Why DO Sponsors Whant A levels?
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Nah jay my spelling, grammar is pretty poor but has got better through the years. But still if I have to sit down and write anything formal it is a struggle.
But dyslexics have better spacial awareness apparently.
Thats not to say give up trying to better yourself people will always pick up on it and even after 30 odd years of getting pulled up and actively avoiding having to write. I feel ****e when someone takes the piss when they read something of mine. They haven't a clue how many hours I spent doing remedial classes or the fact that I very nearly didn't go to uni because I failed 'o' grade english. Bit strange when I had 10 'o' grades, 5 highers and a SYS in physics.
Its always strange its very none PC to take the piss out of someone who is poor at Maths and arith. Have to start taking the piss when the none spelling challanged FO's have to get a calculator out to convert kg's to ltr's for fuel.
And whats more important on an aircraft being able to spell performance or being able to spot a mistake in the load sheet.
But dyslexics have better spacial awareness apparently.
Thats not to say give up trying to better yourself people will always pick up on it and even after 30 odd years of getting pulled up and actively avoiding having to write. I feel ****e when someone takes the piss when they read something of mine. They haven't a clue how many hours I spent doing remedial classes or the fact that I very nearly didn't go to uni because I failed 'o' grade english. Bit strange when I had 10 'o' grades, 5 highers and a SYS in physics.
Its always strange its very none PC to take the piss out of someone who is poor at Maths and arith. Have to start taking the piss when the none spelling challanged FO's have to get a calculator out to convert kg's to ltr's for fuel.
And whats more important on an aircraft being able to spell performance or being able to spot a mistake in the load sheet.
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JayBird***
Never, ever, let any one tell you that you cant be a pilot because of poor spelling, its rubbish.
There are people on this forum who are bitter, they may have failed medicals, tests and just dont have what it takes.
If you want to be a pilot, go get a medical, and then go from there.
The most important thing is a medical, dont matter how clever or how good your spelling is, if you fail the medical, your not going to be a pilot.
Airlines dont do spelling tests, I think verbal reasoning is the closest you'll get to English.
So, if you want to be a pilot, pick up the phone, and get a medical date booked, and then plan the next step when you have the medical in your hand.
Never, ever, let any one tell you that you cant be a pilot because of poor spelling, its rubbish.
There are people on this forum who are bitter, they may have failed medicals, tests and just dont have what it takes.
If you want to be a pilot, go get a medical, and then go from there.
The most important thing is a medical, dont matter how clever or how good your spelling is, if you fail the medical, your not going to be a pilot.
Airlines dont do spelling tests, I think verbal reasoning is the closest you'll get to English.
So, if you want to be a pilot, pick up the phone, and get a medical date booked, and then plan the next step when you have the medical in your hand.
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There are also people on this forum who are airline recruiters who get sick of reading ****e applications and CVs. People who want to be trusted with a very expensive airplane and several hundred lives should perhaps take a bit of extra time to run their writing through a spelling and grammar checking tool. When they are looking for reasons to bin CVs, don't give them the easy excuses. I am not a pilot recruiter, but I can see their point of view. Post all the tosh you want to on PPrune, but at least take the warnings to heart by the time you start sending out CVs.
Honest to God I spent 11 minutes today deciding on the applicability of the word Not.
Sometimes pieces of equipment on aircraft stop working. A big book called an Em E L (MEL) tells you just what bits you don't need under what circumstances. So. You end up reading ACOM Ch2, Section 3, Part 21, Page 2, Para 5... and it says "....blah blah blah...NOT...blah blah blah WHEN".
This is in no way unusual. Today it took me the help of three other grown up, an animated discussion, recourse to a piece of paper and diagram followed by cup of tea and a moments reflection to be sure that we had the meaning of NOT in the correct sense.
Fighter pilot reactions, eagle eyesight, nerves of steel or a winning grin count for nothing in the day to day grind of commercial aviation where interpretation of ill worded, poorly constructed rules made my arbitrary forces on pain of your livelihood forms a part of the normal working day. (My WHAT a long sentence!).
A level English and A level levels of academic reasoning are a good minimum requirement for job selection.
Similarly there should be a maximum limit as well. Far too many people take up professional flying only to become bored and unchallenged by its repetitive and simple nature.
WWW
Sometimes pieces of equipment on aircraft stop working. A big book called an Em E L (MEL) tells you just what bits you don't need under what circumstances. So. You end up reading ACOM Ch2, Section 3, Part 21, Page 2, Para 5... and it says "....blah blah blah...NOT...blah blah blah WHEN".
This is in no way unusual. Today it took me the help of three other grown up, an animated discussion, recourse to a piece of paper and diagram followed by cup of tea and a moments reflection to be sure that we had the meaning of NOT in the correct sense.
Fighter pilot reactions, eagle eyesight, nerves of steel or a winning grin count for nothing in the day to day grind of commercial aviation where interpretation of ill worded, poorly constructed rules made my arbitrary forces on pain of your livelihood forms a part of the normal working day. (My WHAT a long sentence!).
A level English and A level levels of academic reasoning are a good minimum requirement for job selection.
Similarly there should be a maximum limit as well. Far too many people take up professional flying only to become bored and unchallenged by its repetitive and simple nature.
WWW
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Not being able to spell and too lazy to use the shift key of the computer is fairly close to illiteracy. Clear communication is essential on the flight deck and radio.
A series of grunts won't do.
Get with it wannabe aircrew.
A series of grunts won't do.
Get with it wannabe aircrew.
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Hey Jaybird. You do need to work on your spelling and grammar but I'm sure that's something you can manage so I wouldn't worry about it or take to heart what these mean people are saying!
As long as you can put together a decent CV, which with the help of a spell checker and a trusted proof reader wouldn't be too hard, you should do ok.
You will have to decide if you do want to pursue a sponsored route: CTC, netjets etc or if you want to go modular and pay for it yourself. If you do want to go sponsored then you will have to get some A levels. I wouldn't say doing maths and physics will help you that much. I knew I wanted to be a pilot when I chose my A levels but I chose English, History and Theology because I was better at them and enjoyed them more. I did a totally unrelated degree and then got a quasi sponsored place.
In my opinion A level maths or physics has very little to do with the ATPLs so if it doesn't interest you don't do it. When I compare my ATPL results to course mates who did have engineering/ science backgrounds there is no difference.
Degree wise I would say the actual degree itself matters very little. What is important about the degree is that you spent 3 or 4 years living away from home, becoming more independent, maturing as a person and developing social skills.
Good luck Jaybird
As long as you can put together a decent CV, which with the help of a spell checker and a trusted proof reader wouldn't be too hard, you should do ok.
You will have to decide if you do want to pursue a sponsored route: CTC, netjets etc or if you want to go modular and pay for it yourself. If you do want to go sponsored then you will have to get some A levels. I wouldn't say doing maths and physics will help you that much. I knew I wanted to be a pilot when I chose my A levels but I chose English, History and Theology because I was better at them and enjoyed them more. I did a totally unrelated degree and then got a quasi sponsored place.
In my opinion A level maths or physics has very little to do with the ATPLs so if it doesn't interest you don't do it. When I compare my ATPL results to course mates who did have engineering/ science backgrounds there is no difference.
Degree wise I would say the actual degree itself matters very little. What is important about the degree is that you spent 3 or 4 years living away from home, becoming more independent, maturing as a person and developing social skills.
Good luck Jaybird
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The ATPL ground school is very in-depth, it involves commitment, in fact a huge amount of commitment due to the shear volume of work, more then GCSE I would say!
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Atlantic Airlines don't ask for A - levels for their cadetship unless they've changed it since I knew the dudes there. I went through the Atlantique cadetship without them and survived the training as did a a lot my pals.
Can understand it's an Airline's way of whittling applicants out, but you don't, when it comes down to it need them for the training at all. Anyone who says otherwise is talking poppycock
Can understand it's an Airline's way of whittling applicants out, but you don't, when it comes down to it need them for the training at all. Anyone who says otherwise is talking poppycock
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A lot of airlines use the A-levels as a way to narrow down and reduce the sheer number of applications. It's not unusual for these schemes to have a couple of thousand applications for say 10 positions...so when you look at it, less than 1% make it through selection.
There is a lot of study to do in a very short period of time, and these schemes are usually limited to applicants under 26 (though not sure if this is still legal under age discrimination laws). Therefore, they use A-levels to see who has a proven track record of being able to study successfully. You have to realise that they are often spending £50k just to get you through to CPL/IR standard, then there is a type rating on top of that. No one simply writes off around £80k to anyone who has a dream to fly.
On the other hand, I was in your shoes and spent 10 years working in IT saving the funds to pay for my own training. I now sit in the right hand seat on a B757. I have a huge loan to repay, but it just shows if you want it that much, it may take some time. Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but best of luck.
There is a lot of study to do in a very short period of time, and these schemes are usually limited to applicants under 26 (though not sure if this is still legal under age discrimination laws). Therefore, they use A-levels to see who has a proven track record of being able to study successfully. You have to realise that they are often spending £50k just to get you through to CPL/IR standard, then there is a type rating on top of that. No one simply writes off around £80k to anyone who has a dream to fly.
On the other hand, I was in your shoes and spent 10 years working in IT saving the funds to pay for my own training. I now sit in the right hand seat on a B757. I have a huge loan to repay, but it just shows if you want it that much, it may take some time. Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but best of luck.
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20 people started my a- lev physics class at college.
3 people ended up sitting the exam , it was
hard !
3 people passed - i was one of them ... i got a D !
the other 2 both got A stars !
You ethier have an apptitude for that sort of stuff maths / physics or you have to work bloody hard at it like me.
theres a couple of sponserships mentioned on here .. highlandairways and altantic airways which might be worth looking at.
i cant spell either ;-)
i never secured sponsership; back when i was looking then 9-11 happened and all the jobs went tits up.
so always have a back up plan !
my back up plan worked and i'm just looking to buy my first aircraft :-)
3 people ended up sitting the exam , it was
hard ! 3 people passed - i was one of them ... i got a D !
the other 2 both got A stars !
You ethier have an apptitude for that sort of stuff maths / physics or you have to work bloody hard at it like me.
theres a couple of sponserships mentioned on here .. highlandairways and altantic airways which might be worth looking at.
i cant spell either ;-)
i never secured sponsership; back when i was looking then 9-11 happened and all the jobs went tits up.
so always have a back up plan !
my back up plan worked and i'm just looking to buy my first aircraft :-)
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Can any one tell me what exactly are the A-levels... sounds stupid, but I'm from Poland (oh, god... where is it? huh 
) and tried to compare somehow it to our system. I found some info but it doesn't say much. Main point is when do You chose it and what does it give You, and do airlines want a-levels in sinces, math or are there some exceptions ie. just a-levels in something.
) and tried to compare somehow it to our system. I found some info but it doesn't say much. Main point is when do You chose it and what does it give You, and do airlines want a-levels in sinces, math or are there some exceptions ie. just a-levels in something.
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When i applied it was any 2 A-Levels , which are the next thing down before a degree. Some people say A levels are harder than a degree !
They prefer Physics , Maths + other science based qualifications.
I did Physics, Computing , Media.
They prefer Physics , Maths + other science based qualifications.
I did Physics, Computing , Media.
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Just wanted to mention that the engineering qualifications obtained while on an apprenticeship will probably be valued by a recruiting airline. Could well be treated as A-level equivalents.
Someone did mention it before, but it may have got lost in the witterings about grammar and spelling.
Someone did mention it before, but it may have got lost in the witterings about grammar and spelling.
