fATPL Now What ?
An instructor rating isn't a nowhere choice.
If you can instruct at a varied airfield, with business traffic as well as PPL, it provides excellent contacts. Once you have SPIFR minimum time, you stand a good chance of getting a job through contacts. 2 friends of mine have got jobs this way, both with bizjet outfits.
Most direct routes into the Locos have gone - Ryanair not recruiting, EZY and Jet2 only going for integrated cadets, and so on. Another option is to work as cabin crew for an airline that hires internally - Thomson or EZY do this, and another friend is currently doing this. EZY I believe want you to have worked for 18 months before you are eligible for internal hiring.
Apart from that, be patient, and stay current. The first company I found a job through lost the contract that had enabled them to hire me, so I went from a job offer to nothing within a fortnight.
If you can instruct at a varied airfield, with business traffic as well as PPL, it provides excellent contacts. Once you have SPIFR minimum time, you stand a good chance of getting a job through contacts. 2 friends of mine have got jobs this way, both with bizjet outfits.
Most direct routes into the Locos have gone - Ryanair not recruiting, EZY and Jet2 only going for integrated cadets, and so on. Another option is to work as cabin crew for an airline that hires internally - Thomson or EZY do this, and another friend is currently doing this. EZY I believe want you to have worked for 18 months before you are eligible for internal hiring.
Apart from that, be patient, and stay current. The first company I found a job through lost the contract that had enabled them to hire me, so I went from a job offer to nothing within a fortnight.
Some good suggestions on this thread. If you really want and are completely committed to a career in aviation you will have to be patient, find any job in aviation - I know of many who worked for Navtech drafting approach plates -keep networking and search for 'that break'. Your age and other financial commitments will probably determine your stamina in this quest. I presume you've done aptitude tests and critically assessed your own abilities to determine whether you are actually suitable for a career as a commercial pilot? Remember, flight schools won't tell you as they only want your money.
But as others have said, I simply cannot understand why anybody would commence expensive flight training in the middle of a recession. ALL the talk on Pprune since 2008 has been of extremely limited opportunities due to the closure of traditional routes into commercial aviation, and the massive competition of the limited jobs available. Anybody who started training after 2007 and did not have a secure back-up plan has very limited sympathy from me. Sorry.
But as others have said, I simply cannot understand why anybody would commence expensive flight training in the middle of a recession. ALL the talk on Pprune since 2008 has been of extremely limited opportunities due to the closure of traditional routes into commercial aviation, and the massive competition of the limited jobs available. Anybody who started training after 2007 and did not have a secure back-up plan has very limited sympathy from me. Sorry.
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Join Date: Oct 2013
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I presume you've done aptitude tests and critically assessed your own abilities to determine whether you are actually suitable for a career as a commercial pilot?
I think the industry is just more on it's arse than I had anticipated.
Integrated candidates in addition to the points I stated in an earlier post are also more attractive because of airlines being able to pickup the "training" bond which has great tax incentives from a company point.
