Advice for gaining ATPL + employment

[MATT99]

Hi,
I wonder if someone could enlighten me in the following areas ...... any advice is welcome.
I am British if this makes any difference.
What is the most economical route to a ATPL
(excluding sonsorship) .. does this come with a MCC ?

What is the employment market (UK) like at the moment ?.. .. I have no experience..if I were to gain a ATPL what sort of work / money would I be looking at after 1, 5, 10 years ?

I do not necessarily want to fly passenger planes.

If anyone can offer any advice or personal experience it'd be much appreciated..

Matt

[RVR800]

You could write a book on this - try
reading current threads, searching past threads and reading the aviation press and web sites of major UK airlines.

..Then you can be a little more specific

[ickle black box]

Do some PPRuNing for a month, you'll learn an awful lot on the subject, especially the pitfalls of it. (cos a lot of posts are moans and worrying stories)

ickle

[MATT99]

That's exactly what I've been doing for the last month.

This info really will only come from working pilots themselves.

The realistic current job market doesn't prevail too much on britishairways.co.uk etc
and anything on there seems to be contradicted by what I read on here.

i.e. BA reckon on being the best to work for but from what I hear they'd have you paying them to work for them .. and forcing you into a 100 hour week if they could get away with it.

Thanks .. really any info would be welcome if anyone else is feeling in a less sarcastic mood..

Many thanks to anyone who replies.

[foghorn]

Matt,

RVR is not being sarcastic, it is simply that difficult a subject to explain as it's complex and everyone's personal situation is different. As you can understand the same question gets asked over and over again here such that some of the regulars get tired - the search tool is worth using...

The most economical route nowadays is to do a PPL and hour-building in the US, then do your theory exams by distance learning whilst working before getting your CPL and IR and MCC either here or in the States (depending on your circumstances). You can expect to pay a minimum of £30,000 for this route, it's likely to cost more.

Several questions to ask yourself:-

1. Can you get your hands on upwards of £30,000?
2. Is your health and eyesight good?
3. Will you be happy to accept a Private Licence as second-best if you are not up the required standard for a commercial licence?
4. Are you prepared for years of hard work at evenings and weekends?
5. Do you have an understanding family/other half/friends?

Only if the answer to all of these is yes, you should continue. I don't mean to seem negative, but there is a significant proportion of people who go into this game without thinking things through properly, and often come out the other side bitter and disappointed having spent a large amount of money on failure.

Good luck,
foggy

ps - I think you'll get the most up-to-date info from people who are in the latter stages of training or recently qulaified 'working pilots' - remember many 'working pilots' got their licences years ago. The licensing regulations and available training routes have been changing almost daily for the past few years.

[This message has been edited by foghorn (edited 25 April 2001).]

[E-Fizz]

Matt

Some fair points raised here - but maybe I could add one more that is sometimes reviled for one reason or another but under the right circumstances is, I think, a viable, affordable and interesting option: Go the FAA route.

It relies heavily on your personal circumstances i.e. can you leave the UK for a while, maybe even a few years? (sorry mate, I assume you are living in the UK!) It is cheaper, you're trained to fly a plane and the license is recognised in many places outside Europe. The FAA rules aren't open to interperatation like the JAR's are and although you may not qualify in the more 'academic' sense of the word, you will leave the states a very capapble pilot as long as you research the schools that you attend!! As far as gaining work, visas etc - read the threads: where there's a will there's a way :)

I've spoken to a few working pilots who went this route before the rules changed. They are aware of the new requirements but still insist they would go this way if they were training now. Of course don't expect to come back to Europe for a while and when you do you'll have to do the courses and GFT et al, but if you just want to get into the cockpit and if you conform to the 'have log book will travel' culture I wouldn't overlook this option. Good luck.

[This message has been edited by E-Fizz (edited 26 April 2001).]

[ChuckYeager]

That's a rehearting post, E-fizz...
Until now I tought I was the only idiot wanting to do that!
Thanks