Becoming a pilot in the near future - what one needs to know

[dt1tg]

Hello there,
I'm 15 years old and I have been interested in aviation for quite a while. I've had 16 hours of flying and I'm going solo when I'm 16 (March). I've also got a gliding scholarship for easter so i hope that goes well. To finish off with, i film aircraft on YouTube:

Now, I'm not promoting myself or anything like that. I'm just thinking whether it's wise for a person like me to continue and become a professional pilot. Do you think it is a clever thing to do?
If so, what school is best? I like the sound of CTC wings, but I might be wrong.

Is there anything I need to know?
I do have the money to commence any type of flying training but I don't want to end up teaching youngsters how to fly Cessnas in an aerodrome...

What do you think?
Anybody's advise is greatly appreciated.

[vserian]

I do have the money to commence any type of flying training but I don't want to end up teaching youngsters how to fly Cessnas in an aerodrome
^^^^
My friend you should really change this attitude.....

You questions have been answered millions of time, just search through the forums you will find it.

[dt1tg]

I know this has been answered; but for a person with higher qualifications is it easier to become a pilot?

[vserian]

What you mean by higher qualification?
If you have 2000TT and 1000 hrs on a modern jet then yes its easy to get a job.

[G-ADAM]

dt1td, if you are 15 years old, why have you put that you are 21 in your information? :confused:

If this is a genuine request for information, your best bet really would be to use the search function. Everything will be on here somewhere. For people who have spent lots of time giving people uselful help and advice, it is a bit insulting that people can't be bothered to help themselves for the sake of a few seconds of searching.

There are some very knowledgeable guys and girls on here. Use them, don't abuse them by asking for the same information countless others have asked for in the past!

[dt1tg]

First of all, I would like to apologize to all of you for posting a similar thread to the other threads. I just wanted to post a thread in detail about my situation.
Now, by higher qualifications i mean this:
I'm going to get As and A stars at a grammar school.
Plus the gliding scholarship
And to prove I have an interest in aircraft, I film them.
Then I'm going to uni. All this time, I'll be building up my hours.
I'm not sure whether these things help me, but please tell me your opinion:)

[dt1tg]

G-ADAM - sorry, I must have been in a hurry to register. I have registered some time ago, but i will contact an administrator to have my age changed. In the mean time, i will hide it to prevent confusion:)

[PAPI-74]

I was going to post, but so you know what.....sod it!

More meat for the CTC sausage I guess:uhoh:

[unflownsky]

What you really need is about 150K euro to "invest" (CPL+IR+TR+300/500 hours on type. You will end up with about 700 hours TT. Put up some extra 20K to find a way to un-freeze your ATPL end reach 1.500 TT with 500 MCC time) and someone to ring the bell to every morning. And plently of patience.
No, you passion, your dedication, your excellent scores will make no difference at all (or anyway not enough).
What you will get is not anyway what you may expect. :=

[dt1tg]

So as long as I have a back up plan everything should be alright:)

[dbriglee]

Yes a back up plan is good.. is this why you are going to uni??

You dont really need uni for the aviation world (Well, thats MY OPINION), A levels yes. Good you got into a grammar school.

If you want to be a commercial pilot as quickly as possible then keep the gliding going, but take it easy on the flying due to the cost.
If you want to join CTC/integrated courses/fte/oxford etc.... they dont give you a refund for having a PPL before. You still have to pay the full course cost (thats what happened with me. Other people may be different)

But if you decide to keep you PPL going, then CONSIDER going modular, and keep your gliding going. The scholarship would look impressive to an employer i would imagine.

In this day and age, it's just how you get your foot in the door with an airline at the moment. Everyone seems to be taking people thorough school directly. There has been no direct employment from the companies for a while (I MEAN FOR NEWBIES)
(apart from Jet 2 in recent months, and they quickly decided they had too many applications and seem to have gone to oxford for the inexperienced guys)

So, do a few searched and have a think. CTC seems to be massive, and easyjets link with them must be a good stepping stone! But then you pay your money and hear some people staying in the pool for years.

Up to you! concentrate on school and deced what to do in a few years during Alevels

[stevop21]

You keen on going integrated?
I can't really see the big advantage myself. I'm a year ahead of you so taking ASs this year, if I were to go to uni and flight training that would be a huge amount of debt, from my financial situation I have absolutely no choice but to go modular. I would never let anyone in my family sign a house onto a loan, that just seems far too risky for the lack of jobs. But as you say you have the funds then the integrated may not be such a bad thing, the schools just seem so overated! There is a huge thread here which is very useful for weighing out the pros and cons.

Interesting view on instructing, it's always been something I'd quite like to do, it builds good hours and gets you solid flying experience.

I don't think you should bother with uni and go straight into training, but make sure you have a job to go into afterwards in case you don't get a flying job.

Congratulations on the gliding scholarship, I imagine it will look very good on your CV! What are your choices for a-level by the way?

[FANS]

whether it's wise for a person like me to continue and become a professional pilot. Do you think it is a clever thing to do?

I do have the money to commence any type of flying training but I don't want to end up teaching youngsters how to fly Cessnas in an aerodrome...





Flying is never a clever thing to do. You have the money (at 16!) to do any type of flying training.

The best adviCe (not adviSe Mr A*) I could give you would be to mature naturally before commiting to any career which may commit you to the next 40 years.

[dbriglee]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Good point that! Thats a major one, which i am a little regretting now, when i have other ideas of what to do in my spare time. But once you get the airline job, you will be living YOUR LIFE around WORK, not the other way around. Its hard to do regular activities in your spare time. It is possible, but just takes a lot of effort.. Even organising a night out with people you work with is hard enough too.!


Go travel, have some fun, go on holidays, have a few mess around jobs and make some friends.... You don't want to be worrying about counting the hours you have left of drinking time when you are 19, and being in bed at a 'sensible' time. BOOORRRING

Or just do some instruction for while! Which i would love to do now, but cannot.
Even if the money may be poor, atleast you will have a fairly normal 9-5 pattern.



If i were to do it again, id start it mid twenties, rather than early 20s. Just personal preference.

[pug]

A levels yes. Good you got into a grammar school.



A Levels a pre-requisite? Do you really need to have A Levels these days? For all of the research I've done on here and elsewhere i have'nt seen a requirement of Level 3 qualifications. If so me with good GCSE's, 8 years working experience and a soon to be completed Degree means I'm screwed because I never did A Levels?

[Lew747]

I do have the money to commence any type of flying training

Please do tell me how you managed to acquire these monies at your age. :ok::}

[dt1tg]

I'm just one of those lucky ones who has the money to do the flight training, those of you who are asking. I'm doing maths, physics, economics and German.
From what I understand the best thing for me would be to continue doing well at school and if, after university (I want to do business / aeronautical engineering), I still want to commence pro flight training I'll just pay the bill and get many hours?

[dt1tg]

It's very interesting to see people's viewpoints here on PPRune... Only a few weeks ago I spoke to a BA pilot who said he loves his job. Similarly, on an Easyjet trip a few days ago I heard the same opinion and they were young.

[lander66]

The main worry for most people is financing either training or that period after training when you are looking for your first flying job. As you say, this isn't an issue for you so you might as well just jump straight in there and go for it.

Qualifications won't make that much difference in finding a flying job as long as you have enough brains to complete your flying training. After that the right attitude, money and hours matter...

[dt1tg]

Thanks for the reply, lander66.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Go to uni as a backup and then pay for many hours and the license.
Lets hope it all goes well:D

[tggzzz]

I'm just thinking whether it's wise for a person like me to continue and become a professional pilot.I suggest that at your age you know neither what you will enjoy doing, nor what you will be good at doing, nor what the aviation industry will be like in 10 or 20 years. A lot can (and does) change in a few years.

At your age I suggest you keep your options open. What does that mean? Imagine that every one of the choices you make in life restricts your future option by "closing some doors"; now, which doors don't you mind being closed, and which doors do you really want to remain open. Understanding that will help you make choices for the future.

A good education is the prime way of keeping your options/doors open, but you will have to tailor the subjects you study so as to not prevent you from going in directions you wish. Choose good general widely-respected subjects, rather than specialist subjects that are disregarded by university entrance boards.

For any technical career, maths, physics,chemistry, biology are a good starting point.

[mr.bee]

Posted by Mungo Man
Are you trying to gain brownie points by saying you like aircraft? Do you think it will help you get a job?!


Are you trying to gain kudos by belittling a 15 year old? Do you think it will help you look 'cool'?

Give the fellow a break; he has not yet the advantage of experience you enjoy.

[lazy george]

You seem to have your head screwed on for a 15 yr old lad, Christ at that age I was binge drinking and stealing Mars Bars still.

The major issue for us lot on here is funding, if you have that and its your dream to fly what is stopping you? I've spent the last 15 yr working as a spark wishing I was in the air and now I'm finally close to it. Doing a job you do not want to do can get you down at times but most of us have been there and you may be able to avoid it.

As for saying you don't want to teach students in a cessna at an aerodrome, well there's not much wrong with that either as I don't, past instructors I've had going Modular didn't as I bet a hell of a lot of other instructors don't but they wont have much of a choice, as long as you realise you may have to is the key.

The only advise I can give is to live your life a bit first, do a lad's holiday, sh*g around and have some fun as you may regret not doing by the time you hit 30( which is not as far away as it seems ).

[Halfwayback]

This thread has degenerated into personal abuse and is closed!

HWB