Yrgwyn
23rd Dec 2023, 16:40
Hello everyone.
My name is Ivan and I have just graduated from high school, exactly one week ago. I’ve graduated as an aeronautical technician and aircraft maintenance mechanic since I come from a technical high school. As additional information, I graduated as the best student of my class of 150 students and as a UAV pilot this year, and also currently hold an ICAO airplane private pilot license with exactly 54 flying hours.
My professional goal (and life-long dream) is to become an airline pilot, something excessively difficult in the country where I live (Argentina), where you could only dream of getting to the airlines with no less than 4000 flight hours logged if you’re not into politics or know someone influential in the industry.
So, being in the final phase of an EU citizenship application whose approval is imminent, I have set my sights on the European market.
I do understand that my ICAO PPL license and my measly 53 hours are worthless in Europe and that I must do everything again in Europe, that being the reason why I have shortlisted three or four Ab-initio mentored cadet training programs, and would like to know your opinion on which one you’d choose if you were in my situation.
The shortlisted options are CAE’s generation EasyJet MPL course, BAA Training’s Vueling mentored ATPL(f) program, and Bartolini Air’s Ryanair mentored scheme. I have also considered AFTA’s Ryanair course, but I’m not that interested in it anymore given the very high cost of life in Ireland (something that is VERY important when you come from a country with an average wage of just USD 300).
I’ve also read some harsh opinions on CAE and BAA Training. The former has lots of complaints for delays in training and also the uncertainty that a license like the MPL brings, since you essentially depend on the good will of an airline. The latter has quite an amount of bad reviews on Google, from students who felt mistreated or had their courses poorly administered by BAA. The upside of these two options is the possibility of taking the assessment completely remotely, which is not a small thing considering that flying to Europe would cost me quite an amount of money and there’s always a possibility of failing the assessment and coming back empty-handed. Ryanair’s options offer, on the other hand, great reviews and a more tangible ATPL license that would allow me to apply essentially for any airline in Europe provided I meet their other eligibility criteria.
I have left the modular options out of the question since they would take longer for me to complete and most don’t offer any advantage in an airline selection process.
So, having stated almost everything about my current situation, I’d love to hear the advice from everyone reading, in hopes of one day being able to help others out telling them my experience.
Best regards and thanks your your answers,
E. I. Rossetti
PS: Regarding the delays at CAE, and on second thought, I believe they wouldn’t be that much of a problem provided the delays are of a reasonable length, not years-long, and that CAE allows me to return home for the duration of the wait, as spending six months worth of the cost of living in the US would be too expensive for my budget.
PS2: I have already secured the funding for the full cost of all the mentioned courses, so although it would be very important for me to make an efficient use of the allocated financial resources and not spend more than what’s enough, I will consider other options on the same price range as those three that I’ve already shortlisted.
My name is Ivan and I have just graduated from high school, exactly one week ago. I’ve graduated as an aeronautical technician and aircraft maintenance mechanic since I come from a technical high school. As additional information, I graduated as the best student of my class of 150 students and as a UAV pilot this year, and also currently hold an ICAO airplane private pilot license with exactly 54 flying hours.
My professional goal (and life-long dream) is to become an airline pilot, something excessively difficult in the country where I live (Argentina), where you could only dream of getting to the airlines with no less than 4000 flight hours logged if you’re not into politics or know someone influential in the industry.
So, being in the final phase of an EU citizenship application whose approval is imminent, I have set my sights on the European market.
I do understand that my ICAO PPL license and my measly 53 hours are worthless in Europe and that I must do everything again in Europe, that being the reason why I have shortlisted three or four Ab-initio mentored cadet training programs, and would like to know your opinion on which one you’d choose if you were in my situation.
The shortlisted options are CAE’s generation EasyJet MPL course, BAA Training’s Vueling mentored ATPL(f) program, and Bartolini Air’s Ryanair mentored scheme. I have also considered AFTA’s Ryanair course, but I’m not that interested in it anymore given the very high cost of life in Ireland (something that is VERY important when you come from a country with an average wage of just USD 300).
I’ve also read some harsh opinions on CAE and BAA Training. The former has lots of complaints for delays in training and also the uncertainty that a license like the MPL brings, since you essentially depend on the good will of an airline. The latter has quite an amount of bad reviews on Google, from students who felt mistreated or had their courses poorly administered by BAA. The upside of these two options is the possibility of taking the assessment completely remotely, which is not a small thing considering that flying to Europe would cost me quite an amount of money and there’s always a possibility of failing the assessment and coming back empty-handed. Ryanair’s options offer, on the other hand, great reviews and a more tangible ATPL license that would allow me to apply essentially for any airline in Europe provided I meet their other eligibility criteria.
I have left the modular options out of the question since they would take longer for me to complete and most don’t offer any advantage in an airline selection process.
So, having stated almost everything about my current situation, I’d love to hear the advice from everyone reading, in hopes of one day being able to help others out telling them my experience.
Best regards and thanks your your answers,
E. I. Rossetti
PS: Regarding the delays at CAE, and on second thought, I believe they wouldn’t be that much of a problem provided the delays are of a reasonable length, not years-long, and that CAE allows me to return home for the duration of the wait, as spending six months worth of the cost of living in the US would be too expensive for my budget.
PS2: I have already secured the funding for the full cost of all the mentioned courses, so although it would be very important for me to make an efficient use of the allocated financial resources and not spend more than what’s enough, I will consider other options on the same price range as those three that I’ve already shortlisted.