh, and Alister, I do have first hand experience - and a lot more of it than you, I suspect.

[frank booth]

Go Oxford for RYN, and the chance to get paid in euros, the worlds most endangered currencey, with the chance to become a director in Europe's most dodgy tax scams ever!

Go CTC for Easy, with the chance to become a flexi pilot for the amazing grand total of 6 months!!!!!

In other words don't do either.

[Luke SkyToddler]

Do neither. Go modular, save a few tens of thousands, and actually time your course completion for a time when you might have a sh!t's show of getting a proper decent job, which ain't now

[helldog]

See I respond well to a good kick up the @ss, I think torque is right about that. It's a big bad world out there, take care kids.

[170to5]

Which one will mean you can make your loan repayments when you're working on a part-year contract after having paid for your own TR?

bmibaby
Monarch
easyJet
Thomas Cook

are all now recruiting but only offering part-time contracts to people who have spent in excess of £80,000 on their training once living costs are taken into account. Not exactly the stuff that dreams are made of. I would recommend to anybody that delaying training for a few years (a good few years) would begin to develop a restricted number of new pilots which would lead to a requirement
to improve T&C's to a point where it's worth the initial capital outlay.

Don't forget Europe is a mature market and therefore is limited in expansion - expansion, I believe, will be back into routes that were dropped when the downturn came. There are enough type-rated, experienced crews without work to fill all the seats that come from this.

I heard that British Airways had 3000 applications for 80 jobs, and Aer Lingus had over 1000 applications for 30 jobs...

My advice would be to ask both schools how many of their students have gone on to permanent contracts in the last 2 or 3 years. This will give you a good idea of the wisdom of spending all that money to walk into a contract that will pay you, most likely, £40,000 a year - not taking into account the money you will lose with loan repayments, as most people have to...

Apologies for the thread creep, but there must always be one harbinger of doom per thread!

(By the way I finished training just over 2 years ago, and before I got into the working world I was, as most people here are, completely uneducated as to the genuine state of the industry - no matter what their beliefs!)

- just read the last few posts - make that 3 harbingers!

[helldog]

har·bin·ger   
[hahr-bin-jer] Show IPA
–noun
1.
a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another; herald.
2.
anything that foreshadows a future event; omen; sign: Frost is a harbinger of winter.
3.
a person sent in advance of troops, a royal train, etc., to provide or secure lodgings and other accommodations.

Cool new word in my vocab.:ok:

[170to5]

thanks for that helldog!