Training for a Licence
Agreed, sort of. However, the posts on here during the last financial crash of 07-09 deterred me from pursuing a flying career at that time, and focussing on a ‘backup’. Friends of mine were not put off and are enjoying careers in flying - albeit a couple are on furlough currently - and are much further ahead than I am now. I suspect they didn’t read PPrune.
Ive done the uni and got into aviation in other areas of the industry, and am now qualified to fly for a living. However my delay in training due to my other career has meant I’ve finished at quite possibly the worst time in aviation history, when I was getting towards the end newly qualified low houred pilots had probably never had it so good..
If I had a crystal ball I’d put money on the lottery, but as I don’t I think the argument for timing it right has substance. There is no doubt this will have a lasting impact on the industry, but regrow it will.
I do fear I have all of my eggs in the aviation basket, but should the worst happen I do also have some pretty solid transferable skills that I may not have developed had I gone to Oxford and straight into Ryaneasybe. Swings and roundabouts but I do regret not ‘timing it right’ and taking a bigger risk.
Good luck all.
Ive done the uni and got into aviation in other areas of the industry, and am now qualified to fly for a living. However my delay in training due to my other career has meant I’ve finished at quite possibly the worst time in aviation history, when I was getting towards the end newly qualified low houred pilots had probably never had it so good..
If I had a crystal ball I’d put money on the lottery, but as I don’t I think the argument for timing it right has substance. There is no doubt this will have a lasting impact on the industry, but regrow it will.
I do fear I have all of my eggs in the aviation basket, but should the worst happen I do also have some pretty solid transferable skills that I may not have developed had I gone to Oxford and straight into Ryaneasybe. Swings and roundabouts but I do regret not ‘timing it right’ and taking a bigger risk.
Good luck all.
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Every few months I get a marketing postcard from our local Estate agent (Realtor) telling me that now is an excellent time to buy or sell....or indeed both! For decades now they have been sending some version of this card. I am always amused at the slant they put on any financial disaster or bubble such that it attempts to bring business through the door. Indeed I admire their efforts to keep paying the bills and providing a livelihood for their employees. The card goes in the bin (trash) but I honestly like to believe that their optimism is rewarded.
I’m not sure why people think that flying schools should be better guardians of morality when they also have bills to pay and mouths to feed? That notwithstanding, who am I to say they are wrong? The idea that there are hordes of gullible “wannabes” and presumably their equally gullible parents, all tripping over themselves to part with their hard earned fortunes with little more knowledge than the optimism of a sales pitch seems largely unlikely. Pods of destitute parents living under an overpass with their belongings scrunched into the rusty basket of an old supermarket trolley are still a very rare sight!
I’m presuming that a successful career as a Quantity surveyor or a Social influencer (whatever that is?) is probably much more stable and rewarding in the long run and in the grand scheme of things, but....honestly.... who ever grew up wanting to be one of those? Airline pilot has much more cachet and glamour. The shiny stripes, the sharp uniform, hat worn at a jaunty angle, the cool sunshades, the admiring glances and perceived envy as your job whisks you off to Fiji for a week on the beach with your young and equally glamorous crew hanging on your every utterance and laughing at your boundless wit and humour. I mean, come on! What is there not to like? All it takes is some dosh and a few months of “whenever you feel like it” training at Puddlewick-in-the-Marsh flying club (Now International Airline Academy.) 200 hours and a fresh blue licence and....boom!...Sully’s your uncle! and soon the estate agents postcards will be drowned on the doormat by vanilla enveloped interview offers from airlines wondering where you have been all this time? Even if that doesn’t happen straight away, you will still be the envy of your mates who are training to be Quantity surveyors and Social influencers! Certainly Aunty Gladys and your grandparents will have proudly told all of their friends.
Now of course, nobody is going to own up to any of this. The only people you ever find here have been drawn to their love of the sky and their passion for flight since they first looked up from their prams.Truth be told, there is nothing wrong with dreams. There is nothing wrong with wasting your money (or somebody else’s) on those dreams. There is nothing wrong with listening to advice and doing whatever you want. A lot of folk (myself included) come on here and offer advice or tales from our own particular optic. That advice ranges from awful to excellent and everywhere in between. Use it, filter it, ignore it! It’s nothing more than just another resource.
I wish every flight school only the best. That comes from being good at what they do and being good as a business. I’ve seen a lot of “good at what they do” businesses fall by the wayside for much the same reasons as other businesses do. They fail to sustain a profit! So if it was my business I would market with every hyperbole at my disposal and truly hope that the future lived up to that hyperbole. Car manufacturers do it. Aircraft manufacturers do it. Certainly Estate agents do it! All of those industries sell products at costs that puts flight training into the shade! So, stop picking on flight schools! If someone wants to buy a dream then someone should be selling it. I’ve bought lots of dreams (mainly with 4 wheels!) Many of them truly didn’t live up to hyperbole of the brochure, but.......Cest la vie!
I’m not sure why people think that flying schools should be better guardians of morality when they also have bills to pay and mouths to feed? That notwithstanding, who am I to say they are wrong? The idea that there are hordes of gullible “wannabes” and presumably their equally gullible parents, all tripping over themselves to part with their hard earned fortunes with little more knowledge than the optimism of a sales pitch seems largely unlikely. Pods of destitute parents living under an overpass with their belongings scrunched into the rusty basket of an old supermarket trolley are still a very rare sight!
I’m presuming that a successful career as a Quantity surveyor or a Social influencer (whatever that is?) is probably much more stable and rewarding in the long run and in the grand scheme of things, but....honestly.... who ever grew up wanting to be one of those? Airline pilot has much more cachet and glamour. The shiny stripes, the sharp uniform, hat worn at a jaunty angle, the cool sunshades, the admiring glances and perceived envy as your job whisks you off to Fiji for a week on the beach with your young and equally glamorous crew hanging on your every utterance and laughing at your boundless wit and humour. I mean, come on! What is there not to like? All it takes is some dosh and a few months of “whenever you feel like it” training at Puddlewick-in-the-Marsh flying club (Now International Airline Academy.) 200 hours and a fresh blue licence and....boom!...Sully’s your uncle! and soon the estate agents postcards will be drowned on the doormat by vanilla enveloped interview offers from airlines wondering where you have been all this time? Even if that doesn’t happen straight away, you will still be the envy of your mates who are training to be Quantity surveyors and Social influencers! Certainly Aunty Gladys and your grandparents will have proudly told all of their friends.
Now of course, nobody is going to own up to any of this. The only people you ever find here have been drawn to their love of the sky and their passion for flight since they first looked up from their prams.Truth be told, there is nothing wrong with dreams. There is nothing wrong with wasting your money (or somebody else’s) on those dreams. There is nothing wrong with listening to advice and doing whatever you want. A lot of folk (myself included) come on here and offer advice or tales from our own particular optic. That advice ranges from awful to excellent and everywhere in between. Use it, filter it, ignore it! It’s nothing more than just another resource.
I wish every flight school only the best. That comes from being good at what they do and being good as a business. I’ve seen a lot of “good at what they do” businesses fall by the wayside for much the same reasons as other businesses do. They fail to sustain a profit! So if it was my business I would market with every hyperbole at my disposal and truly hope that the future lived up to that hyperbole. Car manufacturers do it. Aircraft manufacturers do it. Certainly Estate agents do it! All of those industries sell products at costs that puts flight training into the shade! So, stop picking on flight schools! If someone wants to buy a dream then someone should be selling it. I’ve bought lots of dreams (mainly with 4 wheels!) Many of them truly didn’t live up to hyperbole of the brochure, but.......Cest la vie!
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1. People who are advising young fresh blood into flight training during the biggest World pandemic in recent history are delusional.
2. There are thousands of experienced unemployed and furloughed pilots in Europe alone. They will be hired first. Period.
3. The senior leaders in aviation have made it clear that the good times are over and changes will need to be made.
4. Do not trust the flight schools. They are a business (on a ticking time bomb) and they need cash flow to survive. As a business with a seriously low influx of new blood, they will say anything to get you through the door. As I speak, a large French school has just gone bust. They have been training pilots for decades. Time to wake up and get in touch with reality.
5. You do not start training in a downturn. That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever read. Just like you do not invest in a recession. No one truly knows where the bottom is and it could get worse before it gets better.
6. Make sure you have a backup career.
7. Find a wife or girlfriend outside of aviation so when you're facedown in regret, he or she can support you. The industry faces a downturn every 10 years.
8. The airlines are not your friend. They are actually the opposite. They have an agenda to make money and have no loyalty to you regardless of how senior you are. Seniority means nothing if it doesn't suit the airline.
9. Do not pay for a type rating. A prostitute would not pay a client to better her mouth skills. Don't be worse than prostitutes.
10. There are no guarantees in life. Be ready to spend huge amounts on any investment in life and see no return.
2. There are thousands of experienced unemployed and furloughed pilots in Europe alone. They will be hired first. Period.
3. The senior leaders in aviation have made it clear that the good times are over and changes will need to be made.
4. Do not trust the flight schools. They are a business (on a ticking time bomb) and they need cash flow to survive. As a business with a seriously low influx of new blood, they will say anything to get you through the door. As I speak, a large French school has just gone bust. They have been training pilots for decades. Time to wake up and get in touch with reality.
5. You do not start training in a downturn. That is the most ridiculous statement I have ever read. Just like you do not invest in a recession. No one truly knows where the bottom is and it could get worse before it gets better.
6. Make sure you have a backup career.
7. Find a wife or girlfriend outside of aviation so when you're facedown in regret, he or she can support you. The industry faces a downturn every 10 years.
8. The airlines are not your friend. They are actually the opposite. They have an agenda to make money and have no loyalty to you regardless of how senior you are. Seniority means nothing if it doesn't suit the airline.
9. Do not pay for a type rating. A prostitute would not pay a client to better her mouth skills. Don't be worse than prostitutes.
10. There are no guarantees in life. Be ready to spend huge amounts on any investment in life and see no return.
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An interesting thread . Having been employed for near on 40 years in the forward facing lounge a few observations . History repeats itself , Pilots retire , the ones with the age and skill set as opposed to experience only get snapped up by the big operators . This feeds done the ladder to GA where many are quite happy . Ripples are created when operators go bust but dont last for ever . They never have . If its what you want a downturn is the ideal time to get started . Sure its a gamble , like life itself . But the odds are good if you have the natural skills which make the job money for old rope .
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Comparisons to previous recessions/9-11 are not relevant. This is about 100 times worse, and crucially misses the main point. The paradigm has changed, aviation is no longer really required (thanks to Zoom etc) and is now actively discouraged by most governments due to carbon emissions. Personally I genuinely think 2019 will be seen as peak aviation in Europe.
