Salt in an already deep wound!
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Salt in an already deep wound!
I’m sure it’s not just me, but I was curious so I thought I would write a thread.
I like so many people completed my training in the summer 08 and ever since haven’t had a decent sniff of a job especially in the UK. I completed my training with high pass rates and first time passes in all but my IR which was a second time pass.
Prior to the course I really struggled to decide whether to go integrated or modular. I was "fortunate" enough to go integrated through using inheritance money left to me by my late mother. At the time, this was apparently the only way of securing an airline job without the struggle of going modular. As I happens I was so close to the modular option and in hindsight, really whish I had so that I would have x no of thousand left (esp. if you go to a large FTO)
Anyhow I digress slightly...
The thing i'm struggling with is, having spent 2/3's of a flat on my training, I find it hard to accept that there seems to be an increasing trend by the Veto’s to be sending out "Another Pilot Opportunity" to former students which require them to part with a further 50000 euros or so for a type rating and 300ish hours flying in the bondoo for next to nothing in the way of earnings and no guaranteed job at the end of it. I’m not sure about others but even though I funded my own training, the banks will not offer the cash for a TR because I don’t already owe them 50k. Sounds crazy to me and I can understand that they are trying to protect their investment. But how are you to get a sensible footing on the ladder?
I am deeply concerned about that there is an increasing trend towards the airlines or FTO's offering this sort of opportunity (especially if the FTO is somehow connected to the TRTO). There has to come a limit to how much we are expected to spend on our flight training. I was under the misguided belief that this should in most cases stop after the IR. So much so, I was hauled over the hot coals by the careers department of my FTO for contacting some TRTO's to find out some costs of a TR whilst finishing my IR.
I’m sorry if this sounds like a huge whinge but I think this adds salt to a very deep wound that so many of us are carrying ring now.
Your sensible and honest opinions would be appreciated.
I like so many people completed my training in the summer 08 and ever since haven’t had a decent sniff of a job especially in the UK. I completed my training with high pass rates and first time passes in all but my IR which was a second time pass.
Prior to the course I really struggled to decide whether to go integrated or modular. I was "fortunate" enough to go integrated through using inheritance money left to me by my late mother. At the time, this was apparently the only way of securing an airline job without the struggle of going modular. As I happens I was so close to the modular option and in hindsight, really whish I had so that I would have x no of thousand left (esp. if you go to a large FTO)
Anyhow I digress slightly...
The thing i'm struggling with is, having spent 2/3's of a flat on my training, I find it hard to accept that there seems to be an increasing trend by the Veto’s to be sending out "Another Pilot Opportunity" to former students which require them to part with a further 50000 euros or so for a type rating and 300ish hours flying in the bondoo for next to nothing in the way of earnings and no guaranteed job at the end of it. I’m not sure about others but even though I funded my own training, the banks will not offer the cash for a TR because I don’t already owe them 50k. Sounds crazy to me and I can understand that they are trying to protect their investment. But how are you to get a sensible footing on the ladder?
I am deeply concerned about that there is an increasing trend towards the airlines or FTO's offering this sort of opportunity (especially if the FTO is somehow connected to the TRTO). There has to come a limit to how much we are expected to spend on our flight training. I was under the misguided belief that this should in most cases stop after the IR. So much so, I was hauled over the hot coals by the careers department of my FTO for contacting some TRTO's to find out some costs of a TR whilst finishing my IR.
I’m sorry if this sounds like a huge whinge but I think this adds salt to a very deep wound that so many of us are carrying ring now.
Your sensible and honest opinions would be appreciated.
Last edited by Skippy129; 12th Nov 2008 at 12:21.
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Did you honestly think you would, with 250 hours, jump straight in to the right seat of a jet transport aircraft! If you did its possibly the time to remove the rose tinted specs.
Try the instructing route, in the present climate that airline job is way in the future.
A self sponsored TR without a job offer would in my and most others opinion be a complete waste of money.
Try the instructing route, in the present climate that airline job is way in the future.
A self sponsored TR without a job offer would in my and most others opinion be a complete waste of money.
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Honestly....I believe I fell for a very clever marketing trick that the FTO is still advising prespective students.
I removed those specs months ago, infact during my initial flight training i started to loose faith in the assistance we would recieve in securing a job and how readily we would be accepted!
I would consider the instructor route but for two reasons. Firstly, I just dont have the available cash. Secondly I left a relatively well paid job to commence my training with a view to improving quality of life. While that may be a means to an ends, im not sure that i could cover the bills on the salary! hohum
I removed those specs months ago, infact during my initial flight training i started to loose faith in the assistance we would recieve in securing a job and how readily we would be accepted!
I would consider the instructor route but for two reasons. Firstly, I just dont have the available cash. Secondly I left a relatively well paid job to commence my training with a view to improving quality of life. While that may be a means to an ends, im not sure that i could cover the bills on the salary! hohum
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Ouch, is that sour grapes too 'FF'
First you have to look at what you want to acheive, secondly 'where' you want to do it, and thirdly how you want to do it.
Modular / Intergrated, does it really matter these days other than how deep your pockets are and how foolish your reasons may be.
I am british born & bread, I took all on board and having completed my training in April this year, in the UK with 260hrs only, I was offered a job as DE FO on a wide body jet and have commenced employment with the company with the Type rating course starting next month on my 1st interview having sent out 100's of CV's.
So to all those out there still looking and fed up with all the crap that a lot of threads generate, keep going, look far a wide if you want it bad, it will happen.
Skippy, i also left a well paid job to pursue this and i was also modular, keep going mate, your dreams will be realised if you want it that much.
And if you think I am talking crap, PM me and i'll prove it!
First you have to look at what you want to acheive, secondly 'where' you want to do it, and thirdly how you want to do it.
Modular / Intergrated, does it really matter these days other than how deep your pockets are and how foolish your reasons may be.
I am british born & bread, I took all on board and having completed my training in April this year, in the UK with 260hrs only, I was offered a job as DE FO on a wide body jet and have commenced employment with the company with the Type rating course starting next month on my 1st interview having sent out 100's of CV's.
So to all those out there still looking and fed up with all the crap that a lot of threads generate, keep going, look far a wide if you want it bad, it will happen.
Skippy, i also left a well paid job to pursue this and i was also modular, keep going mate, your dreams will be realised if you want it that much.
And if you think I am talking crap, PM me and i'll prove it!
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I find myself in the same position Skippy, although having just completed a modular route. I would like to be involved in air taxi flying, but with just under 400 hours I doubt that they will touch me. Ive been thinking about instructing, but firstly I dont have any more funds to pay for a rating, and secondly, will that avenue be the next to dry up if the credit crunch mess continues ...
Thanks for sharing your experience post training. Its not often shared unless its a jet job offer.
I very much doubt in the current climate that you will find a first job with an airline. After all the likes of CTC have hundreds of cadets to sell in the same marketplace and some of them even have 500hrs on a Boeing/Airbus. They can't find them work anywhere in the UK.
That leaves you with trying to get into general aviation but nearly every instructor is ahead of you in the queue for a job in Air Taxi or Air Work. With your low hours the only thing you qualify for is a PPL flying instructor if you do the FI rating which is another £5k and 3 months work and hiring starts in the spring. By which time a major recession will be impacting upon the numbers of people wanting to do a PPL course.
As the weeks turn into months and months into years you job of getting a first job will get harder and harder as your intensive training rusts up and newer graduates join you in the hunt.
You are in a very very tough position. I've seen it many times before and wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
On the plus side if you stick at it long enough it seems that career aspirations are usually met eventually.
Good luck,
WWW
I very much doubt in the current climate that you will find a first job with an airline. After all the likes of CTC have hundreds of cadets to sell in the same marketplace and some of them even have 500hrs on a Boeing/Airbus. They can't find them work anywhere in the UK.
That leaves you with trying to get into general aviation but nearly every instructor is ahead of you in the queue for a job in Air Taxi or Air Work. With your low hours the only thing you qualify for is a PPL flying instructor if you do the FI rating which is another £5k and 3 months work and hiring starts in the spring. By which time a major recession will be impacting upon the numbers of people wanting to do a PPL course.
As the weeks turn into months and months into years you job of getting a first job will get harder and harder as your intensive training rusts up and newer graduates join you in the hunt.
You are in a very very tough position. I've seen it many times before and wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
On the plus side if you stick at it long enough it seems that career aspirations are usually met eventually.
Good luck,
WWW
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Skippy, look on the bright side....
You didn't burrow the 50,000 or whatever it was you spent...
If you did, then you'd really be
.
As for your predicament, I'm afraid you're about to learn what the phrase "Aviation can be a Cruel Mistress" is all about.
My advice is to try to keep current if you can find the cash. Aviation will probably start hiring again in 3 to 4 years, and you'll be ready when the next hiring wave hits.
You didn't burrow the 50,000 or whatever it was you spent...
If you did, then you'd really be
.As for your predicament, I'm afraid you're about to learn what the phrase "Aviation can be a Cruel Mistress" is all about.
My advice is to try to keep current if you can find the cash. Aviation will probably start hiring again in 3 to 4 years, and you'll be ready when the next hiring wave hits.
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Skippy129,
I'm in the same boat as you but there are jobs out there you just really really have to look hard and be prepared to go anywhere.
Also, if you're in the position to self-fund FR are open again.
I know people who finnished before me, the same time as me and after me and they too have yet to get a sniff from an airline. I believe they aren't looking hard enough because I have had two interviews (another one on the way) and I'm in holding pools, not ideal but at least I got interview/sim-check experience. And I'm nothing special. So keep looking everywhere!
D8
I'm in the same boat as you but there are jobs out there you just really really have to look hard and be prepared to go anywhere.
Also, if you're in the position to self-fund FR are open again.
I know people who finnished before me, the same time as me and after me and they too have yet to get a sniff from an airline. I believe they aren't looking hard enough because I have had two interviews (another one on the way) and I'm in holding pools, not ideal but at least I got interview/sim-check experience. And I'm nothing special. So keep looking everywhere!
D8
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Hauled over the coals by your FTO?
Tell them to go and themselves! You're a paying customer, not their employee, and can do what you bloody well please. You pay their wages, not the other way round, so don't take any cr@p from them.
High time these pompous little pratts were put firmly back in their box, and students stopped allowing themselves to be treated like idiotic children.
Tell them to go and
themselves! You're a paying customer, not their employee, and can do what you bloody well please. You pay their wages, not the other way round, so don't take any cr@p from them.High time these pompous little pratts were put firmly back in their box, and students stopped allowing themselves to be treated like idiotic children.
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Unfortunately, all the time students believe they will get a bad final report if they put a hair out of line, nobody is prepared to say boo to a goose. But i whole heartedly agree with your comments!
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I am absolutely astounded that after paying them all that cash they are trying to fleece people out of more. 
This is the kind of thing fraudsters do. Once they think they have someone gullible enough, they squeeze every last penny out of them by making them think there is only one last obsticle to pay for.
The whole integrated thing seems to me to be based upon getting a good report from the school. This means as said above that people are scared of creating a fuss if they feel they are being ripped off because they might not get that good report at the end.
This is the kind of thing fraudsters do. Once they think they have someone gullible enough, they squeeze every last penny out of them by making them think there is only one last obsticle to pay for.
The whole integrated thing seems to me to be based upon getting a good report from the school. This means as said above that people are scared of creating a fuss if they feel they are being ripped off because they might not get that good report at the end.
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Get your instructors rating now. Your chances of airline employment are slim if not nil, I would put that dream on ice for the forseeable future. Do what so many of us before you and the rest did. Albeit on a modular basis. Get flying asap, it is your only realistic option. Build hours and get in the loop. Then focus your attention on getting single pilot IFR work once you have a wedge of hours. Dont be fooled, the competition for air taxi work is high, but at least you can be in a position to move in when the doors are open and if you are good enough.
Sit there and rot, waste thousands more on a useless type rating or go and start at the bottom. Its your choice! You can go on about your quality of life etc etc, but the bottom line is, you want to be a pilot so go out there and sort it. Many of us lived on bread and water to get where we are today, believe it! That meant working ****ty instructor jobs etc etc, unfortunately thats life old chap. No such thing as a free lunch.
Best of luck
Sit there and rot, waste thousands more on a useless type rating or go and start at the bottom. Its your choice! You can go on about your quality of life etc etc, but the bottom line is, you want to be a pilot so go out there and sort it. Many of us lived on bread and water to get where we are today, believe it! That meant working ****ty instructor jobs etc etc, unfortunately thats life old chap. No such thing as a free lunch.
Best of luck
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I never asked for one.
Also the point was more about the companies taking advantage out of newly qualified pilots by demanding more spending. My point is that this attitude needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Furthermore, these attitudes are being driven by the FTO's once they have their studends (parents or the banks) hard earned cash. Certainly this is my experience and i wrote my findings here because i know others on my course and those the months around me feel that the FTO's are like big brother and are still watching our every little message, be it on here or other forums such as Facebook. People just dont want to announce what is really happening and i really feel that people about to or in the process of parting with a considerable amount of money should stop and really think about what they are doing. NO other career demands such spending in order to secure the vague posibility of recruitment.
Also the point was more about the companies taking advantage out of newly qualified pilots by demanding more spending. My point is that this attitude needs to be stopped as soon as possible. Furthermore, these attitudes are being driven by the FTO's once they have their studends (parents or the banks) hard earned cash. Certainly this is my experience and i wrote my findings here because i know others on my course and those the months around me feel that the FTO's are like big brother and are still watching our every little message, be it on here or other forums such as Facebook. People just dont want to announce what is really happening and i really feel that people about to or in the process of parting with a considerable amount of money should stop and really think about what they are doing. NO other career demands such spending in order to secure the vague posibility of recruitment.
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Your choice Skippy. I suggest forgetting about your FTO and put it down to bad judgement. Focus on number one now. Reality is you have just spent the earth getting the bare minimum qualification. It is up to you now to go and get. I am sure a few of your cohorts will read this. However it is unlikely to stop them going where you have just been and blowing all their cash.
You were not forced into this by anyone.
You were not forced into this by anyone.
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I may as well have just written an airprox cos what im trying to say is going over your head. Im not intending fo this to get personal in any way or a bitching match about FTO's. My arm was not forced into this, correct.
I just wanted people to comment on how they had found things and if they were incurring the same ridiculous offers of future bankruptcy. It is just supposed to stimulate honest findings and considerations, thats all.
Enough said on that.
I just wanted people to comment on how they had found things and if they were incurring the same ridiculous offers of future bankruptcy. It is just supposed to stimulate honest findings and considerations, thats all.
Enough said on that.
Skippy - I think I know what you're getting at. It seems to me that PPRUNE isn't a place where some students can express their real feelings abot a training establishment. Just the other day I was reading a guys views who was then shot down by another member for "sour grapes". You can't say anything in this forum without having someone go nuts at you because "you're the one that's wrong not the FTO". It's so sad, people thinking they owe something to their FTOs.
I heard a joke the other day about porn being played on petrol station forecourt TV's so when you're filling up your car you can watch someone else being'd at the same time. Maybe they should show videos of Intergrated fATPL students at major schools like "Overpriced Aviation Academy", "C.T.Seee I told you so".
Anyway, I'm off to my physics class.
S88
I heard a joke the other day about porn being played on petrol station forecourt TV's so when you're filling up your car you can watch someone else being
'd at the same time. Maybe they should show videos of Intergrated fATPL students at major schools like "Overpriced Aviation Academy", "C.T.Seee I told you so".Anyway, I'm off to my physics class.
S88
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Skippy, I am the parent of a recently qualified fATPL from a leading FTO. He had to take out "The Loan" and we had to cash in our insurance policies - it was a family decision - we are NOT RICH. When he applied, we were in end 2006/early 2007 - and the talk here was all "do it NOW!" The downturn is no fault of the pilots - it's a global recession. I am confident it will come back in time. Son is going to do an FI course, and live at home unitl he gets that elusive first job. It will not be easy, but I do agree with some of the posts - if you leave the aviation loop, I suspect it will be very difficult to rejoin. Employers look for commitment and determination to succeed. If you can't afford a FI course, then do something else, but keep flying, even if only on the weekend, or do some gliding..The very best of luck to you and all the other young (and not so young) folk in a similar position...
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The flying schools are commercial companies. They survive by making a profit. Their business is selling flying courses to those who for whatever reason want to buy those courses. Like all companies, they advertise and promote their product as being better than the competition, and a "must have" item. It is up to the buyer to decide if that product is ultimately right for them. It is also up to the buyer to do their own research prior to making their purchase.
You cannot blame the sellers for showing pretty pictures of happy young pilots resplendant in their neatly starched uniforms and sunshades standing alongside a freshly polished jet airliner, parked under a sunny cloudless sky.
Car manufacturers rarely sell their product with pictures of it stuck on the M25 at rush hour in the rain. Far better, pretty vistas of scenic open roads with "promises" of freedom and adventure. It is all about selling and tapping in to the customers desire.
These schools sell training for various pilots licences and ratings, and in most cases that is what they provide. The problem seems to be in the perception that some of their customers have once they have purchased and obtained these products. Certainly the sellers were happy to encourage that perception, but it is the buyer who should beware.
There is no doubt that for a career in aviation you must, at the most basic level, be in posession of the relevant licences. However that is not the end of it. The reality is that you then need a realistic and practical game plan. For the vast majority of people that will involve a great deal of additional cost obtaining further ratings, training, experience and recurrent training. Even then the opportunities that are likely to be available may well be very thin on the ground or almost non-existent. Historically this was often the case. People obtained the licences and worked their way up through a variety of aerial work such as instructing, air taxi flying, sightseeing flights, parachute dropping, banner towing, etc. After a few years of this the additional hours and experience often opened up doors to the airlines albeit at the commuter/turboprop level. A few years of this and that experience would translate into the sort of experience the Jet operators and major carriers were demanding. It was at this point that career climbers ( often called self improvers) joined with the stream of air force leavers, to compete for those first level vacancies. The system wasn't easy, and it certainly had a high attrition rate.
Over the last 10-15 years, coupled with the rapid expansion in air travel, and particularly the rapid expansion of low cost air travel, there has been a concerted effort to remove unnecessary expense. One of the biggest costs for any company is obviously labour, and particularly expensive skilled labour. It didn't take them long to realize that a lot of that cost was sitting in the pointy end of the aircraft they were leasing. In the preceding 10 years the manufacturers had responded to the airlines demands by designing the flight engineer out of the flightdeck, thereby reducing the operating costs. If you could then eliminate one of the pilots things would get cheaper and cheaper. Unfortunetaly that was really a no-go for the manufacturers and regulators, so other ideas had to be looked at. There had been a very limited supply of intensively trained commercial pilots by and for specific airlines through either their own in house training establishments (BEA/BOAC later BA at Hamble), and some limited contracted work through a very few established flight training schools (such as Oxford and Perth,) although usually for Middle Eastern carriers. Nevertheless this training system gave the airlines an opportunity. As long as the insurers and the regulator didn't object they could take a basic 250 hour candidate with the requisite licences, train them on type and shovel them in the right hand seat at very low cost. This displaced many of the "better" experienced candidates unless they were in turn prepared to accept the reduced terms and conditions on offer. This was then further expanded by getting those low hour pilots to sign financial guarantees (bonds), then to pay for the type ratings themselves. In some cases this was further expanded to make the new pilots pay for their interiews, their uniform, even their "line training". Training establishments sprang up to take advantage of this new and expanding market by arranging all the financing, training and screening, and then offering a product to their contracting airline customers. All of this worked well untill the boom stopped!
Inevitably it wasn't going to last. Either an accident would have provoked the insurers to make this practice impractical, or the economy would take a downturn that placed a lot of experienced pilots out of work. Perhaps (if fortunetaly can ever be the right word) it was the latter. You now have a serious number of very experienced pilots who are prepared to accept the reduced and weakened terms on offer. Why would most airlines now even bother to look at anybody with 250 hours, when for the same money you can get all the experience and "ready to go" pilots that you could ever want, all assuming they do actually want anybody at all!
So that is part of the reason why you cannot get a sniff of a shiny jet job, or probably anything less at this time. It isn't very likely to change for the better anytime soon either.
I am very sympathetic for anybody who is currently saddled with a large debt and few realistic prospects. For what it is worth, that has often been the case in the past as well. Aviation has always been a very frustrating and difficult and demanding occupation to succeed in. Those with perserverance and a good back up plan stand every chance of success given an added good measure of luck. Unfortunetaly the "must have it now" generation, coupled with years of easy credit and irresponsible borrowing and lending, are about to cause a lot of people to fall back to Earth with a big bump! Given the cyclic nature of these things, the economy will eventually turn and things will get better, be it next year or in 10 years, who knows? The fittest and most adaptable will survive so will a few of the luckiest.
In the meantime, businesses (like individuals) need to survive as well, and many won't. For training schools this will be by adapting their product, creating new products of desire or percieved need, and continuing to show pictures of happy pilots in neatly starched uniforms and expensive sunshades standing next to polished jets under sunny skies.
You cannot blame the sellers for showing pretty pictures of happy young pilots resplendant in their neatly starched uniforms and sunshades standing alongside a freshly polished jet airliner, parked under a sunny cloudless sky.
Car manufacturers rarely sell their product with pictures of it stuck on the M25 at rush hour in the rain. Far better, pretty vistas of scenic open roads with "promises" of freedom and adventure. It is all about selling and tapping in to the customers desire.
These schools sell training for various pilots licences and ratings, and in most cases that is what they provide. The problem seems to be in the perception that some of their customers have once they have purchased and obtained these products. Certainly the sellers were happy to encourage that perception, but it is the buyer who should beware.
There is no doubt that for a career in aviation you must, at the most basic level, be in posession of the relevant licences. However that is not the end of it. The reality is that you then need a realistic and practical game plan. For the vast majority of people that will involve a great deal of additional cost obtaining further ratings, training, experience and recurrent training. Even then the opportunities that are likely to be available may well be very thin on the ground or almost non-existent. Historically this was often the case. People obtained the licences and worked their way up through a variety of aerial work such as instructing, air taxi flying, sightseeing flights, parachute dropping, banner towing, etc. After a few years of this the additional hours and experience often opened up doors to the airlines albeit at the commuter/turboprop level. A few years of this and that experience would translate into the sort of experience the Jet operators and major carriers were demanding. It was at this point that career climbers ( often called self improvers) joined with the stream of air force leavers, to compete for those first level vacancies. The system wasn't easy, and it certainly had a high attrition rate.
Over the last 10-15 years, coupled with the rapid expansion in air travel, and particularly the rapid expansion of low cost air travel, there has been a concerted effort to remove unnecessary expense. One of the biggest costs for any company is obviously labour, and particularly expensive skilled labour. It didn't take them long to realize that a lot of that cost was sitting in the pointy end of the aircraft they were leasing. In the preceding 10 years the manufacturers had responded to the airlines demands by designing the flight engineer out of the flightdeck, thereby reducing the operating costs. If you could then eliminate one of the pilots things would get cheaper and cheaper. Unfortunetaly that was really a no-go for the manufacturers and regulators, so other ideas had to be looked at. There had been a very limited supply of intensively trained commercial pilots by and for specific airlines through either their own in house training establishments (BEA/BOAC later BA at Hamble), and some limited contracted work through a very few established flight training schools (such as Oxford and Perth,) although usually for Middle Eastern carriers. Nevertheless this training system gave the airlines an opportunity. As long as the insurers and the regulator didn't object they could take a basic 250 hour candidate with the requisite licences, train them on type and shovel them in the right hand seat at very low cost. This displaced many of the "better" experienced candidates unless they were in turn prepared to accept the reduced terms and conditions on offer. This was then further expanded by getting those low hour pilots to sign financial guarantees (bonds), then to pay for the type ratings themselves. In some cases this was further expanded to make the new pilots pay for their interiews, their uniform, even their "line training". Training establishments sprang up to take advantage of this new and expanding market by arranging all the financing, training and screening, and then offering a product to their contracting airline customers. All of this worked well untill the boom stopped!
Inevitably it wasn't going to last. Either an accident would have provoked the insurers to make this practice impractical, or the economy would take a downturn that placed a lot of experienced pilots out of work. Perhaps (if fortunetaly can ever be the right word) it was the latter. You now have a serious number of very experienced pilots who are prepared to accept the reduced and weakened terms on offer. Why would most airlines now even bother to look at anybody with 250 hours, when for the same money you can get all the experience and "ready to go" pilots that you could ever want, all assuming they do actually want anybody at all!
So that is part of the reason why you cannot get a sniff of a shiny jet job, or probably anything less at this time. It isn't very likely to change for the better anytime soon either.
I am very sympathetic for anybody who is currently saddled with a large debt and few realistic prospects. For what it is worth, that has often been the case in the past as well. Aviation has always been a very frustrating and difficult and demanding occupation to succeed in. Those with perserverance and a good back up plan stand every chance of success given an added good measure of luck. Unfortunetaly the "must have it now" generation, coupled with years of easy credit and irresponsible borrowing and lending, are about to cause a lot of people to fall back to Earth with a big bump! Given the cyclic nature of these things, the economy will eventually turn and things will get better, be it next year or in 10 years, who knows? The fittest and most adaptable will survive so will a few of the luckiest.
In the meantime, businesses (like individuals) need to survive as well, and many won't. For training schools this will be by adapting their product, creating new products of desire or percieved need, and continuing to show pictures of happy pilots in neatly starched uniforms and expensive sunshades standing next to polished jets under sunny skies.
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Kent
Age: 47
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I think it is good that you have come on here to post your experiences. Usually the modular guys say go modular and the integrated guys all say integrated is the way to go. Alot of people cannot admit they have made a mistake or blew a load more cash than they needed to so good on you for posting.
I for one don't think integrated is a good idea right now but when the airlines are recruiting and as long as your not borrowing the full amount then it can be a good way in. In your case you had the cash and things were not the way they are now so i can understand why the integrated route looked like a good choice. Its you guys who are coming out of training into this mess that i really feel for. Anyone who starts integrated now has themselves to blame.
I think someone like yourself can save alot of wannabes alot of cash and balance out the crap the glossy marketing material puts out.
Hope it works out for you in the end.
I for one don't think integrated is a good idea right now but when the airlines are recruiting and as long as your not borrowing the full amount then it can be a good way in. In your case you had the cash and things were not the way they are now so i can understand why the integrated route looked like a good choice. Its you guys who are coming out of training into this mess that i really feel for. Anyone who starts integrated now has themselves to blame.
I think someone like yourself can save alot of wannabes alot of cash and balance out the crap the glossy marketing material puts out.
Hope it works out for you in the end.