My plan for becoming a pilot (UK)

[i luv aviation]

Okay guys,

I have always wanted to become a pilot and have planned it out. However, I need you guys to tell me what you think! :)

I’m currently doing my A-levels, and hope to study pharmacy in uni. This will take about 4-5 years. Speaking to many pharmacy students, Boots starts its pharmacists off from like 38 k! Their starting salary could also be up to 42 k for those who would a little harder.... One Asda pharmacist told me she’s on a starting salary of 45k! And that some people are on 50 k!

So with salaries like these, I’m planning to work about maybe 3-4 years in order to pay off my university fees and gain money for flight training.

I would be about 30 when I start off as a pilot (hopefully!). But will this be worth it? I also plan to get married at like 32 :D

Do you recommend I go through the British Airways cadet pilot programme? the reason why I’m asking is because I heard the salary is much lower than those who didn’t join the cadet scheme and those who joined right out of flight school without any experience are started off from like 32k.

Can those straight out of flight training be on 767 with BA? Would they be able to do non-European routes? I have 3 passports; British (I’m from here and so is mother) Canadian (my father is Québécois, Canadian and I’ve lived there for a while) and US (my second home and I’ve lived there for a while). Also will having French and German language skills be an advantage? Do pilots get flags on their badges of countries which that language originates from?

And finally, as I said the US is my second home. Should I decide to move there; will my flight experience from BA count?

Sorry for all the questions! I just hope you can answer them and give me opinions on my plan!

P.S. I know BA doesn’t have any preferences on degrees. But will a Pharmacy degree be seen as like a really good degree?

[Lord Spandex Masher]

I don't think you can just go through the BA cadet programme.

I suspect you might have to do a bit of selection first, like.

I would be about 30 when I start off as a pilot (hopefully!). But will this be worth it?

What do you mean?

Can those straight out of flight training be on 767 with BA?

Do you think they'll still have them in like 10 years?

And finally, as I said the US is my second home. Should I decide to move there; will my flight experience from BA count?

Of course not, your standards will be far too high and you will need retraining.

[riverrock83]

Couple of things.
Firstly, if you are talking about not starting flight training for 10+ years your comments about BA Cadet training are mute. Noone knows what the world will be like in 10 years time.

Integrated at the moment you will probably need £100K. If you are starting from scratch money wise, each year in Uni is going to cost at least £8K so when you start working you will be paying off student loan. Also the tax man gets about half your income, plus you need to live... On your plan - you are still going to be quite short on cash.

Flight training in the USA is cheaper and there are many more jobs available. I don't know about sponsored programmes, but if you are happy to work over there then I believe there are more opportunities.

Switching between a UK JAR / EASA licence to an American FAA licence isn't that easy although it is possible.

Keeping looking through the options though! Unfortunately there is no easy/ cheap way of becoming a pilot, unless you go through the military (and they are cutting back on pilots).

[wiggy]

I don't want to rain on your parade but whilst having some sort of plan isn't a bad thing but you can't be that specific 10 years out, well certainly not in aviation. Looking into my crystal ball the only thing I can guarantee with a high degree of certainty is BA won't be flying the 767 in 2022 and I will be retired :}.

As for anything else: Nobody knows what shape aviation will be in, what form BA will be in or even if it will still exist and whether there will be any form of cadet entry scheme.

[CAT3C AUTOLAND]

You seem to motivated by Salaries?

IF you were accepted onto the BA Future Pilot Programme, you would save yourself one hell of a lot of work regarding Uni and working as a Pharmacist. If being a pilot is your main goal apply for BA when they open their doors again. If you are not successful with that, then by all means go for plan B.

I am not sure of the details regarding paying BA back the cost of your training, however, if you graduate you will start on the BA 34 year pay scale. After 10 years, you will most likely find yourself earning a salary well in excess of the figures you quoted, especially when you get your command.

Regarding fleets, technically BA could put you anywhere there is a demand, but typically new joiners go onto the Airbus fleet at LHR.

You must realise that becoming a pilot takes a lot of hard work and determination which ever way you do it. You also need a degree of passion to get you through and to take to the job, so in years to come you dont get bored.

I am sure you know this already, but getting into BA as a cadet is VERY competitive, and only a select few get in, so dont put all your eggs in one basket.

[i luv aviation]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your responses!

Firstly, in regards to BA 767s. I heard like only 14 were retiring out of the 21 they have....

Secondly, theres no need for anyone to ask me to question the future.. ;) I already kno whow things are and that there are possibilities that certain things might exsist. Im only writing in regards to IF the opportunities are there.

Thirdly, I know the US is cheaper. However, I would not like to suffer the way the poor regional guys are suffering and also you need a degree to join a major. Hence, why I am hoping to obtain a Pharmacy degree and earn a bit of cash. I also understand that BA cadet scheme is competitive; which is why being a degree will be useful.

Fourthly, I was thinking about joining the Canadian forces as they also help to pay for your degree. But they are very picky and it is extremly hard to get into! also, there is no guarantee that you will be able to get flying on an aircraft and may be on a helicopter instead....

All I can do is hope things will get better and that the opportunities will be there!

P.S. @ lORD SPANDEX- what do you mean by: Of course not, your standards will be far too high and you will need retraining.

[zondaracer]

also, there is no guarantee that you will be able to get flying on an aircraft and may be on a helicopter instead....

Hey, helicopters are still cool. Besides, I thought helicopters were also aircraft.

By the way, Lordspandexmasher was joking about needing retraining. He was inferring that American trained pilots are poorly disciplined/trained cowboys or something to that effect. :ouch:

[magicspeed]

10 years is way too long to plan ahead imo. as for me, im only planning things for this and the next year. you are still not even out of high school/secondary school/whatever you call it.

[Halfwayback]

I luv aviation
Welcome to the wannabees forum!
Having read your posts, including the deleted one, may I suggest that you spend a little time doing some rearch of the industry by using the Search function and you will find that most of your queries have been asked and answered before?
In the meantime I'm closing this thread.

HWB

[Aerouk]

My biggest piece of advice for you would be to slow down and get your A-Levels finished.

When I was your age I thought I'd join the RAF as a fast jet pilot if not, I'd be an airline pilot.

Now I'm older, I've been to University I've worked a few jobs I've realised I was extremely naive and far too excited about my dreams. You need to slow down and get your A-Levels out the way and take it step by step.

Right now, it's hard to get a job! I work with a huge company where we have qualified lawyers, accountants and a number of other professions working in a call centre because there is nothing else out there.

If you decide to go to University do something you're actually good at and not what you think the airline will like. There is nothing worst leaving University with a 3:1 degree in engineering when you could get a 1:1 in Business for example.

[City Flyer]

i luv aviation

I was going to say what HWB said - read everything and do some research first.

You rightly seem capable of, and interested in getting a degree in something that pays well and will enable you to enter this industry financially. Good start. My backup career ended up being a little longer than I intended thanks to the industry dynamics, but I'm here in aviation now finally - it pays to have a plan.

However, this industry moves in cycles. IF there is a BA scheme, or another suitable scheme running when you graduate, with finance guaranteed by the airline, why would you not apply for it then? A recruiter would ask you - aged 30 - why you didn't bother if there were schemes open at that time.

You need to think about what you are committed to, as your competition will have been thinking about flying from the time they were wearing nappies...

Do you recommend I go through the British Airways cadet pilot programme? the reason why I’m asking is because I heard the salary is much lower than those who didn’t join the cadet scheme and those who joined right out of flight school without any experience are started off from like 32k.
Details on finance are at bafuturepilot.com - BA no longer recruit from schools outside of the new scheme, and the tax benefits actually make it better than the old scheme.

Can those straight out of flight training be on 767 with BA? Would they be able to do non-European routes?
767 flying is mid-haul with quite a bit of ETOPS operations - no cadets. Airbus flies as far as Central Asia and West Africa, but have a read of the detailed BA threads in the T&E sub-forum to see the work patterns.

Do you really care about having flags on your badge...?!! Speaking a language is useless if you don't have the team skills and life experience the airlines are looking for.