BA Future Pilot Programme (FPP)(Merged)
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Why would they want to act as guarantor? It just causes them extra work, which is why they have out sourced it and made the outsourcing attractive
The whole ethos of this scheme is supposed to be that it's going to be chosen on aptitude and not ability to pay. For the likes of me, and I'm sure many others, this would mean that they have to act as guarantors. My parents are not wealthy and being a university student I do not have collateral with which to secure a huge loan to train.
Maths and Physics plus another at ABB grades has always been a requirement of BA since I can remember applying back in the mid 90s
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Top marks to BA
BA have done a superb job at introducing this scheme. The Flight Ops director, HR & finance team have done a fantastic job.
They have not sought to try and get every penny out of the cadet, and recognise them as employees that will ultimately contribute to the success of the business.
Great thought has gone into the scheme, and they haven't sat down and thought about where they can get £10-30k extra from cadets for a TR, offered a zero hour contract, flexi-crew, no pensions, rat like T&Cs and all of that absolute nonsense from other rackets, sorry, airlines.
This absolutely shames EZY's recent MPL scam, sorry, scheme and the monkeys that dreamt that up at EZY-OAA.
This is a scheme based on merit based selection, which is a massive shift and recognition of the importance of flight crew to a business.
They have not sought to try and get every penny out of the cadet, and recognise them as employees that will ultimately contribute to the success of the business.
Great thought has gone into the scheme, and they haven't sat down and thought about where they can get £10-30k extra from cadets for a TR, offered a zero hour contract, flexi-crew, no pensions, rat like T&Cs and all of that absolute nonsense from other rackets, sorry, airlines.
This absolutely shames EZY's recent MPL scam, sorry, scheme and the monkeys that dreamt that up at EZY-OAA.
This is a scheme based on merit based selection, which is a massive shift and recognition of the importance of flight crew to a business.
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I find this odd because everybody who wants to be a pilot or ever looks into it knows to take these two subjects.
I got accepted onto Cathay's fully-sponsored scheme and I did not study Maths or Physics beyond GCSE level.
Being good at Maths or Physics alone does not necessarily make someone a good pilot. In fact, airlines such as BA place as much emphasis on your personality and background as they do on your ability to add or subtract...you can be Mathematician of the year and yet be totally incapable of working in a team, or leading a team. That would make you a serious liability in the cockpit.
Hence I suspect this is the reason A-Level Maths/Physics are not required.
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Cheers PA44 ^
Catfoodtastesbad: Maybe I wrote it badly, I have not seen the age limit on Aer Lingus and assumed it said something like "26" based on some of the other posts, I still don't know what it is, but it matters not anyway. I was not referring to BA, but yes of course they will not employ someone that cannot work for an amount of time, but that could obviously come under the "valid reason" I mentioned. This part is not unique to aviation at all.
Fees at FTE are here, it says £6k payable to FTE plus £200 selection fee (which goes against what FTE have advertised for years about free selection)
BA Future Pilot Programme
I would highly recommend anyone applying goes for FTE, not only because it is the best school, but everything is on campus so no cooking dinner or travelling to the school etc when all you want to do is study, eat, drink. Plus lets face it, 330days of sunshine and never getting colder than 15C is a damned site nicer than Oxford and there are plenty of places to head out to relax such as the beech and many of the towns surrounding Jerez.
Catfoodtastesbad: Maybe I wrote it badly, I have not seen the age limit on Aer Lingus and assumed it said something like "26" based on some of the other posts, I still don't know what it is, but it matters not anyway. I was not referring to BA, but yes of course they will not employ someone that cannot work for an amount of time, but that could obviously come under the "valid reason" I mentioned. This part is not unique to aviation at all.
Fees at FTE are here, it says £6k payable to FTE plus £200 selection fee (which goes against what FTE have advertised for years about free selection)
BA Future Pilot Programme
I would highly recommend anyone applying goes for FTE, not only because it is the best school, but everything is on campus so no cooking dinner or travelling to the school etc when all you want to do is study, eat, drink. Plus lets face it, 330days of sunshine and never getting colder than 15C is a damned site nicer than Oxford and there are plenty of places to head out to relax such as the beech and many of the towns surrounding Jerez.
Last edited by chromeo; 11th Aug 2011 at 17:00.
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I got accepted onto Cathay's fully-sponsored scheme and I did not study Maths or Physics beyond GCSE level.
Being good at Maths or Physics alone does not necessarily make someone a good pilot. In fact, airlines such as BA place as much emphasis on your personality and background as they do on your ability to add or subtract...you can be Mathematician of the year and yet be totally incapable of working in a team, or leading a team. That would make you a serious liability in the cockpit.
Hence I suspect this is the reason A-Level Maths/Physics are not required.
Being good at Maths or Physics alone does not necessarily make someone a good pilot. In fact, airlines such as BA place as much emphasis on your personality and background as they do on your ability to add or subtract...you can be Mathematician of the year and yet be totally incapable of working in a team, or leading a team. That would make you a serious liability in the cockpit.
Hence I suspect this is the reason A-Level Maths/Physics are not required.
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So I guess someone like me who has rubbish A-level results, no degree, working as a rampie, but the enthusiasm and motivation to succeed is out of the race?
Join Date: Oct 2009
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'This unique programme is open to any aspiring pilots who will be between the ages of 18 – 55 on 1st February 2012'
I'm 18 in May 2012
Best of luck to everyone applying
I'm 18 in May 2012
Best of luck to everyone applying
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FlyingEagle21, I'm in no way qualified to give you anything but an opinion but I'd say the easiest way to find out is to simply give it you best shot and see what happens. Worst case they say no, and you are no worse off and have in fact got some extra experience, be it in writing applications or with skills assessments, that could potentially be the deciding factor with a future application.
I would take everything you read on here with a pinch of salt and simply give it your all. The best of luck to you my man!
I would take everything you read on here with a pinch of salt and simply give it your all. The best of luck to you my man!
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I'm in a similar situation, I got BCD at A Level in Physics, Chemistry and Maths, and it makes me pretty sad to think that someone with BBC in say Media, Sociology and World Development would be better qualified than me. Like the rest of you, this is the first time in years I have thought I might actually get a chance to fly before I'm 50, as I have no way of funding it myself.
I'm going to apply anyway and just hope they will appreciate the subjects I took and not the grades I got.
If I don't stay optimistic I don't know what I'll do!
I'm going to apply anyway and just hope they will appreciate the subjects I took and not the grades I got.
If I don't stay optimistic I don't know what I'll do!
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I don't think the bond repayment acts as a tax break. As I read it - they just pay you back the money on top of your salary - over 7 years, tax free.
So if you remain with BA for 7 years, then the £84,000 part (so, excluding living costs and loan interest) is free...this scheme is effectively fully sponsored.
From the BA website:
"Because this is a sponsored scheme, this entire £84,000 security bond will be repaid to you, tax-free" ...
"The security bond is repaid in equal monthly instalments over your first seven years of employment, all in addition to your remuneration package"
And with regard to qualifications:
You're not initially applying to BA, you're applying to FTE/OAA/CTC, and my experience with CTC - from applying 3 years ago, was that if you didn't meet the minimum qualifications, you simply got a negative response at Stage 1 - applications were not reviewed at depth to look for extra qualities, it's a yes or a no.
I'm taking my final year Bsc exams in 4 weeks, with results in November, so hopefully i'll get them in time (and I'll get a 2:1)
So if you remain with BA for 7 years, then the £84,000 part (so, excluding living costs and loan interest) is free...this scheme is effectively fully sponsored.
From the BA website:
"Because this is a sponsored scheme, this entire £84,000 security bond will be repaid to you, tax-free" ...
"The security bond is repaid in equal monthly instalments over your first seven years of employment, all in addition to your remuneration package"
And with regard to qualifications:
You're not initially applying to BA, you're applying to FTE/OAA/CTC, and my experience with CTC - from applying 3 years ago, was that if you didn't meet the minimum qualifications, you simply got a negative response at Stage 1 - applications were not reviewed at depth to look for extra qualities, it's a yes or a no.
I'm taking my final year Bsc exams in 4 weeks, with results in November, so hopefully i'll get them in time (and I'll get a 2:1)
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Hi Gbvsf,
I think the proverbial candidate with A-Levels in mickey mouse subjects will not last long in the process! Do you have a degree? The CTC website says that a degree can be used if you do not meet the GCSE or A-Level requirements.
My gut feel is that graduates will be preferred here - I have seen it at other selections for airline schemes where very few 17-19 year-olds made it anywhere near the final stages.
I think the proverbial candidate with A-Levels in mickey mouse subjects will not last long in the process! Do you have a degree? The CTC website says that a degree can be used if you do not meet the GCSE or A-Level requirements.
My gut feel is that graduates will be preferred here - I have seen it at other selections for airline schemes where very few 17-19 year-olds made it anywhere near the final stages.
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Hezza,
The website also mentions a new FPP salary scale, I would imagine this to be lower than the DEP scale by some way. BALPA would not allow a bunch of 200 hour cadets at the bottom of the seniority list take home more money than the more senior and more experienced! It doesn't make business sense either.
The website also mentions a new FPP salary scale, I would imagine this to be lower than the DEP scale by some way. BALPA would not allow a bunch of 200 hour cadets at the bottom of the seniority list take home more money than the more senior and more experienced! It doesn't make business sense either.
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Hi Kingofkabul,
No I don't have a degree, that's what scares me! I specifically didn't go to uni purely because I knew I'd be in enough debt with flight training without having uni debt as well. I know they can afford to be picky, but CTC have told me I have enough qualifications for them in the past, maybe this BA scheme will prompt them to do something similar themselves like HSBC used to do.
Here's hoping : )
No I don't have a degree, that's what scares me! I specifically didn't go to uni purely because I knew I'd be in enough debt with flight training without having uni debt as well. I know they can afford to be picky, but CTC have told me I have enough qualifications for them in the past, maybe this BA scheme will prompt them to do something similar themselves like HSBC used to do.
Here's hoping : )
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I have been waiting for British Airways to offer this scheme for the last 10 years at least.
I went to college and did a-levels in History, Law, and English Literature. I didn't do so good in this so I did A-level equivalents Mathematics, Physics, Mechanics, Statistics and chemistry in these at a university and then got into a engineering programme at a top engineering university.
I have just completed a degree in Avionic Systems with Pilot Studies BEng (Hons) and achieved a 2:2 degree.
The pickle is that i received a 2:2 degree, I did this very intensive degree to show out to the industry that I was interested in aviation. This is degree was very difficult to achieve this mark as this was the highest mark in my particular course.
BA only want people who have a 2:1 or better. SO, is this scheme out the window for me???
Any advice??
ps, I have a JAR-FCL PPL (A) with 70+ hours.
I went to college and did a-levels in History, Law, and English Literature. I didn't do so good in this so I did A-level equivalents Mathematics, Physics, Mechanics, Statistics and chemistry in these at a university and then got into a engineering programme at a top engineering university.
I have just completed a degree in Avionic Systems with Pilot Studies BEng (Hons) and achieved a 2:2 degree.
The pickle is that i received a 2:2 degree, I did this very intensive degree to show out to the industry that I was interested in aviation. This is degree was very difficult to achieve this mark as this was the highest mark in my particular course.
BA only want people who have a 2:1 or better. SO, is this scheme out the window for me???
Any advice??
ps, I have a JAR-FCL PPL (A) with 70+ hours.
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Boe787ing:
Obviously these entry requirement are designed to filter quite a few people out, but I'm guessing that because they haven't specified subjects for A Levels or degrees, there must be some degree of flexibility, at least that's the impression I get.
It would be crazy for someone like you to be dropped, whilst someone with no A levels but a 2:1 in a non-technical subject apparantly meets the requirements. As some people have said before, you could be a Mathematician but have no people skills or airmanship qualities that make a good pilot.
I'd say that everyone should at least try, and if it's not good enough then we'll just have to wait until more schemes like this open up, and they will, eventually.
Obviously these entry requirement are designed to filter quite a few people out, but I'm guessing that because they haven't specified subjects for A Levels or degrees, there must be some degree of flexibility, at least that's the impression I get.
It would be crazy for someone like you to be dropped, whilst someone with no A levels but a 2:1 in a non-technical subject apparantly meets the requirements. As some people have said before, you could be a Mathematician but have no people skills or airmanship qualities that make a good pilot.
I'd say that everyone should at least try, and if it's not good enough then we'll just have to wait until more schemes like this open up, and they will, eventually.