self sponsorship for ratings

[AlwaysFlyAlwaysRead]

going through that transition from flight school to having enough experience to fly full time.
I'm wondering which companies will happily take you in if you bear some of the cost of your training for ratings and what not.

I want to take the next step and invest in myself further but it seems everyone wants experience or has insurance minimums to get on their fleet with no way to get the specific type experience. So I'm at that junction where I'm willing to spend a little money to get past this point in my career. Any ideas?
how have you guys gotten past this point in your careers?

[Dash8driver1312]

Luck and having something that the employer wanted that made a 260hr total time newby tasty over guys with more hours...

Don't get suckered in to thinking paying for a rating will make you more employable. Even if you had a rating, you still must spend time in the sim learning company procedures and you'll still by tied with a bond from the employer as well as your own type rating costs.

[AlwaysFlyAlwaysRead]

yeah I remember talking to this captain once who said when you pay to fly or fly for free you are messing up terms and conditions for everyone and this problem will never go away. So I've tried to stay away from this sort of thing. I have at the moment people suggestion all sorts of MPL Programmes to me and I'm not super happy about going that route. Want to stick to my principles. I would compromise though and pay for a rating if a company doesn't want the undertaking with the hope of working and growing after.

[Dash8driver1312]

Forget terms and conditions and look again about the comment I made about going back in the simulator.

The recruitment people at an airline flying type X will think you were nuts for spending a LOT of money to get a rating on type Y, and you still won't have the hours or experience to make you attractive.

[cavortingcheetah]

All the world knows that all a type rating does is flash a big blobby Breitling around the interview room. How about 'investing' the money for a vacuous type rating in a degree course in something cerebral such as Aeronautical Engineering or Hydrodyamics in Ship Hull Design?
That sort of thing demonstrates capability, fortitude, dedication to one's career pathway and generally impresses selection boards. It also stimulates the brain and delays the onset of Alzheimers which, by the sound of it all, is as long as you might have to wait for a simple type rating to be of any significant benefit to you.

[Trossie]

Consider the following:

1. Never believe a word that any training organisation tells you about how their type rating will make you more employable, they are only interested in the money that they can take off you now and couldn't care about your long term prospects.

2. Recruiters will be looking at piles of applications with type ratings with absolutely no experience on type. All you would have done is just moved yourself from one long waiting list to another. With a whole lot less money in your wallet (or a huge debt).

3. Don't aim too high for that first job, consider some 'lowly' flying job just to keep yourself flying and keep some money coming in. If you're dead set on paying for a rating, make it an instructor rating and get a job that way. You will be appreciated in that interview room a lot more if you have shown the commitment to do things that way than if you have the 'big blobby Breitling' thing!

If your nose is too high for those lowly jobs, then that will probably show up in the interview for any job!

[Dash8driver1312]

Trossie, there are times like this that I wish there was a 'like' button on here...

[LY-MML]

Today i am so proud of you guys :D

[4runner]

No way guys...I absolutely love Europeans with 250 hours, a big bobbly Breitling, new flight bag, big Ray bans, a shiny jet type rating(self funded) and a "frozen" ATP that is lost at 200 agl when the flight director doesn't tell him(or her) how to get on the runway when you're doing a non precision approach.

[James331]

This is what your employer pays for.

Paying for work related training = you're a sucker.

When I took my current job the company paid for me to fly over, paid for my hotel, food, I also had a daily training pay which I received. I logged about 15hrs flight time (just me and the checkairmen), not the OJT :mad:. I didn't pay for my training, I got paid for it. I also didn't have a single hour in type prior to taking the job.



Just wait for the good companies, paying for a type is just going to hurt the industry and end up hurting you in the long run.


Best bet at getting that first job: don't be afraid to travel, keep moving along until you find something, don't be afraid to call folks up on the phone, to knock on doors and shake hands, and of course network with working pilots.

Also listing some non aviation skills can help, are you good with computers? Any accounting or sales skills? Good at working on small engines? Any experience in hunting or guiding?

[AlwaysFlyAlwaysRead]

guys thanks for the responses. It's verifying what I feel I actually know , that this in general is just pouring money into pockets of those taking advantage of pilots at the beginning of their careers.

I won't totally dismiss the route but seems to me that at the end of the day it wont have as much value as they say it was will, Ill be screwing over terms and conditions of other FOs like me looking for work ( which i obviously don't want and i put myself in a position to be possibly black balled by employers who thought it was not the best way to go.