Where do I start?

[FlyboyBen]

I am looking for a bit of advice....

Does anyone know of any airlines recruiting cadets?? I am massively keen on becoming a pilot but alas do not know where to start. I don't have a PPL at present although if need be I will look into it in the future.

I applied for BA a couple of years ago but was unsuccessful. I was about to reapply the following year, but September 11th occurred. Since then, I understand no one has been recruiting. Is this correct, does anyone know anything different?

[buzzc152]

My advice as the very first thing to do would be to set aside a few hours and have a look at the Wannabe's forum posts over the past few months..... almost any question you have will probably be already answered.

[GonvilleBromhead]

I don't know about BA's scheme Ben, if it's up and running again or indeed if it ever will be but I think that too has been addressed on here fairly recently.

There is another sponsorship out at the moment, the KLMuk/buzz one, but I'm afraid you need PPL + 180 hours to go for that, however the fact it exists is (hopefully) a good sign.

As things recruitment wise will undoubtedly be painfully slow to get going again, maybe it would be an idea to look at doing your PPL, certainly good experience and may well prove invaluable in as much it will start you off down the modular route to becoming a professional pilot.

When things pick up, you will be at least that little bit closer to achieving this than not having anything at all.

However this is one of the options, as buzz says take a look at the other threads on here for useful advice from others very much in the same boat.

Good luck.

[El Thermidor]

I'm in much the same situation as you are.

As far as I'm aware, BA are not planning to reintroduce the cadet scheme that was running until September 2001. However, there hasn't been a recruitment wasteland since then, and there have even been a few sponsorship schemes. Some of those have now closed (until later this year?), but the significant one at the moment is CTC. Apart from that, try searching for Brittania and FlyBe. Both of those were part sponsorship, compared with the CTC and BA schemes which are full sponsorship. Remember, though, that there is incredible competition for these places at the best of times, made all the worse over the past 16 months.

If you can afford to maintain it, getting a PPL would be a good idea. It's not essential to all of the schemes, but a demonstration of your motivation for an airline position is, and this appears to be a standard way of showing it. However, too much experience counts against you as much as (if not more than) too little. I say 'if you can afford to maintain it' as not having enough money to train properly can be profoundly depressing, as your skills will undoubtedly get rusty if you're leaving it 6 weeks between lessons.

Anyway, best of luck with the CTC scheme (if you fall within its criteria), and don't forget that sponsorship isn't the be-all and end-all.