We read so much in these forums of how happy and successful individuals are, in gaining their frz ATPL, and rightly so.But nothing like this comes free, not for the majority anyway,most people beg, steal or borrow to do this type of training.
What I would like to know is what is the price of this training and I dont mean in monetary terms, Have the costs of repaying back huge sums of money affected you personnally ie marriage/family etc Have you ever regreted ever doing it ? , especially if you have never got a flying job from it,
I know this all sounds gloomy but this is real life and may be a lesson for some newwer wannabbes.
NIKE - Just do it,but be carefull null
Joe Bolt
14th Oct 2001, 20:50
......regrets, I have a few, but then again too few to mention......
I attained the CAA Frozen ATPL last year, and then went on to pass Perf A, and complete an MCC course. I have yet to work as a pilot, and now my ME and IR ratings have expired.
I'm not sure that I regret 100% having started out in the first place. I must admit that thoughts of what all this has cost me, (not just financially), have been causing me to have a few sleepless nights lately.
I did not need to borrow money to fund the training. I saved the money by sweating my b@lls off for five years fixing jet fighters for our Arabic friends in the Middle East. (If any of you have worked/lived in this part of the world, and thought that the Summers weren't too bad, you should try spending a few hours stuck inside the oily bits of an aircraft which has been baking in the sun all day)! As my mid-thirties approached, I knew it was now or never, so I gave up my tax free salary, my free apartment, my nice ex-pat lifestyle, and said goodbye to my beautiful Asian girlfriend to return to Blighty and some serious training.
Courtesy of the superb courses at ATA Coventry, (and a lot of hard study on my part), I passed all of the writtens first time, averaging 98% on the Techs, and 94% Navs. So elated was I with my good results, and optimistic on my future prospects, I used the intervening period between the end of the writtens and the beginning of the flying training to go abroad again to marry my girlfriend. One week later, I left her again to begin the flying training at OATS, with the promise that our married life together would begin once I was qualified and working.
I won't say too much about OATS. It has all been said before on other postings. Training there is one big regret I have. However, I passed the GFT and IRT. It took longer, and cost a lot more than I had anticipated but I got there in the end.
Around this time I received some bad news from abroad. My wife had been diagnosed with a tumour. Obviously it was then that the pangs of doubt and guilt about what the hell I was doing chasing this piloting dream, really began to kick in. The results of further medical tests that my wife was undergoing weren't due for a few weeks, so I decided to stay and finish what I'd started. I passed Perf A (100%) and then shelled out another few grand and completed MCC. I must point out that at this time, the end of NVQ tax relief was upon us and I'd been suckered into believing that I needed to get the discounted price whilst it was still possible. Isn't it strange that MCC prices have fallen since the end of NVQ? Surely the marketing people weren't artificially inflating prices to offset the NVQ discounts students were getting, were they? 'No', I hear you say, 'they'd never do such a thing'.
On completion of the MCC course, I went back overseas to be with my wife, who by this time had left the Gulf to return to her own country, and was living with her parents again. It was at this time that I learned she'd been pawning her jewellery, to help pay for the drugs she needed. I don't remember ever feeling so low and worthless as I did then.
Mercifully, she responded well to treatment, and to this day enjoys good health. After three months overseas, my lack of finances were now a serious worry. I needed to get back to the UK and start earning money. Another reason I needed to be working, was so my wife could apply for a UK visa. To legally obtain a UK visa is not easy. Being married to me did not automatically qualify her for a visa. I needed to qualify as her sponsor, with six months proof salary, and proof of suitable accommodation. At the time I had neither.
I arrived back at Heathrow in January of this year; cold, homeless, and almost penniless.
In the intervening months; I've spent some time sleeping rough in my old car, I've lived in grotty 50 quid-a-week bed-sits and I've worked as a lorry driver. Recently though things have started picking up. I'm now working in aircraft maintenance, again on military aircraft (thankfully)! I'm being paid quite well, albeit for working between 55 and 70 hours a week. I've found a place to live, and hopefully my wife will join me early next year - two years after our marriage!
As for the flying? Well, it has had to take a back seat. I can't honestly say I've applied for many pilot jobs. I've been too busy simply surviving.
The financial cost? Probably in excess of £100,000, taking into account all training fees and loss of earnings. Easily enough to have bought the house I'm presently paying £400 per month to rent. Enough to have bought several houses and businesses in my wife's country, (as her father likes reminding me).
Other non financial costs to myself and my wife? It's impossible to quantify.
My future plans? Nothing definite at present. It all depends on the future employment market. I'm now 36 years old, and might be 40+ before things pick up. It certainly pains me to think that the money I'm now working 12 hour shifts to earn, will all get blown out the exhausts of a couple of Continental flat-6's, in further pursuit of a flying job, but I acknowledge that it's a distinct possibility.
Would I have started in the first place, knowing what I do now? Probably, but I would not have continued with IR and MCC training after qualifying for the CPL. I would have stayed well clear of Oxford, and I would have done an Instructor course.
Hindsight..........what a wonderful thing!
Apologies if this post displays a air of bitterness in any way. I'm honestly not bitter. I'm sure that anyone who knows me would descibe me as easy-going and philosophical. Well, some of them would.
[ 14 October 2001: Message edited by: Joe Bolt ]
[ 14 October 2001: Message edited by: Joe Bolt ]
lekkerste
14th Oct 2001, 22:06
.....and after all that you'll have people calling you greedy when you expect a decent return for what you've invested! Best of luck to you.
[ 14 October 2001: Message edited by: lekkerste ]