What age did you get your first flying job at?
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After four years on check-in/ sound engineering saving the monies for flight training I managed safety pilot on the Navajo at 24 and the A320/21 and soon 330, not long after.
Join Date: Mar 2007
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Just to add on the Scotland degree, in Scotland you get the YSB and tutition fees given to you each year AND a student loan (if you need it).
I was getting £3,000 Young Student Bursary, all my tutition fees paid for (no loan) and a student loan of around £1,000-2000 just to help pay for things.
I know a few English students who haven't been given the same benefits as Scottish based students, in fact EU students usually get better benefits.
I left my first course debt free and ended up taking some extra funding to do another course.
There is a difference in time (according to people on these forums) standard BSc,BA etc takes 3 years but students usually do a 4th year at hons level.
Our holidays are huge though, May to Sept each year including the usual easter/christmas breaks.
I was getting £3,000 Young Student Bursary, all my tutition fees paid for (no loan) and a student loan of around £1,000-2000 just to help pay for things.
I know a few English students who haven't been given the same benefits as Scottish based students, in fact EU students usually get better benefits.
I left my first course debt free and ended up taking some extra funding to do another course.
There is a difference in time (according to people on these forums) standard BSc,BA etc takes 3 years but students usually do a 4th year at hons level.
Our holidays are huge though, May to Sept each year including the usual easter/christmas breaks.
Join Date: Jan 2002
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First job at 27 and had the time of my life 18-27 doing other things! Would like to have started a bit younger but would have missed out on some gooooood times 
and i think it may have thought that as i flew with a skipper the other day who was only 26!
Loving the job tho!
and i think it may have thought that as i flew with a skipper the other day who was only 26!Loving the job tho!
Join Date: Jul 2008
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I'm in the same boat as you but only I'm my first year at Uni.
In the NUAS and hope to get my Bungie wings by the end of the first year. But finding it hard to get down to the airfield to get flying done!
In the NUAS and hope to get my Bungie wings by the end of the first year. But finding it hard to get down to the airfield to get flying done!
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First sector as F/O on the SD3-60 was on my 38th Birthday. Stuck this for a couple of years then had a few years doing something else. Went back to flying and got a job in bizjets aged 44. No regrets about leaving it late as this is my third career. 46 now and this may or may not be my final career.
Join Date: Feb 2001
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16 - seriously. I got the job on the basis i would have my licence by the time i started. PA25 and i was 17 when i started. The 400hrs or so at 18 didnt help getting sponsored training though. Very nearly got Dash8 FO at 21 - but never quite managed right place at the right time!
Join Date: Sep 2007
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What a massive spread of ages we've seen here, very encouraging for those at either end of the spectrum. I went to uni after a year out, changed courses, had a year out to re-hab an injury, graduated a few years ago, worked in IT for a couple of years and aiming to start training soon by which time I will be 28.
In hindsight I don't know whether I would DEFINITELY re-do my degree if I had the chance, I think it is the more sensible option to get a degree overall. But despite the encouraging stories encountered on this forum, there is that nagging sense of wanting to 'get into the game' a little earlier....hell, I'm not even in it yet!!!
But yes, the life experience (and pure good times) you gain from going to uni is really worth it...it's just ticking another box and learning more about the world...developing your character. And at 18-20 3-4 yrs, even more, that's nothing...
Do what suits YOU best.
A degree behind you when you can't find any flying jobs is certainly not going to do you any harm.
In hindsight I don't know whether I would DEFINITELY re-do my degree if I had the chance, I think it is the more sensible option to get a degree overall. But despite the encouraging stories encountered on this forum, there is that nagging sense of wanting to 'get into the game' a little earlier....hell, I'm not even in it yet!!!
But yes, the life experience (and pure good times) you gain from going to uni is really worth it...it's just ticking another box and learning more about the world...developing your character. And at 18-20 3-4 yrs, even more, that's nothing...
Do what suits YOU best.
A degree behind you when you can't find any flying jobs is certainly not going to do you any harm.
Join Date: Mar 2001
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First job
Well, narrowly missed BA Cadet scheme aged 22 in 1991 when they froze the scheme due first Gulf War, spent 3 years with an insurance company, then joined BA in IT. Did 8 years there bailed out, Oxford Integrated self funded and fell back on IT for a further 18 months before landing a job at Flybe DH8 Q400 aged 38 (just).
Been doing it two years, utterly love it. Wanted to do this my whole life. The other day a Captain asked me if it had lived up to expectations and I said absolutely - it's one of the very best jobs in the world. A bit more money would be nice as F/O turboprop is a bit of a struggle with a child, mortgage etc but I wouldn't ever want to go back to my twice as well paid IT job. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. In short if you feel you are born to fly there's no alternative and what you do is far far more important than what you earn.
One other piece of advice a Captain gave me as I admired a 777 one day - he said 'It doesn't matter whether you have ten feet of aeroplane behind you or two hundred - the job is the same, the view is the same it's flying that counts.'
Desk-pilot
Been doing it two years, utterly love it. Wanted to do this my whole life. The other day a Captain asked me if it had lived up to expectations and I said absolutely - it's one of the very best jobs in the world. A bit more money would be nice as F/O turboprop is a bit of a struggle with a child, mortgage etc but I wouldn't ever want to go back to my twice as well paid IT job. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. In short if you feel you are born to fly there's no alternative and what you do is far far more important than what you earn.
One other piece of advice a Captain gave me as I admired a 777 one day - he said 'It doesn't matter whether you have ten feet of aeroplane behind you or two hundred - the job is the same, the view is the same it's flying that counts.'
Desk-pilot