Can You Help This Student?

[Bikerchick2001]

Hi, Im a 17 yr old female currently at college. I have been interested in becoming a pilot for many years. Can anybody help me find information on sponsorship? I cannot go in the forces either - reasons I cannot say!

[ 03 December 2001: Message edited by: Bikerchick2001 ]

[Autofly]

BC,

Sponsorships are all but gone for the forseeable future due to the obvious. Cery few airlines are recruiting qualified pilots i'm let alone shelling out to train their own i'm affraid. Hopefully it'll pick up soon. One thing you have got going for you is you've got age on your side. When the sponsorships come round competition is fierce so any advantage you can give yourself will be a bonus. i.e. if you haven't already started and can afford it, start your PPL. In the meantime keep reading this forum ...... if anything comes up it'll appear here.

Good luck.
Auto

[Bikerchick2001]

cheers and i cant afford it!!! im a student- lol!

[MikeSamuel]

BC - I'm in a similar position to yourself, except that I'm male ;)
I'm in Year 13, and I've just started my PPL. I can't really afford it myself, but I work one day a week just to keep the flying going once a fortnight. It's pretty vital that you start doing some flying training as soon as you can because it will get you meeting the right people, and give you an advantage of those who haven't started yet(after all you may be up against them in the future!)
It also seems that as sponsorships will be away for a while, going to Uni and getting extra qualifications for when they come back is a good idea. I'm going to take a gap year and do some work in the aviation industry before commiting to 4 years or so of study...
I wish you all the luck, and if you want a chat - Then my e-mail is below :)

[ 01 December 2001: Message edited by: MikeSamuel ]

[Lucifer]

Contact the Air League or GAPAN to get information on the flying scholarhip/sponsorship schemes that they provide. Sorry I don't have the details myself.

[redsnail]

Bikerchick,
I don't know how the libraries are set up here but if they have magazines, wander in there and see if Flight International is one of them. Read that for trends in the industry and sponsorships.
Surf the various company websites and see who is offering sponsorships. I don't believe any one is offering full sponsorships at the moment. Something about a recession I believe.
Keep reading this site. Invaluable.
One way to get help/assistance is to have tried to get the info yourself. ie, check all the websites, read FI etc. Talk to people. If the search function is down, then simply adjust the how many days to view. Try 3 months. It may be a bit of a chore but most of the info can usually be found that way. Have fun :)

I note in your profile that you like gliding. Keep that up. Doesn't cost much and you'll make some useful contacts.
What bike do you have? I am the proud owner of a Ducati :)

[Bikerchick2001]

I have an Italian :cool: Yamaha TZR125R soon to do practical test.
i had to give up gliding because of college and work :( but I can always go back - at the moment I have no time i used to wait hours for a single flight and sometimes even went home without any flights because it took too long. :mad:

[big.al]

BikerChick -

Check out www.bwpa.com (http://www.bwpa.com) - according to their website they have a scheme of scholarships. Obviously competition for the scholarships will be fierce but you could probably get quite a lot of useful info/advice from them even if you don't get a scholarship.

Big.Al.

[ 02 December 2001: Message edited by: big.al ]

[piperindian]

forget about professional aviation at the moment. Nobody is sponsoring and almost nobody is hiring even experienced captains (on the contrary !)
To situation is not going to clear before many years. In fact the crisis is deep.
You may get a PPL if you enjoy flying
The JAR ATPL is currently the most useless thing in the world.

[Dan Winterland]

piperindian - you're a cheery chap!

Those who remember the situation after the gulf war will remember that all training stopped. And when things picked up there was a big pilot shortage. True, most companies have stopped training for the moment due to the economic slowdown (laregely dressed up as post Sept 11 fear of flying), but things are showing signs of improving. The loads on my airline are getting back to normal, and the holidays my company sells are all geting booked up for next year.

Bikerchick, the return of sponsership may be a way off, but starting on training now should see you OK when things start to pick up. If you have to wait for sponsership, find ways of making yourself look promising material for selection.

Oh, and learn how to spell pilot correctly
;)

[Tiger_ Moth]

I think it would be very hard to get sponsorship from an airline, that was my plan before september 11th but that won't be happening for a few years now. You could get sponsorship for a PPL though. As already said you could try the Air League, I think they have a 20 hour sponsorhip going and you could also try for an RAF Flying Scholarship which is also 20 hours. I know you said you cant join the RAF but you can get the scholarship without commiting to anything so maybe you should try that.

[str12]

Hi BC

You said that you can't go for the military for certain reasons.

I want to tell you a story:

A friend of mine went through selection with the RN, they asked him if he'd ever taken drugs, of course he said 'No'. Later he learnt that they expected youngsters, especially students (?) to have 'experimented'.

Later, he said 'yes' to the drug question when asked by the RAF, he explained he'd tried pot once or twice but didn't like it.

Anyway, the RAF offered him a permanent commission in Fighter Control. Obviously saw him as career officer material, especially after being shortlisted by the Fleet Air Arm for both Pilot and Observer...

Not suggesting this has any bearing on your good character of course, just telling you a story...

[jimmyj]

As money is very important to you I would think VERY seriously about university before you go through with it. I don't want to put you off furthering your education but I have recently graduated with an £11000 debt and will have to pay this off as well as somehow funding flight training.

Thanks to the good old British government you will probably end up in a similar situation so if you do go to uni make it worthwhile by studying aviation or maths/physics etc. Otherwise you could graduate financially worse than you started off, with a degree that is unlikely to get you any nearer to your ambition.

[bow5]

Mr. Dan Winterland......if you are going to be anal and pick up bikerchick for spelling pilot (although it's a good idea to be able to spell your chosen profession!) wrongly, maybe it would be an idea for you to learn how to spell 'sponsership'. I think you'll find it's 'sponsorship'.

If you're going to pick up other people on their spelling, make sure yours is correct, otherwise you'll just look stupid. ;)

[Human Factor]

Not sure if this is any help, but things aren't quite as bleak as they seem with respect to sponsorship. Keep an eye out in Flight in the late spring. (Just a rumour! - but then this is a rumour network)

Having said that, competition is always fierce so get a few other strings to your bow just in case.

[Lucifer]

£11,000 debt Yorkshire lad: I couldn't do that if I tried! Where did you go wrong?

Seriously, not to prejudge what circumstances Yorkshire lad has had, you can get my at uni, work hard in the holidays, and even on a basic loan emerge with little debt (other than that to student loan company, which I would not include in the count as you do not need to repay it until ou are earning). Don't bother running a car, visiting mates all over the country every weekend, and do some work and you will be fine. Plus you can join the UAS, qualify for a graduate loan (which is more willingly given if you have a degree), and meet loadsa new mates.

But this isn't a do/don't go to uni thread so don't start a debate here.

[Crash Barrier]

Bikerchick,

It doesn't depend on what you ride in aviation, it matters 'WHO' you ride!! (if you are female!)

Good Luck

[Bernoulli Belle]

I tried sponsorship and gave up after giving Cabair 2 lots of £150 to process my application! You have younger brain cells than me, so you stand a much better chance. If things do pick up, sponsorships will be advertised in the back of Flight International and Pilot magazine. KLM and British European (amongst others) run schemes through Cabair. Oxford Air Training (www.oxfordaviation.net) do the bmi British Midland and some BA cadets (or have they all gone to West Michigan University). Visit their web sites to find out more. GAPAN and BWPA have already been mentioned.

Sponsorships are hard to get and if you do get selected for interview, be sure to prepare yourself properly. There are plenty of threads on this forum about the psychometric and maths tests you have to do, so make sure you search out what you can.

If you are in a hurry to get qualified or the sponsorship thing doesn’t come off, you’ve got two options.
1. Forget university and do an ab initio course instead (will probably end up costing the same as 3 years at uni anyway – but you have to have understanding parents). Suggest BAe at Jerez, Oxford Air Training or Cabair, as the biggest professional outfits. You’ll be ready for the airlines within 2 years, by which time (we hope) the industry will have picked up.
2. Do a maths or engineering degree, then go and work for an airline in any capacity, to get the right contacts and at the same time do your PPL, build up hours and then do a modular course to get your CPL/IR. All this while you are working and earning a salary to pay for it. It’ll take longer, bleed you dry, ruin your social life, but end up being a lot more fun.

[Bikerchick2001]

I apologise for spelling pilot wrong - i was typing pretty fast.

I have never taken drugs - the reasons are I have a slight knee problem which would affect RAF training and I have never liked the idea of the strict routine of the forces - it has never appealed to me.

I have thought about my options and have decided once I have finished college I will find some work (maybe plane orientated maybe not) and save up. I will keep my eye out for sponsorship but I can always save up for uni and maybe experience the world first. I may even go to Spain to train.

[ 03 December 2001: Message edited by: Bikerchick2001 ]

[Dan Winterland]

Bow 5, agreed. Spelling long words was never my strong point. However, I don't need sponserhip/sponsorship, but BC wants to be a pliot/pilot. ;)

Sorry BC (and good luck!)

[Send Clowns]

British European are still sponsoring.

BC if you are willing to consider the discipline (the RAF are an undisciplined rabble anyway, but I won't go crab bashing here, where I'm out numbered :D ) then talk to an RAF doc (not sure who in the RAF - the RN it's the President of CAAMB, the Central Aviation and Admiralty Medical Board at HMS SULTAN in Gosport). My sister considered the RAF as a career. She had had a bad knee, but after 2 operations it was OK, and the RAF accepted once she proved she could keep up with the PT (by appearing at initial interview fitter than any of the Cranwell output!). She went for ground branch, but they might be OK in the air. Remember Douglas Bader became an ace despite complete lack of legs!

[bow5]

Sorry Dan. it was meant to be lighthearted but i've read my post again and it seems rather harsh.

[scroggs]

BC,
is your aversion to the 'strict discipline' of the forces an opinion borne of personal experience, or an assumption based on your presumption of what the forces are like?
I ask because, as the least military person you could ever hope to meet (ask anyone who knows me!), I had 22 years of wonderful times in the RAF. No ground tours, 7000 hours worldwide, enough social life to fill a couple of books, etc, etc. Sure, I clashed somewhat with the more disciplinarian members, but my professional ability and general laissez-faire attitude got me through most scrapes. I loved it - and now I fly 747s for Virgin (still....!). Don't rule the forces out until you've looked closely into what they can offer, and what other people your age feel about the job. And, as Send Clowns says, get more opinions about your knee problem; it may not rule you out.

[Megaton]

Don't rule yourself out - let the doctors do it for you because that's what they're paid for. If you knee injury is sufficiently bad to preclude you from the military, do you think the CAA will neccessarily be willing to hand over a Class 1?


Scroggs beat me to it but....if you don't like discipline, join the RAF! From what I've heard even officer training is getting warm and cuddly these days (unlike the old days :D ).