What should I do?
 

Hi people.

Im a 14 year old girl, I have 5 written exams done towards my PPL and I have clocked up 11 hours. I would really like to have a career in commercial flying but I want to know if you need certian GCSEs or A levels to be accepted into flight schools?

I have been told I need a GCSE and A level in maths and physics? Is this true?

_Little-flyer_

Certainly do the GCSEs and work hard in those subjects. If you do those A levels you will find the ATPL exams easier, but only do them if you enjoy the subjects or think you will do better in them than others.

If you are going to be a pilot then education will help you develope as a person, help you learn to study and to work with focus, and I hope give you enjoyment. They also provide a back-up career whan needed! The actually subjects studied are not terribly important to your aviation career, unless there is a training scheme that requires certain A levels (perhaps others could say if there is; having done sciences myself I cannot recall if any courses actually required them).

I feel old. I already had a PPL and both those A levels when you were born.

Academic requirements for ATPL
 

Hi littleflyer,

First of all, I suggest you get access to the CAA publication called 'LASORS'. This costs about £13 and a new issue comes out every year. This will tell you all of the licence requirements so that you can study them at leasure. You can also download it free from the CAA website.

Early every November, there is a flying careers exhibition (organised I think by Flyer magazine) at the Renaissance Hotel at Heathrow. I strongly advise you to go to this exhibition as there you can speak to representatives of many of the flying schools, including some from overseas, all in one place. Prepare your questions to them well in advance and go there for a fact-finding visit. You'll come back with a carrier bag full of information.

To the best of my recollection, there is no formal academic requirement for access to the ATPL course, but that is only as far as the CAA is concerned. However, individual flying schools may well impose academic requirements of their own, which will vary from one school to another. You will have to ask each school in turn to discover what these are.

However, be in no doubt about the demands of ATPL groundschool. Anybody without a good deal of academic ability is most unlikely to succeed. You may not need to be in possession of university admission qualifications, but you definitely do need to have the sort of ability that would enable you to obtain such qualifications if you wanted them.

Heed well the words of the wicked witch!

BroomstickPilot.

Hey

Thanks for yor help. I will heed your words!

Thx :ok:

_Little-Flyer_

I would echo the 'don't need to be a graduate, but need to be clever enough to be one...' I have a friend who is a pilot for BA - he was one of the last on their cadetship scheme. He went straight from school - but only because he was clearly intelligent and had excellent A levels including Maths and Physics, as you mention.

Incidentally LASORS is free to download from www.caa.co.uk as a PDF. It's a nasty website to navigate but if you use the search function (top right) and enter LASORS, the correct link comes up as the first hit.

Oh, and good luck. Are you an air cadet, by the way (CCF if your school has one, or the local Air Training Corps)? If not, it would be worth thinking about - you don't have to go the military way afterwards but you will learn a lot about aviation and also a lot of self-discipline on the way.

Tim

hey hey.

I dont belong to air cadets unfortunately but my uncle is in the army and has been trying to persuade me lately to join.

Would it be worth the bother?

Thx

_Little-Flyer_

Just did a quick search - this may help. http://www.dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/...raining_Corps/

Best of luck!:ok:

Foxy

hi!

Awk thanks alot, Your all so nice.:p

_Little-Flyer_

The direct link for LASORS 2007 is:

http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/LASORS_07.pdf

Good luck!

Army?
 

Hi once again littleflyer,

BE CAREFUL!

You need to decide just exactly what kind of flying you want to spend your career of perhaps two or three decades doing, AND STICK TO IT! If you want to be a civil airline pilot flying airliners then the Army is NOT the place to go. If you want to be a commercial helo pilot, then perhaps.

Your uncle is no doubt an enthusiastic soldier (and the nation is fortunate indeed still to have such people in its service,) but would you be?

I believe Army flying is 'open to all arms' and most Army pilots are seconded from other arms and only spend perhaps three years with the Air Corps after which they return to ordinary soldiering. (My AME was an Army doctor who decided to have a go at flying, became an Army helicopter pilot, then years later he left the Army and became a commercial helo pilot, and became an AME only after he retired: quite incredible).

Would you be permitted to remain in the Air Corps for your whole career?

I would guess that to do it you would have to sign on for a minimum of 12 years, how do you feel about that?

Even if you were successful in getting yourself into the Army Air Corps, you would only do a very limited amount of fixed wing flying early in your training, as the Army only operates rotary wing aircraft operationally. So all your operational experience would be on helicopters and on leaving the service, you would probably be able to make a career in civil flying only as a commercial helicopter pilot.

Furthermore, just at the moment there is an awful lot of dissillusion among military pilots in all services, not just the Army. An awful lot of service people have had enough and want to get out. Just take a look at the military flying threads on this website and you'll see what I mean.

BroomstickPilot.

Of all the subjects I studied at O level, A level and degree level I reckon the most useful ones have been (both in my working life and outside) Maths and Physics. No doubt about it!

Of course a good broad all round education will always be a big help, whatever you do. Make the most of it while you can, and while you're young enough for it to be free..... It's much more difficult to go back to it later when you have other responsibilities like children of your own and a job!

Good luck with the flying!:ok:

What also might help in a commercial career is a rudimentary knowledge of a few languages like Spanish, French, German and Italian. Maybe even some Arabic, Russian and Chinese.

Yes, English is the language of aviation and judging by your posts you're not going to have a problem with that. But on long-haul you may end up on aprons and in foreign hotels, having to deal with people whose skills in English are sometimes insufficient for the job at hand. Being able to talk to them in their native language (or even only to swear at them in their native language) helps a lot.

Plus, people are usually nicer to you if you attempt to address them in their own language first, then switch to English.

hey.

I did choose to do a spanish and french GCSE so that will hopefully help a bit. The problem is do I need GCSE in physics to become an airline pilot?

Different sources tell me its necessary while others say its opitional?:confused:
Any idea?



_Little-Flyer_

Personally I would say you don't "need" physics, but it will make the ATPL study a hell of a lot easier and will probably look better on your application.

Broomstick_Pilot, I think she meant 'join the ATC' not 'join the Army'...
Tim

Hi Littleflyer, welcome to this forum. :)

Have a look at this thread----> PPL Diary.......

littleflyer,

All the people I knew who joined the air cadets loved it. After all, it's free flying - and you don't get a lot of that! Why do you think it would be a bother?

I don't think you need GCSE physics in the sense of anybody requiring it, but I think trying to do the ATPL exams without at least that level of understanding of physics would be pure hell....and that's an understatement!

Little flyer:
If your postings are anything to go by (and by that I mean your spelling, syntaxe and grammar are better than many three times your age on here), you will succeed in your aspirations.

May I commend to you the Flyer Forum (based on Flyer magazine) http://forums.flyer.co.uk : there is a dedicated section for student pilots where you can read about people at all stages of their flying/learning careers.

It has a strictly no abuse/ no flaming policy (unlike pprune) and you will very likely be able to blag rides from Forumites and go to Fly-ins around the country and meet up.There are quite a few Forumites in Northern Ireland.
Caveat: you need to take Mr Fujiabounds posting elsewhere with a healthy pinch of salt.

Good luck, welcome to PPRuNe and keep posting.

Cusco;)

That's it - I am leaving!!

Littleflyer
Lots of good advice here, and here's my 2 pence worth, as a teacher, headteacher, pilot and ex-mil aircrew:
Get the most of the very best broad education that you can.
Get Maths, English and Physics GCSE at the highest level you can- As are 10 a penny, so be in that club if you can. If you can afford to fly, you can buy tuition! These skills will serve you all your life.
Get university admission- you can defer if the flying goes well. You don't need a degree to fly, but it's increasingly needed for employment if you don't end up as a pilot.
DO NOT join the military unless it is the thing you really want. You'll regret it.
Finally, don't do the boy thing- "I'm gonna play for Man U, so school stuff is no use to me".
Good Luck
CG