Irish pilots - questions

[Irishboy]

Hi there,

I just found this forum today and I have a few questions for pilots, irish in particular.

Basically, I want to become a pilot. I am 23 years old, currently working as a computer programmer and I have a Diploma in Electronic Engineering.

I want to know how you guys started off. Did you get your training from Aer Lingus or pay for it yourself. Where did you do it? I applied for the student pilots positions in Aer Lingus a few years ago, but got knocked back on the first round (aptitude test/personality test) :-( How about the Ryanair guys - how did you get started?

Anyway, I have booked my first flight lesson for next month, In Weston. Where do I go from here?

Thanks in advance

[mutt]

You have lots of choices, USA, England, France or just about any part of Europe except Ireland.
As of this date there is no flight school in Ireland approved to take you past the PPL.
Sad but true.

Mutt.

[bboy]

Yo Irish boy,
Not much happening in your neck of the woods, unless daddy works in Aer Lingus.
I came to OZ 4 years ago in a pretty similar situation as yourself. Did everything from scratch, worked my arse off. Now have a job in a beautiful part of the world and building on a career i never thought id realise.
Good luck, and its not all as glamourous as you might think.

[IOLAR60]

try other airlines for a place on their sponsorship schemes.
namely British-Airways, Airtours, KLM, Brit Midland, Brit European, Air2000.

Or if you can obtain the funds , make the investment and pay for your own training!

Best of luck,
I

[fifthcolumns]

As things stand, all of the above is correct.
With the JARs in place there is effectively no
way of becoming a professional pilot in
Ireland at the moment except by getting
sponsored by Aer Lingus.
As far as the rest of us are concerned what
we did to get this far is not relevant to what
you need to do. The JAR's changed everything.

As things stand, as a complete beginner now,
you can only do a JAR PPL in Ireland at the
moment. Every other rating must be done abroad.
It sounds mad and it is.

However the the National flight centre (Aerial) at
Weston has ambitions but that may or may not
come to fruition.

But if you want to fly you're in the right job to make
money for it. You'll need to borrow enough to
pay for a full time course in the UK or wherever.
Failing that, you can go the modular route.
Either way you need pots of money up front.

To be brutally honest, your best bet is to use
your qualifications to get a green card, go to
the USA and become a pilot there. Forget Ireland.

The last few self improvers are going through
the system right now. After that it will only be
foreigners and foreign trained Irish pilots
coming through.

Not good news I'm afraid.

[FRIDAY]

Hey irish boy, I bet i can tell what college ya got that diploma. k-st. and if not so what, anyway i am exactly in the same situation as you and and i am irish.
with that qualification you can realistically earn all the cash you need in 2years.
i am doing it right now and edging very close.Be persistant with aer lingus so what if you messed up the first round , try again andagainandagain.if not then in 2 yrs you will have the cash you need. Bit of advice ring the mater hsp and book a class 1 med for 475:00 ya need it. if your stuck for a job post a message here and ya never know what might happen. good luck whatever ya

[Nookie Bear]

Friday,

Can you obtain a Class 1 at the Mater hospital. If so it will save me a trip to the UK!

Cheers,



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How did we get into this mode?

[EvilTwinRating]

Everything said so far is spot on, no commercial flying schools here, so if you want a full ATPL you've got 2 head to the UK and get crucified on the exchange rate.

The Idiots Against Aviation (IAA)told me that only place you can go to in Ireland for an initial Class One Medical is the Aeromedical centre at the Blackrock Clinic, although when I got mine I only paid around £360-has the price gone up or did I get lucky???

Also it's an Irish Class one not a JAA Class one, according to OATS the only place you can get a JAA one is in Gatwick - Anyone able to confirm this??

Slan Leat!!

[FRIDAY]

As far as i know the iaa class 1 med is not yet accepted fully under jaa, by fully i mean
according to gatwick caa med if i got a full record of results from the mater you could get your caa med as if it were a renewal for just the renewal price therefore both meds avaialble to ya however that was some time ago which in aviation terms means a fckin eternity, so if i were you ring iaa and mater and caa and explain your situation, to be honest its been a while since i spoke to any so in am quite curious too,since my iaa renewal is due soon and i would rather prefer a caa med 1 at no extra cost.

[mutt]

AFAIK, the Irish medical is NOW a JAR medical. It should therefore be valid in the UK.
I will find out for definite on Friday morning.

Mutt

[Chirpy Pilot]

If you can afford the a 509 course I can recommend Oxford Air Training School. About 20% of students where Irish including me. Half where Aer Lingus other half self sponsored. I believe however Aer Lingus will be sending their Pilots to Jerez now.
I attained my PPL before leaving for Oxford and received a credit from CAA for 50% of my hours up to CPL level.

[upfront]

Hello there,

What kind of money would you be talking about to train in the US from scratch.

[Nookie Bear]

Upfront,

To do a JAA FCL-1 CPL Modular Training programme with Pan Am in Florida will cost you in the region of $47,516 which equates to £39,699 Irish punts and £32,274 Sterling, going by the current exchange rates. This does not include accommodation, living costs, transfer costs, flight test fees, medical fees and the list goes on and on !!



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How did we get into this mode?

[mutt]

I now have in my hand something that looks like a JAR medical, but isnt. The IAA havent received JAA approval for their JAR procedures, therefore this Irish issued JAR medical isnt valid anywhere else.
Approval is expected before the summer.

Mutt

[dick badcock]

Hi there. One thing to keep in mind is that if you choose to go to the US, I wouldn't recommend getting FAA licenses. These will give you a headache when you return to Europe. Under current JAA legislation, the best you can do is get a 12 month validation of your FAA licenses. After this the validation expires and you need to get JAA licenes, which will cost you quite a bit. JAA legislation does cater for license conversions, but only with countries JAA has an agreement with. Presently no such agreement exists between the JAA and the US.

As for medicals, I have mine done at the Mater. As far as I understand, the medicals are issued in accordance with JAR-FCL 3.