Newbie & Flying Training Advice (Merged)
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 463
Likes: 0
From: -28.1494 / 151.943
Tend to agree with WR XXX on this one, my only suggestion is to look at doing an apprenticeship as an AME while you are chasing the 737 seat .... That way you will at least have a trade to fall back on, I wish I had done just that 30 odd years ago .... Have fun 
Cheers
A172
Cheers
A172
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Melbourne
Thanks for the advice everyone (the good and the unhelpful too) - could i narrow my question down a bit more, putting all other factors aside (my interest, experience etc), what are the odds of an average person making it all the way from PPL right up to the major airlines?
Is the job market (RIGHT NOW) overflowing with unemployed junior pilots or does a new pilot have a fairly decent chance of getting into the airlines? Thx!
Is the job market (RIGHT NOW) overflowing with unemployed junior pilots or does a new pilot have a fairly decent chance of getting into the airlines? Thx!
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,890
Likes: 1
From: The Shire
The truth is it's a great job.
But probably half the guys that set out with stars in their eyes make it to a regional. Half that again make it to a major.
If everyone made it, there'd be no one left down the ladder after all.
But probably half the guys that set out with stars in their eyes make it to a regional. Half that again make it to a major.
If everyone made it, there'd be no one left down the ladder after all.
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 2,280
Likes: 0
From: rangaville
mmmmmm, dum-de-dum, what would I do if I had 50 gorillas & I was 26 years old. Get the f@ck out of this hole bro, get your licence in the States, fly a couple of seasons at Ice Pilots. On your way home do your float plane endo in Vancouver. By the time you get back here your uncle will be knocking on your door
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,571
Likes: 187
From: NSW Australia
Is the job market (RIGHT NOW) overflowing with unemployed junior pilots or does a new pilot have a fairly decent chance of getting into the airlines?
Start training today and it will probably be 18 months before you are qualified for your first job. Please be aware that you aren't ready for the cockpit of an airliner just yet.
Assuming you have been lucky, you might have your first job ($25-30k as a casual) as a very junior pilot or a junior instructor within 6 months of graduation.
You should expect 5-7 years clawing your way up the ladder, only leaving each job as a better job is offered (and occasionally getting retrenched) before you could reasonably expect to be in a small airliner.
Although you might technically meet an airline's minimum experience requirements within a couple of years, the plum jobs will often go to the candidate with far more than the minimums - like any career, to the best candidate available.
You might do it in less - and then again you might never make it at all.
Your intelligence, your people skills, your integrity and your determination will have a major influence on your quest to become an airline pilot. If you don't fit the defined mold you won't get into that airline - but that doesn't mean you can't have a fulfilling career as a pilot in one of many other streams.
Like many others I set off down this road with Qantas as the only possible objective. I was in an interview/Sim-ride assessment group in May 2008 with 4 others, all of whom were jet pilots for other airlines. I was scrubbed but the other 4 made it, only to be scrubbed when the GFC hit in October/November of that year.
To the best of my knowledge Qantas has not hired a single new pilot "Off the street" since.
I will echo the words of The Green Goblin - if you don't have the fire burning inside you, then you will end up either a) very lucky and in an airline or b) bitter and twisted and $80k poorer.
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
From: Australia
I thought flight training is alot more accessible with FEE-HELP now...most schools who have it have seen huge jumps in their MECIR and IRC course numbers. I Wish it was around when I did my training, it would have saved alot of time and heartache but I guess its also partly responsible for a recent newbie flood I've been seeing as well as some people entering the industry with less "drive" than previously seen...
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: Melbourne
Which advice was unhelpful?
As far as relatives pulling strings, that just p@sses the rest of us off.
Sprucegoose
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 3,485
Likes: 1
From: Hughes Point, where life is great! Was also resident on page 13, but now I'm lost in Cyberspace....
Age doesn't seem to matter much from what I can see
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Melbourne
Can anybody give me information about a good flight school that also might be able to offer employment as a flight instructor after any training.