Funding CPL- How did you do it?
 

Hey Guys,

I am new, so i'm sorry if this is in the wrong section.

I am undertaking flight training at Pearson Aviation, Essendon.
I am wanting to get my CPL and eventually a job, i have been paying as i go but looking ahead at all the rating and endorsements i am going to need it will get expensive.

Me and my wife hold pretty well paying jobs but only being 25 we are saving for our first house.

I am looking for advice on how to pay for this? should i just keep paying as i go? loan? what options are there out there?

Cheers,
Shifty

Hey Shifty,

Only my opinion, but if you intend on going through to CPL, the chances of staying in metropolitan Melbourne are fairly low, and the salary in the first few years may make it very difficult to service a mortgage.

However, I paid for it over the space of roughly 4 years. Got my PPL and then flew sparingly until I had the lump sum saved for CPL/MECIR/FIR plus a meagre allowance for food etc. Whether this was the right way to go about it, I'll never know :E

j3

I just finished my CPL 2 days ago (yay!) and did it part time over two years, paying as I went. I have a long term partner but we don't have kids and aren't saving to buy a house because we decided on this path instead. I'm quite close to your age also. Without her help it would of taken me much longer.

It can be done but it'll take a big commitment from both of you. You could do it over a longer period (like J3) which is a very good option I think in your position:)

Best advice is if you really wanna do it, do it! Don't sit back in 10 years wishing every time a plane goes over head. An instructor rating could keep you on the city, but don't get into that unless you really want to instruct, your just short changing the next crop of pilots coming through.

PAYG may be 'old fashioned', but it forces you to be frugal, to scrounge about for better pricing, and it also indirectly 'pressures' the supplier to not overcharge. When you borrow a hefty sum, there is less scrutiny of each individual cost in your training - and suppliers know this!

I don't believe that anything has changed in the last 50 years. Good luck!

happy days,

PAYG Is the only way. Need to look into the future a bit once you have your CPL and looking for the first job will you be able to pay off a loan on min wage working as a pilot. Join a small club and enjoy the journey. Did my CPL over 6 months and cpl over 3 years would do it the same agin. In fact I will be doing over again soon as will be starting my fling wing training soon.:ok:

Forget about the house. Either that or go mining save. Sorry buts thats reality. Theres no way on GA wages your going to be able to service a mortgage.

I PAYG'd my CPL, MEIR and Instructor's Rating with non-working wife, two young kids and a mortgage!

Its called "hard work! :ok:

Dr :8

'Forky' yr old school mate like me unlike the youngin's these days they want it all & want it now on the 'never never' too I might add!:-):)
I got what I wanted the loooong way round, I worked 3 jobs one being a tradie where I did work after hrs also for cash & the other refueling & odd building work. Took me 10 yrs b4 I got a job flying (freelance) & by then I had two houses, 2 kids & enuf 'toy's to make my life comfy.:ok:Wasn't easy but I owed zip at the end of my flying qual's:-) It's doable thru sheer hard work:-)

'Shifty' it's 'my wife & I' not me & my wife, sorry one hears/sees that so much these days from the young whipper snappers & I also wonder what the teachers education level is like:ok: If you want to keep yr training costs down look at options re where you learn, Pearsons are very expensive.

Wmk2

two good property investments, sold up and have spent the last 3 years (as of australia day) working towards my CPL, between a million lost lessons on weather and the local school closing i am nearly there. unsure what i will do next, i have a well paying job that lets me study the theory side so might do my ATPLs while i have the chance

First hurdle is paying for your licence - bit by bit.

The second hurdle is earning a living whilst maintaining a family and looking for a flying job.

The second hurdle is the one where I have witnessed several good blokes drop out.

Even with a flying job, chances are it will not be in the city, and chances are it will not pay enough to simply cover rent and put food on the table.

Can be done - won't be easy though. Possibly make your relationship with the Mrs either stronger or destroy it. One could probably say that without her full 100% encouragement and backing, a successful outcome would be unlikely.

Being creative to pay for your licence is actually the easy bit - what comes after is really what needs consideration.

I also did the PAYG route, it's hard work, especially when your job that pays for your flying ends up taking up your flying time!

I started in my early 20's and bought a house which pretty much put an end to my flying for a few years. House sold and also having worked my way up the career ladder enabled me to start flying again.

Finished my CPL, NVFR and ATPL's while working full time, learnt how to get up at 4am and study and how to say no to social events I really wanted to go to because I had to go fly the next day or study... Good practice for when you start to fly commercially I say! ;)

What WBB said. I also did NVFR while working full time. Pretty silly really, don't recommend it. Took me 3 years from 0 hours to PPL, then my wife and I sold our house, I pulled my finger out and knocked off NVFR, tailwheel, aero's, CPL and FIR in a touch over a year!

When working full time you'd be surprised at how much money you actually have went you don't spend it on sh:mad:t!

To the "Wally Mk2"

"Pearsons are very expensive". Have you bothered to check out their prices lately? I think you will find, if you do, that their hourly rates are pretty much the same as most other schools and they give better service and do not charge landing fees at YMEN!

You only need to look at recent threads on schools with upfront payment schemes, and there is not a lot of happy campers. For me it was four years and 2 jobs and living with family ( no steady partner at the time) dunno if it was the way to go, but it was a way..

PAYG for the PPL.
Then took the loan route, wouldn't recommend it.
It was great being able to fly several times a week, and did CIR full time.
At the end there was no way I could leave my well paying job without paying off a fair chunk of that debt.
Had a loan and 2 credit cards maxed out by the end.

Had a good job in a large regional town, where there were two charter companies. Picked one to do the CPL with, PAYG and did the NAVS on weekends.

When completed, was offered casual charter jobs on days off. Scraped enough hours together to side-step the 'pilot poverty pack'.

Go Mining.

At worst you will earn $5000 in the hand a month, at best $6500, unless you move up from a truck where the money will be more.

On your week off is your time to fly, you will knock it off in no time.

Just dont get trapped by the good money and the time off, you will regret it in the long run.

I would like to thank you for all your quick replies :)

I think the best route for me is to just pay as I go and if it takes me longer so be it! i'll get there!! (i hope)

Shifty,

First of all, you will get a better deal than flying at Essendon. For whomever it was said that Pearsons donot charge landing fees, is ridiculous, the landing fees would be absorbed in the hourly rate.

Secondly, you don't have to do all your training through the one provider, look for the good deals on the seperate endorsements/ratings. Word of mouth can be good but is not the only recommendation......BE CAREFULL! There are some providers that can provide genuinely subsidised accomodation due to where they are located, subsidised or cheap flying training? If it is ultra cheap, there's usually a reason........BE CAREFULL!

To fund pretty much all of my training, I used to save up half of the cost of the next thing I wanted to do and pay the other half from my wages as I go. I also got a few interest free loans (from the olds) towards the end of the road.

In the in-between times while I was saving for the next thing I would build hours by doing joyflights for mates and I had a family member who used to grab a few mates and we would go away for weekends and split the costs. You can do skydive flying with a PPL for extra hours still.

And one final thing:

DONOT, (FFS), PAY FOR ANY FLYING, UP FRONT, IN A LUMP SUM..........EVER

You MIGHT get a better deal on the hourly rate but you sure as hell will get ripped off by flying way more hours than you need to. The school has to make money some how so the cheaper schools will make you fly more hours and recoup their profits that way. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. If it appears so, its because they feed it more bull-****.

Exerience counts and Pearsons have that in spades. Take advantage of that experience.

Be aware also that some of the comments you read here are posted by self interested parties.

Merry Christmas to you all on PPRUNE and may the wingeing, moaning and scare mongering continue with force into 2012!