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Mike -
I'm a very fortunate person. Retired, having worked my nuts off for 43 years both in employment and self-employment, I have some resources which allow me to fly. I only (re-started) in aviation at age 50. Young, having spent 3 years as an engineering apprentrice at DH I volunteered for the Navy Air Arm and of 247 entrants was one of 3 shortlisted for service (flying helos or Vixens) only then to discover at medical that I was marginally colour blind (not enough to compromise my PPL now). I forgot about aviation and got on with life 'til I could afford it.
When I COULD afford it and now flying 50 - 70 hrs/yr, I recall my Father's (brief) life; he couldn't cope with being articled to an accountant and "ran away" to Croydon, got a job carrying pots of paint etc, learned to be a fitter, rigger and then paid out of his meagre wages for tuition. He was good enough to fly all over Europe for General Aircraft as a CPL (he was then the youngest ever to earn his "B" licence). He then went to Hawker as a test pilot in '38 and died test flying in '42 when a Typhoon broke up beneath him.
Here are two very different stories. They tell you that you must decide what you most want to do. If you want to earn a living in aviation the only way may well be to sacrifice all to do it. If on the otherhand its not the be-all and end-all, do something else to earn and then fly when you can afford it.
Those are the choices which many professionals (and amateurs) have made, and you can make as well!
I'm a very fortunate person. Retired, having worked my nuts off for 43 years both in employment and self-employment, I have some resources which allow me to fly. I only (re-started) in aviation at age 50. Young, having spent 3 years as an engineering apprentrice at DH I volunteered for the Navy Air Arm and of 247 entrants was one of 3 shortlisted for service (flying helos or Vixens) only then to discover at medical that I was marginally colour blind (not enough to compromise my PPL now). I forgot about aviation and got on with life 'til I could afford it.
When I COULD afford it and now flying 50 - 70 hrs/yr, I recall my Father's (brief) life; he couldn't cope with being articled to an accountant and "ran away" to Croydon, got a job carrying pots of paint etc, learned to be a fitter, rigger and then paid out of his meagre wages for tuition. He was good enough to fly all over Europe for General Aircraft as a CPL (he was then the youngest ever to earn his "B" licence). He then went to Hawker as a test pilot in '38 and died test flying in '42 when a Typhoon broke up beneath him.
Here are two very different stories. They tell you that you must decide what you most want to do. If you want to earn a living in aviation the only way may well be to sacrifice all to do it. If on the otherhand its not the be-all and end-all, do something else to earn and then fly when you can afford it.
Those are the choices which many professionals (and amateurs) have made, and you can make as well!
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My two penneth!
Hi Mike172,
I learned to fly in 1959/1960, i.e. 49 years ago. If you looked in the flying magazines then, you would have seen classified ads in which frustrated young men were advertising (desperately) for a sponsor willing to finance their training for the CPL+ME+IR.
I am skeptical about this 'start by washing aeroplanes and end up an airline pilot' idea. As a teenager, I attended one place all day practically every Saturday and Sunday for the best part of a year and worked about the place for nothing just to get some flying. They said they would give me some airtime when it was quiet and there was an aeroplane and an instructor available. As I recall, at first I got perhaps three flights in a month of about half an hour each. Then as the months went by I got less and less and less.
Eventually, I found that I had worked every weekend full time for six or seven weeks and been given no flying at all in return. I packed it in. Within a couple of weeks they had another sucker. Some people do get on this way, but I suspect most don't. I would say if you do this, then at least keep a record of how much time you put in and how much flying you get in return.
There have only ever been two royal roads into commercial flying, one is via regular service in the military for about 12 years minimum, the other via company sponsorship. So far as I know, there are few if any sponsorships at present because the companies are short of cash and there is no shortage of people with the requisite licences who have 'self-sponsored' at ruinous cost.
Don't bet on a future pilot shortage being any help. In 1959 British European Airways had a lot of pilots retire over a relatively short period. Did they foresee this and train up youngsters in good time? Absolutely not. They hired 26 qualified Canadian pilots and brought them over to work in the UK.
So what can you do? If, as I suspect, you are still in your teens, then join the ATC and work from the outset on getting the requisite qualifications for a flying scholarship. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the FS gives you 20 hours of training ABSOLUTELY FREE: (now that's got to be worth about £2,800). I believe to do an FS you have to have the same qualifications as are required for pilot entry into the RAF, plus some ATC certificate or other. (Anybody out there know what the latest educational requirements and flying hours are for the FS)?
If you don't yet have the qualifications for the FS, then you can at least do a gliding course and get your BGA 'B' Certificate. I found gliding shortened the task of learning the skills to fly powered aircraft and I still find my glider pilot's knowledge of air mass behaviour useful even today flying a Pa28.
If you really take to gliding, you can join a club, get a BGA 'Silver C' certificate, convert it into a power PPL with relatively few power hours and then having built a few more power hours become a tug pilot for the gliding club. All this builds skill and flying hours.
The next thing you can do, when you are too old for the ATC or if you go on to university, is to choose a university that has access to a university air squadron. Don't leave this too long, however, as there has been talk of closing all the UASs because not enough people have been going on to take up careers in the RAF. There, you should get considerable high-quality flying training at not cost at all.
Well that's my two penneth,
Good luck Kid,
Broomstick.
I learned to fly in 1959/1960, i.e. 49 years ago. If you looked in the flying magazines then, you would have seen classified ads in which frustrated young men were advertising (desperately) for a sponsor willing to finance their training for the CPL+ME+IR.
I am skeptical about this 'start by washing aeroplanes and end up an airline pilot' idea. As a teenager, I attended one place all day practically every Saturday and Sunday for the best part of a year and worked about the place for nothing just to get some flying. They said they would give me some airtime when it was quiet and there was an aeroplane and an instructor available. As I recall, at first I got perhaps three flights in a month of about half an hour each. Then as the months went by I got less and less and less.
Eventually, I found that I had worked every weekend full time for six or seven weeks and been given no flying at all in return. I packed it in. Within a couple of weeks they had another sucker. Some people do get on this way, but I suspect most don't. I would say if you do this, then at least keep a record of how much time you put in and how much flying you get in return.
There have only ever been two royal roads into commercial flying, one is via regular service in the military for about 12 years minimum, the other via company sponsorship. So far as I know, there are few if any sponsorships at present because the companies are short of cash and there is no shortage of people with the requisite licences who have 'self-sponsored' at ruinous cost.
Don't bet on a future pilot shortage being any help. In 1959 British European Airways had a lot of pilots retire over a relatively short period. Did they foresee this and train up youngsters in good time? Absolutely not. They hired 26 qualified Canadian pilots and brought them over to work in the UK.
So what can you do? If, as I suspect, you are still in your teens, then join the ATC and work from the outset on getting the requisite qualifications for a flying scholarship. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the FS gives you 20 hours of training ABSOLUTELY FREE: (now that's got to be worth about £2,800). I believe to do an FS you have to have the same qualifications as are required for pilot entry into the RAF, plus some ATC certificate or other. (Anybody out there know what the latest educational requirements and flying hours are for the FS)?
If you don't yet have the qualifications for the FS, then you can at least do a gliding course and get your BGA 'B' Certificate. I found gliding shortened the task of learning the skills to fly powered aircraft and I still find my glider pilot's knowledge of air mass behaviour useful even today flying a Pa28.
If you really take to gliding, you can join a club, get a BGA 'Silver C' certificate, convert it into a power PPL with relatively few power hours and then having built a few more power hours become a tug pilot for the gliding club. All this builds skill and flying hours.
The next thing you can do, when you are too old for the ATC or if you go on to university, is to choose a university that has access to a university air squadron. Don't leave this too long, however, as there has been talk of closing all the UASs because not enough people have been going on to take up careers in the RAF. There, you should get considerable high-quality flying training at not cost at all.
Well that's my two penneth,
Good luck Kid,
Broomstick.
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An extra farthing's worth.
Hi Mike172,
I have just been reading the earlier posts and realised you probably aren't still in your teens. My apologies for not realising this. However, what I say in my concluding paragraphs about the university air squadrons still holds.
Good luck,
Broomstick.
I have just been reading the earlier posts and realised you probably aren't still in your teens. My apologies for not realising this. However, what I say in my concluding paragraphs about the university air squadrons still holds.
Good luck,
Broomstick.
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Thanks for all the replies, some really great advice here, so thanks a lot.
I would love to reply individually to each but I don't have the time!
I've got a lot to think about now.
And yes Broomstick, I'm 21 now!
I would love to reply individually to each but I don't have the time!
I've got a lot to think about now.
And yes Broomstick, I'm 21 now!
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Further to my earlier post - it was 24 before I finally got my CPL, then there was a slump and it then took me another 18 months or so before getting a reasonable job (Air taxi) and it was not until I was 30 that I finally joined an Airline flying Shorts 360 and 2+ more years before starting on Jets so you have time yet
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Mike, are you from london/south east? if so please email me your CV ([email protected]).
i work for an aviation organisation at a GA airfield that may be able to offer you a job as ground handler/towing large bizjets.
regards.
i work for an aviation organisation at a GA airfield that may be able to offer you a job as ground handler/towing large bizjets.
regards.
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Mike 172 - I personally know 4 commercial pilots - currently employed and secure in that employment - who set off with pretty much a similar predicament as you. One was a milkman, one a builder another a nurse and another a 'grunt' in the military. All of them felt the pull to the sky and not a single one got any help at all. As another has already said, that mindset is the curse of the younger generations who all seem to want life handed to them on a plate or otherwise negate the sheer effort it takes to get what you want. Personally, I left school with very little interest in aviation and that didn't change until I was in fact the same age as you are now. It took me 5 years to gain a better education before I could get a job that would pay me enough to enable my goal to be reached. It took me 10 years before I managed it.
A friend of mine drove tucks across the outback in Australia for 5 years to pay for a license and cleaned other peoples crap [literally] for as many years before that to afford to go to Australia! The tales go on but the message is the same for all. There is no easy way and there is no better way. You have to work at it, sacrifice everything for your dream and be prepared to go a good distance before you come close. Should you make it then all that effort will ensure you make a decent job of it because all things considered you will have invested so much of yourself by that time, that you will have accumulated the dedication, integrity and attitude to make a successful career of it.
I wish you success, like the man said "you can do anything you want. If you really want it.".
Best Wishes
A friend of mine drove tucks across the outback in Australia for 5 years to pay for a license and cleaned other peoples crap [literally] for as many years before that to afford to go to Australia! The tales go on but the message is the same for all. There is no easy way and there is no better way. You have to work at it, sacrifice everything for your dream and be prepared to go a good distance before you come close. Should you make it then all that effort will ensure you make a decent job of it because all things considered you will have invested so much of yourself by that time, that you will have accumulated the dedication, integrity and attitude to make a successful career of it.
I wish you success, like the man said "you can do anything you want. If you really want it.".
Best Wishes
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Cheers Jamie, I've just sent you an email.
I'm worried that my chances of finding employment in the future may be hurt by working a 'rubbish job' now. I worked almost five years in a discount sports shop and I always feel bad about putting it on my CV.
I'm worried that my chances of finding employment in the future may be hurt by working a 'rubbish job' now. I worked almost five years in a discount sports shop and I always feel bad about putting it on my CV.
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Pace, that was a key point. Mike, what do YOU want from aviation. As you have seen from other's posts, there are many different methods and routes to take, paths to carve etc.
I am only getting there myself, but just want to tell you quickly about how I got started. I have always had a passion for old aeroplanes, antique, warbird etc etc. Since I sat in the Spitfire when I was 6. Ok, anyway, haven't we all done that?
I took flying lessons before school finished, worked as cleaner for 4 years to do my PPL and CPL (PPL took me 2 years part time CPL took just over 2 years also part time). I got some background in a mountainous environment with my CPL which was great, very valuable. But ultimately, I didn't/don't really have a motivation to do your typical path to the airlines. I used my experience in the cleaning industry to setup my own window cleaning business 5 years ago and funded my aerobatic training with a combination of jobs, barman/porter/concierge/pumping gas (that was also my employment at the end of my CPL).
I got some tailwheel time and ended up buying a share ina yak 52 which had been a long time ambition (I remember watching them fly at airshows when I was 12 thinking I want to be those guys one day).
Flew the Yak for a couple of years which was all valuable stuff, met lots of people and had some great exposure in the scene I'd love to be more involved with in teh future - bloody long way to go. In the mean time I applied for and got a job flying a Pitts Special for a commercial aerobatic provider - did that for 12 months, had a go in the bosses' Single seater, loved that, bought a single seater with a good friend and engineer.
I have just started flying tiger moths doing joyrides. Did my instructor rating earlier this year which was financed through my contracting company and am doing part time instructing in a couple of different machines. Also doing Pitts training on request.
Ok, so to the point, what do I want out of aviation? What I want is to compete at the Advanced aerobatic world champs in years to come and instruct in my own Yak 52. These two seperate projects, with a combination of more tiger flying and other types too hopefully to fly ww1 fighters. The thing is, I am as far off to achieving these goals as I was when I was 12 but you always are. Keep that goal in mind, keep the focus and be determined enough to make it happen.
I worked **** jobs for a long time, but at no point did I not know exactly what I wanted from this game. I have only limited operational experience to be honest but I have seen enough to know how harsh the industry can be if you don't watch what's happening around you.
What a big pile of nonsense! Just wanted to tell ya this as I get asked by young fellas about this sort of stuff, I am in my mid 20s but hell, I was the same when I was in my teens and remember only too well trying to figure out the enormous gap between flying solo in a Tomahawk to flying a Yak 52 at an International Airshow. All I could think of, was flying aerobatics and going to all the airshows that were on. I read Paddy Wagstaff's book 'Fire and Air', I first saw The Battle of Britain movie when I was 6, I have read countless bio's from pilots who were alot younger than me and fought in WW2. Nothing, absolutely nothing has changed. Just ask my fiancee!
I am only getting there myself, but just want to tell you quickly about how I got started. I have always had a passion for old aeroplanes, antique, warbird etc etc. Since I sat in the Spitfire when I was 6. Ok, anyway, haven't we all done that?
I took flying lessons before school finished, worked as cleaner for 4 years to do my PPL and CPL (PPL took me 2 years part time CPL took just over 2 years also part time). I got some background in a mountainous environment with my CPL which was great, very valuable. But ultimately, I didn't/don't really have a motivation to do your typical path to the airlines. I used my experience in the cleaning industry to setup my own window cleaning business 5 years ago and funded my aerobatic training with a combination of jobs, barman/porter/concierge/pumping gas (that was also my employment at the end of my CPL).
I got some tailwheel time and ended up buying a share ina yak 52 which had been a long time ambition (I remember watching them fly at airshows when I was 12 thinking I want to be those guys one day).
Flew the Yak for a couple of years which was all valuable stuff, met lots of people and had some great exposure in the scene I'd love to be more involved with in teh future - bloody long way to go. In the mean time I applied for and got a job flying a Pitts Special for a commercial aerobatic provider - did that for 12 months, had a go in the bosses' Single seater, loved that, bought a single seater with a good friend and engineer.
I have just started flying tiger moths doing joyrides. Did my instructor rating earlier this year which was financed through my contracting company and am doing part time instructing in a couple of different machines. Also doing Pitts training on request.
Ok, so to the point, what do I want out of aviation? What I want is to compete at the Advanced aerobatic world champs in years to come and instruct in my own Yak 52. These two seperate projects, with a combination of more tiger flying and other types too hopefully to fly ww1 fighters. The thing is, I am as far off to achieving these goals as I was when I was 12 but you always are. Keep that goal in mind, keep the focus and be determined enough to make it happen.
I worked **** jobs for a long time, but at no point did I not know exactly what I wanted from this game. I have only limited operational experience to be honest but I have seen enough to know how harsh the industry can be if you don't watch what's happening around you.
What a big pile of nonsense! Just wanted to tell ya this as I get asked by young fellas about this sort of stuff, I am in my mid 20s but hell, I was the same when I was in my teens and remember only too well trying to figure out the enormous gap between flying solo in a Tomahawk to flying a Yak 52 at an International Airshow. All I could think of, was flying aerobatics and going to all the airshows that were on. I read Paddy Wagstaff's book 'Fire and Air', I first saw The Battle of Britain movie when I was 6, I have read countless bio's from pilots who were alot younger than me and fought in WW2. Nothing, absolutely nothing has changed. Just ask my fiancee!
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People only seem to be interested in (often) pointless and irrelevant qualifications
Maybe if you had acquired some of these "pointless and irrelevant" qualifications you'd now be earning four or five times what you can get in the hotel, and would be better positioned to get into aviation?
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Maybe you're right Gertrude but I can't change the past. I was an idiot when I was younger, I didn't realise the effect it would on me in the future.
What sometimes pisses me off is that people put qualifications above enthusiasm, passion and commitment. Is somebody with a degree automatically a better candidate than me? It sometimes seems so.
What sometimes pisses me off is that people put qualifications above enthusiasm, passion and commitment. Is somebody with a degree automatically a better candidate than me? It sometimes seems so.
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Is somebody with a degree automatically a better candidate than me?
It does show that they have applied themselves, taken out a student loan and lived on not much money for 3-4 yrs while they studied.... I'd call that enthusiasm, passion and commitment.
You need to think how you can demonstrate similar enthusiasm, passion and commitment to someone in your CV or interview, otherwise they will always be ahead of you.
Generally I take personal recomendation very highly when interviewing someone, so going into a job interview with a recomendation is highly worthwhile.
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Is somebody with a degree automatically a better candidate than me?
When I was your age I was still dossing around in bedsits, smoking dope and expecting to become a rock star. 10 and a bit years later I've crawled my way up the greasy pole to the point where I'm in a senior management job with CPL and plane.
It can't and won't be handed to you on a plate, so get your head down, live like a pauper and get that money put away. I very clearly remember thinking there was no way it would ever happen, but if you put the effort in it will.
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It does show that they have applied themselves, taken out a student loan and lived on not much money for 3-4 yrs while they studied.... I'd call that enthusiasm, passion and commitment.
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What sometimes pisses me off is that people put qualifications above enthusiasm, passion and commitment.
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Judging from some of the replies, people seem to think I expect everything handed to me on a plate. If you knew me you'd know this isn't the case at all. I've not had it mega hard, I admit, but I have worked my arse off working a **** job for peanuts to pay for flying lessons.
So when people insinuate that I'm lazy and want everything handed to me, that annoys me. Yeah I want advice and any help would be great!, who wouldn't want that?
So when people insinuate that I'm lazy and want everything handed to me, that annoys me. Yeah I want advice and any help would be great!, who wouldn't want that?
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Hi Mike,
It is nice to hear some enthusiasm from a future airline pilot. Too bad there aren't more like that.
I started as a hangar rat, extra hand for the engineers and refueller and got a good few hours from owners and club members for cleaning and all the usual odd jobs. I left college to do that for 50 squid a week and half an hour in the book. Excellent experience.
But it still took 10 years, also with other jobs like waiting, bartending, washing up, laying asphalt with a gipsy family and changing nappies on handicapped people in the middle of the night, and so on, to get a CPL.
I begged, and eventually borrowed from the bank to get it all the exams and flying done.
Might have been quicker if I had finished college and got a proper job to pay for it all. I will be finished paying in a few years. That'll be nearly 15 years from CPL to debt free.
So, as I once heard Richard Briers advise wannabe actors, don't do it. Have fun enjoy doing it for fun. If you can't do anything else.... give it everything you've got.
Don't worry about the commitment bit. 5 years in one job at your age is an achievement.
You will love it when you get here and you will value it all the more for the struggle.
Good luck.
It is nice to hear some enthusiasm from a future airline pilot. Too bad there aren't more like that.
I started as a hangar rat, extra hand for the engineers and refueller and got a good few hours from owners and club members for cleaning and all the usual odd jobs. I left college to do that for 50 squid a week and half an hour in the book. Excellent experience.
But it still took 10 years, also with other jobs like waiting, bartending, washing up, laying asphalt with a gipsy family and changing nappies on handicapped people in the middle of the night, and so on, to get a CPL.
I begged, and eventually borrowed from the bank to get it all the exams and flying done.
Might have been quicker if I had finished college and got a proper job to pay for it all. I will be finished paying in a few years. That'll be nearly 15 years from CPL to debt free.
So, as I once heard Richard Briers advise wannabe actors, don't do it. Have fun enjoy doing it for fun. If you can't do anything else.... give it everything you've got.
Don't worry about the commitment bit. 5 years in one job at your age is an achievement.
You will love it when you get here and you will value it all the more for the struggle.
Good luck.
Last edited by Miserlou; 7th Nov 2009 at 22:47.
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Hi Mike172,
Reading some of the posts here is making me feel uneasy.
Guys have been recounting what crap jobs they have had to do and for how many years they have had to do them just in order to get that commercial licence. Don't get me wrong, these people deserve the UTMOST respect and GENUINE admiration. Every one of these people THOROUGHLY DESERVES the success he/she has achieved.
However, when reading each story I can't help feeling that it is like listening to the success story of the one sperm that made it into the egg, when hundreds of thousands of others died in the attempt and are in no position to contribute to any discussion on procreation.
Well I'm going to have the guts to say it: I'm one of those who never made the grade, despite being very determined, working bloody hard, and spending thousands of pounds in the attempt. (And I only wanted to be a club instructor). I won't go into the reasons why because if I did, I should be writing all day.
The point I wish to make is that very hard work and determination are not enough on their own, as posts above seem to imply. Certainly, they are vitally important, but alone they do not guarantee success. In addition, you need luck and academic ability (especially being good at passing exams, even in subects you are utterly indifferent to) as well.
It is relevant if someone has managed to get dozens of 'A' levels. This is because this is a rough measure of the probability of success in the CPL/ATPL groundschool exams. This is because when you come to do ATPL groundschool, you will find that you have to pass 14 exams, with only four attempts allowed at any subject, and only six attempts overall, and to complete the lot within 18 months - and they're not easy. Fall short of this and you have to do THE WHOLE LOT all over again; and that is very time consuming and expensive. ('Nice little earner for the CAA too; I suggest you take a look at their exam fees)!
Very little of the stuff you have to learn is actually difficult, but the sheer volume of it, and the rate at which it is thrown at you on the course, is like being drenched under a large fire hose. You have to keep up at all costs, even if you are drowning. (In the UK it is about a 22 week course, depending which college you go to, but in France the same syllabus is taught in 2 whole academic years. We had a French student on our course who told us this).
I could write a large thesis about why this level of difficulty is utterly unnecessary. Fully 25% of the syllabus could safely be dumped with no diminution in commercial flying standards. Why for example, are ATPL students, required to learn Astro Navigation, when not even the RAF use it nowadays, or why they have to learn supersonic aerodynamics, when there have only ever been fourteen commercial aeroplanes in the world to which this was relevant and none of them is in service now.
But this would be a waste of time and energy. The fact is that this is how things ARE and this is the situation you will have to confront. This is probably the reason also why academic success is so much valued over enthusiasm and dedication (or even hands-on flying ability).
There is a lot to be said for remaining a private pilot, joining a non-aviation profession that will be cheaper and easier to enter, but pays as much or more money, and spending that money on a share in a really nice aeroplane.
Anyway, I hope this post will rebalance the discussion.
Nevertheless, if you decide to go ahead with it GOOD LUCK, I hope you make it.
Broomstick.
Reading some of the posts here is making me feel uneasy.
Guys have been recounting what crap jobs they have had to do and for how many years they have had to do them just in order to get that commercial licence. Don't get me wrong, these people deserve the UTMOST respect and GENUINE admiration. Every one of these people THOROUGHLY DESERVES the success he/she has achieved.
However, when reading each story I can't help feeling that it is like listening to the success story of the one sperm that made it into the egg, when hundreds of thousands of others died in the attempt and are in no position to contribute to any discussion on procreation.
Well I'm going to have the guts to say it: I'm one of those who never made the grade, despite being very determined, working bloody hard, and spending thousands of pounds in the attempt. (And I only wanted to be a club instructor). I won't go into the reasons why because if I did, I should be writing all day.
The point I wish to make is that very hard work and determination are not enough on their own, as posts above seem to imply. Certainly, they are vitally important, but alone they do not guarantee success. In addition, you need luck and academic ability (especially being good at passing exams, even in subects you are utterly indifferent to) as well.
It is relevant if someone has managed to get dozens of 'A' levels. This is because this is a rough measure of the probability of success in the CPL/ATPL groundschool exams. This is because when you come to do ATPL groundschool, you will find that you have to pass 14 exams, with only four attempts allowed at any subject, and only six attempts overall, and to complete the lot within 18 months - and they're not easy. Fall short of this and you have to do THE WHOLE LOT all over again; and that is very time consuming and expensive. ('Nice little earner for the CAA too; I suggest you take a look at their exam fees)!
Very little of the stuff you have to learn is actually difficult, but the sheer volume of it, and the rate at which it is thrown at you on the course, is like being drenched under a large fire hose. You have to keep up at all costs, even if you are drowning. (In the UK it is about a 22 week course, depending which college you go to, but in France the same syllabus is taught in 2 whole academic years. We had a French student on our course who told us this).
I could write a large thesis about why this level of difficulty is utterly unnecessary. Fully 25% of the syllabus could safely be dumped with no diminution in commercial flying standards. Why for example, are ATPL students, required to learn Astro Navigation, when not even the RAF use it nowadays, or why they have to learn supersonic aerodynamics, when there have only ever been fourteen commercial aeroplanes in the world to which this was relevant and none of them is in service now.
But this would be a waste of time and energy. The fact is that this is how things ARE and this is the situation you will have to confront. This is probably the reason also why academic success is so much valued over enthusiasm and dedication (or even hands-on flying ability).
There is a lot to be said for remaining a private pilot, joining a non-aviation profession that will be cheaper and easier to enter, but pays as much or more money, and spending that money on a share in a really nice aeroplane.
Anyway, I hope this post will rebalance the discussion.
Nevertheless, if you decide to go ahead with it GOOD LUCK, I hope you make it.
Broomstick.
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: NZ
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Aircraft Syndication
It is such a shame that seemingly so few pilots put any value on the advantages of owning a share in an aeroplane, no matter what it is and what you use it for.
It is such a great way to get around and put some affordable consolidation in your logbook post flight test for example - if you are after more hours. Or simply a great way to see the country and enjoy the priviledges of your PPL, in the knowledge that you are saving huge amounts of money by not hiring aeroclub planes.
I just can't believe how few syndicates there are around. It appears to be more a thing for older pilots whom are doing it for the fun of it, whereas the younger more serious flyers are far too busy trying to get a job in industry while over looking a great opportunity to team up and get a plane between a small group. Instead of wasting money doing your MEIR while doing your CPL, use that money to buy a tidy Cub or 172. Pay half the hourly rate you pay at an aeroclub, build up the kitty by flying it, take friends up, see the country, and above all, ENJOY yourself.
m14
It is such a great way to get around and put some affordable consolidation in your logbook post flight test for example - if you are after more hours. Or simply a great way to see the country and enjoy the priviledges of your PPL, in the knowledge that you are saving huge amounts of money by not hiring aeroclub planes.
I just can't believe how few syndicates there are around. It appears to be more a thing for older pilots whom are doing it for the fun of it, whereas the younger more serious flyers are far too busy trying to get a job in industry while over looking a great opportunity to team up and get a plane between a small group. Instead of wasting money doing your MEIR while doing your CPL, use that money to buy a tidy Cub or 172. Pay half the hourly rate you pay at an aeroclub, build up the kitty by flying it, take friends up, see the country, and above all, ENJOY yourself.
m14
