My experience from PPL to 1st Job!
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My experience from PPL to 1st Job!
Part 1
I wrote part of this post recently as a reply to someone else’s post on the interviews / Jobs and Sponsorship “a good year for Modular employment“, and thought it might be of use to people reading this section as well, for those thinking about starting down the road to training to be a pilot or those finishing ground exams etc….I know I found it reassuring to read posts with something positive in them rather than ones making me feel more depressed than I already was!!
So often you read on this site desperately miserable posts which make you wonder what an earth you’re doing, so maybe I can at least show some light at the end of what can be a very dark, worrying tunnel at times.
Firstly a bit about me, I am 32 married with a 5 year old which certainly hasn’t made life easy being away from home at times. I left school at 16, so have no A-levels or a degree. I spent 5 years in the Forces and then 6 years in Medical sales. I have wanted to fly since I was 24 but funds and other commitments prevented this. I almost took the plunge when I was 27 but my son was born and then Sept 11th finished off any glimmer of hope I had left. But I always describe my desire to train to be a pilot like a boomerang, it just kept on coming back, and that if I don’t do it soon I am going to regret it for the rest of my life.
So it was at 29, my wife finally got fed up with me looking skywards at the sound of an aircraft that we decided it had to be done, now or never. However with a mortgage and family to support Modular was the only route for me, so I could continue to work and pay the bills.
I started my PPL 3 months after my 29th birthday in August 2004. Passing it in November and not regretting my decision thus far. I had ordered my ATPL study notes with Bristol by December and started the study properly in Jan 2005. I studied like so many others do in the mornings before work and in the evenings after work, and built my hours up flying at the weekends. This is when you realise the sacrifices not only you but your family have to make with you in order to get things done. Sat there at the table at 10.30pm trying to work out F*+king Rhumb lines thinking I am never going to get through this etc…….. Kicking my wife and son out on Sunday afternoons to her parents so that I had some peace and quiet to study!! 2005 continued like that, with me taking the first lot of exams in August and the second lot in Jan 2006. My first shock I had passed them!! Surely the hard and boring bit over and done with, or maybe not!
I was still working fulltime but realised in order to complete the IR / CPL / MCC in my personal circumstances I needed to leave my job. So it was in March of this year I rather scarily left a good and well paid career in Medical sales, packed my bags and left my wife and son with a lump in my throat the size of a golf ball and started what felt like a separate life in a rented house near Bristol Airport to start my IR / CPL with Bristol Flying Centre. Highly recommended for those looking for a good school.
To make life even more stressful we had sold our house to part finance this little adventure and I had to come back for the weekend during my IR to help move us into a rented house, not a good time to move house!! My son who has a bowel disorder was also hospitalised whilst I was in Bristol, only adding to the stress caused by being away from home. All was well in the end though but it certainly didn’t do much for my flying.
For me just the word IR had always sent shivers of fear down my spine; however I found the reality was less scary. It is the unknown that worries you, that you must have to be super human, but actually you realise very quickly that although it is extremely hard it can be done, and some 6-7 weeks after starting, the big day finally arrived, the IR test. The day I had feared since I started. I got about 3hrs sleep the night before and was running on adrenaline, I was nervous, very nervous but actually when I got in the aircraft I felt a whole lot better, and just did what I had done in the previous weeks. Not a perfect flight by any stretch of the imagination but all within limits and a pass, a truly great feeling, one I will never forget, that is for sure.
I then did the CPL, which to be honest is an advanced PPL, and having done the IR first only had to do 15hrs. I found this less stressful than the IR and would go as far as saying I enjoyed parts of it!! I am glad I did the IR first which seems to be a hard decision as to which way around to do it; but in my opinion see no advantage in doing the CPL first, spending an extra 10hrs flying around VFR following a line on a map.
I finished at the beginning of June taking 12 weeks from start to finish, with my main motivation being able to go home to my family. The feeling of walking out to my car with my 2 pieces of paper one for the CPL and one for the IR, knowing I was enduring the Friday rush hour on the M4 and the M25 for the last time (for a while anyway) was fantastic. It had been 12 weeks of extreme highs to major lows, a real emotional roller coaster for sure. Having a family I think does make it more difficult if you’re away, if you are young free and single it does remove that one added stress. But it is a hard time whoever you are.
I had booked the MCC a few weeks before when I was certain I would be finished in time. Watch this as I met a couple of people who had booked theirs way before, and had to stop their training as their progress was slower than they had expected due to weather etc… go and do the MCC and then come back and finish off. Everything takes longer than you think, even in summer!!
I chose Jetlinx who use a B757 at Cranebank, it was great fun and in a way was a treat to myself for all the hard work over the previous 20 months. However it has in no way helped me get a job doing it on a jet, over say doing it on a Turbo Prop etc… and if you are on a tight budget by this point (highly likely) I really wouldn’t spend the extra. That in no way is meant to knock Jetlinx who provided a great and enjoyable course, it is just not essential to spend £3,500 to get what is essentially a tick in the box. With the MCC finished by the end of June, my little blue book turned up from the CAA and I was ready to go, well I was anyway!
I now had everything I needed to send out my first and (only batch of CV’s) to the aviation world. I sent out around 90 to everybody I could and waited! I started getting responses about a week later with a fairly steady flow after that, of around one every other day, all saying the same thing, sorry but we have no vacancies blah blah….. In other words you have 203hrs go away.
This was without doubt a depressing time, one where I really did start to think what the hell have I done here, I have a licence that is not worth the paper it is written on! I had sold our house, made us move into a dingy rented house, things were not good. But slowly I began to gather names of potential contacts and I then got a response from Jet2 saying my application was being processed, not a go away which was a morale booster. It was also July so a really bad time to be looking as well. I feel looking back that you fall into a training bubble whilst doing your IR etc… where you tend to kid yourself you know it will be hard to get a job, but it will be ok, but I found the reality much harder.
cont....
I wrote part of this post recently as a reply to someone else’s post on the interviews / Jobs and Sponsorship “a good year for Modular employment“, and thought it might be of use to people reading this section as well, for those thinking about starting down the road to training to be a pilot or those finishing ground exams etc….I know I found it reassuring to read posts with something positive in them rather than ones making me feel more depressed than I already was!!
So often you read on this site desperately miserable posts which make you wonder what an earth you’re doing, so maybe I can at least show some light at the end of what can be a very dark, worrying tunnel at times.
Firstly a bit about me, I am 32 married with a 5 year old which certainly hasn’t made life easy being away from home at times. I left school at 16, so have no A-levels or a degree. I spent 5 years in the Forces and then 6 years in Medical sales. I have wanted to fly since I was 24 but funds and other commitments prevented this. I almost took the plunge when I was 27 but my son was born and then Sept 11th finished off any glimmer of hope I had left. But I always describe my desire to train to be a pilot like a boomerang, it just kept on coming back, and that if I don’t do it soon I am going to regret it for the rest of my life.
So it was at 29, my wife finally got fed up with me looking skywards at the sound of an aircraft that we decided it had to be done, now or never. However with a mortgage and family to support Modular was the only route for me, so I could continue to work and pay the bills.
I started my PPL 3 months after my 29th birthday in August 2004. Passing it in November and not regretting my decision thus far. I had ordered my ATPL study notes with Bristol by December and started the study properly in Jan 2005. I studied like so many others do in the mornings before work and in the evenings after work, and built my hours up flying at the weekends. This is when you realise the sacrifices not only you but your family have to make with you in order to get things done. Sat there at the table at 10.30pm trying to work out F*+king Rhumb lines thinking I am never going to get through this etc…….. Kicking my wife and son out on Sunday afternoons to her parents so that I had some peace and quiet to study!! 2005 continued like that, with me taking the first lot of exams in August and the second lot in Jan 2006. My first shock I had passed them!! Surely the hard and boring bit over and done with, or maybe not!
I was still working fulltime but realised in order to complete the IR / CPL / MCC in my personal circumstances I needed to leave my job. So it was in March of this year I rather scarily left a good and well paid career in Medical sales, packed my bags and left my wife and son with a lump in my throat the size of a golf ball and started what felt like a separate life in a rented house near Bristol Airport to start my IR / CPL with Bristol Flying Centre. Highly recommended for those looking for a good school.
To make life even more stressful we had sold our house to part finance this little adventure and I had to come back for the weekend during my IR to help move us into a rented house, not a good time to move house!! My son who has a bowel disorder was also hospitalised whilst I was in Bristol, only adding to the stress caused by being away from home. All was well in the end though but it certainly didn’t do much for my flying.
For me just the word IR had always sent shivers of fear down my spine; however I found the reality was less scary. It is the unknown that worries you, that you must have to be super human, but actually you realise very quickly that although it is extremely hard it can be done, and some 6-7 weeks after starting, the big day finally arrived, the IR test. The day I had feared since I started. I got about 3hrs sleep the night before and was running on adrenaline, I was nervous, very nervous but actually when I got in the aircraft I felt a whole lot better, and just did what I had done in the previous weeks. Not a perfect flight by any stretch of the imagination but all within limits and a pass, a truly great feeling, one I will never forget, that is for sure.
I then did the CPL, which to be honest is an advanced PPL, and having done the IR first only had to do 15hrs. I found this less stressful than the IR and would go as far as saying I enjoyed parts of it!! I am glad I did the IR first which seems to be a hard decision as to which way around to do it; but in my opinion see no advantage in doing the CPL first, spending an extra 10hrs flying around VFR following a line on a map.
I finished at the beginning of June taking 12 weeks from start to finish, with my main motivation being able to go home to my family. The feeling of walking out to my car with my 2 pieces of paper one for the CPL and one for the IR, knowing I was enduring the Friday rush hour on the M4 and the M25 for the last time (for a while anyway) was fantastic. It had been 12 weeks of extreme highs to major lows, a real emotional roller coaster for sure. Having a family I think does make it more difficult if you’re away, if you are young free and single it does remove that one added stress. But it is a hard time whoever you are.
I had booked the MCC a few weeks before when I was certain I would be finished in time. Watch this as I met a couple of people who had booked theirs way before, and had to stop their training as their progress was slower than they had expected due to weather etc… go and do the MCC and then come back and finish off. Everything takes longer than you think, even in summer!!
I chose Jetlinx who use a B757 at Cranebank, it was great fun and in a way was a treat to myself for all the hard work over the previous 20 months. However it has in no way helped me get a job doing it on a jet, over say doing it on a Turbo Prop etc… and if you are on a tight budget by this point (highly likely) I really wouldn’t spend the extra. That in no way is meant to knock Jetlinx who provided a great and enjoyable course, it is just not essential to spend £3,500 to get what is essentially a tick in the box. With the MCC finished by the end of June, my little blue book turned up from the CAA and I was ready to go, well I was anyway!
I now had everything I needed to send out my first and (only batch of CV’s) to the aviation world. I sent out around 90 to everybody I could and waited! I started getting responses about a week later with a fairly steady flow after that, of around one every other day, all saying the same thing, sorry but we have no vacancies blah blah….. In other words you have 203hrs go away.
This was without doubt a depressing time, one where I really did start to think what the hell have I done here, I have a licence that is not worth the paper it is written on! I had sold our house, made us move into a dingy rented house, things were not good. But slowly I began to gather names of potential contacts and I then got a response from Jet2 saying my application was being processed, not a go away which was a morale booster. It was also July so a really bad time to be looking as well. I feel looking back that you fall into a training bubble whilst doing your IR etc… where you tend to kid yourself you know it will be hard to get a job, but it will be ok, but I found the reality much harder.
cont....
Last edited by Dan 98; 28th Nov 2006 at 17:55.
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Part 2
I new before I started that networking would be the key to success, the phrase “It’s who you know not what you know “really does apply in Aviation. I was lucky enough to know a guy at Ryanair, but had always thought I would try everything else first. But it didn’t take long before I started thinking I am getting nowhere fast and started thinking about the implications of funding the type rating etc….I remember thinking when I was doing my IR and CPL that if things got really bad I could apply to Ryanair or even lower myself to trying the Turbo Prop companies. I am embarrassed to write that but I did think it, very naïve and arrogant of me!! Down to earth with a bump for me that’s for sure, as the reality of getting that first job set in.
Because less than 2 weeks after finishing my MCC I would have given my right arm for a job on a TP, a kite with 2 seats would have done!!
So I asked the guy I new at Ryanair if he could get my CV on the right desk, but I carried on looking as well. He kindly agreed and the wait for news started.
My other break started back in July, whilst visiting my Mother. She had waited until I was close to slitting my wrists before suggesting that I should call one of her friends who I have known since I was about 5, as her sister was married to a pilot!!! Something my Mother forgot to mention during the 20 months I had been training!! So after a why the hell have you not mentioned it before……. I got in touch with this guy.
He was a Captain with Bmi Baby, we spoke, arranged to meet and he agreed to forward my CV to the chief pilot, after assessing that I wasn’t a complete idiot. I also re-applied online as well. To my astonishment I got an email from the Chief pilot saying he had received my CV and that he would maybe look at me in the future. This is where getting a recommendation really helps. Wow, I couldn’t believe it, progress at last. I emailed him back thanking him, and asked whether he was attending the BALPA Conference in September at Heathrow. He was going, so he went onto my hit list that day.
Meanwhile I managed to organise some safety pilot work on a King Air, out of Southend, this for me was a life saver, as I was flying, for free or £50 admittedly, but for short term experience in a proper aircraft it was invaluable. In a pressurised cabin at FL250 this was proper flying!! With trips to France, Lithuania and around the UK it was not only very enjoyable but great for my confidence and experience. I was very fortunate to be flying with a guy who let me fly when we had no one on board, I was hand flying up to 20,000ft etc… so first tip, if you can do some safety pilot work, DO IT its great fun and looks even better on your CV. It shows you have not sat around doing nothing but have got up off your backside. I totally understand though that this cannot be sustained long term financially but anything is better than nothing.
At the end of August I got the first break of an offer of an assessment with Ryanair at the end of September. I felt extremely fortunate as had I not known anyone at Ryanair I would not have got an assessment so quickly.
So the BALPA conference arrived and I went down there suited and booted ready to ambush this Chief pilot. It was a worthwhile day besides that, just meeting others in the same boat helps you to realise it is not just you that is struggling.
Anyway I ended up queuing 2hrs 15mins to see this guy, for a 10min chat. He promised me nothing, but said he had my CV and that he had plenty of experienced guys he had to look at first, ahhhh, not what I was hoping to hear, but I also totally understood what he was saying.
I emailed him later that evening saying it had been good to meet, and that I would stay in touch. In other words, I will continue to badger you until you give me a chance!! I continued to email him every 3-4 weeks trying to get any update.
I did the assessment with Ryanair on the 29th of September and passed. It was a hard assessment and required a lot of preparation, for me anyway. It was in a 737-200 Sim, SID general handling, hold and NDB approach.
I paid to go in a simulator before the assessment but I met guys on the day who had not, who did not know the profile, who had not flown for 3 months!! Madness. Tip, If you get an assessment, don’t worry about spending £400 – 500 on a sim, think how gutted you will be if you fail, £500 will have been well spent. Getting in a jet and flying accurately requires practice, and unless you have experience or are extremely talented you will do badly and fail to reach the standard required. The best £500 I had spent so far.
So I had a job, I felt really pleased, but being honest the edge was taken off by how much it was going to cost us. We had spent so much already. However long term it would work out, I felt fortunate to have it. But I carried on looking. I knew where I really wanted to go.
I had another break from sending an email to the Fleet manager at Flyglobespan back in June when I first finished. The Captain was kind enough to respond which is quite rare, it is soul destroying when you don’t get a response, and although it was “sorry we have no vacancies” I sent one back thanking him and asking for some advice, which again he responded to. I saved his details and the email.
Then 4 months later in October I sent him another email, stating we had emailed before, that I had passed the Ryanair assessment etc….. And that I continued to look at other companies, how did the waters lie now at Globespan? Whether it was luck, the fact we had emailed before, or it just landed in his inbox at the right time, he emailed me back with an offer of an interview in mid November. I don’t know anyone in the company, so it felt good to have got it totally off my own back.
In the end however strange as this will sound I cancelled the interview. I now had a firm start with Ryanair in December which FGS were unable to match, their system being that even if you were successful at interview you get placed into a hold pool with no firm start date. It was also a Self Sponsored TR like Ryanair, so I wasn’t going to be saving me a great deal of money, and with no start date I would have been foolish to accept it over Ryanair.
I rang and spoke to the captain at FGS and explained my situation who agreed I should go to Ryanair, but to call him in 9 months time, when I have some experience, another contact one day, who knows. If you get an email from someone, even if it is NO, hang onto the contact details, you never know when you might need them. If I had not had Ryanair, Globespan would have been my lifeline!!
Sorry I am turning this into an essay here.
So the situation now was I was due to start with Ryanair in 4 weeks. I had to know whether to start to financially commit, and start booking accommodation, flights to Holland etc…..
Time for a last ditch attempt with the guy at Bmi Baby. By now I had sent around 4-5 emails, and rung him twice! At times this was really awkward, am I going to p*ss him off, catch him at a bad time…. But I thought I have nothing to lose, if I don’t fight to see him, it is not going to happen. So with less than 4 weeks till my start with Ryanair I sent one last email, saying if we are going to meet, it had to be in the next 2 weeks. Come on give me a chance!! That was on a Saturday, by Wednesday I had received nothing. So I then sent a text message can you believe, which I regretted the minute I sent it. I can’t believe you have just sent that I thought.
To my amazement my inbox had a response in it that night, saying he could maybe see me that Friday if I could make it, it was a hard decision that took me about 0.01 seconds to decide to go!! This was what I had been trying to achieve since July. And after a brief meeting at Balpa, emails, telephone calls and one text message, I had finally ground him down. One word of warning, I think I did push my luck at times, and I had nothing to lose because I had Ryanair, I would maybe not have been so forward had this not been the case. I don’t want to advocate sending text messages to Chief Pilots will get you a job!!
I had the interview on the Friday, this was the big one. Every company is different and they all have their own process, and as interviews go this was pretty relaxed, it really was a case of are you a good bloke and would I want to sit next to you on a multi sector day, without wanting to kill you!!
I eventually got the call the following week from him to say that I had been successful. I was practically shaking when I got off the phone, suddenly all the heartache and frustration was worth it. The best feeling in the world. I was pleased when I passed Ryanair, but this was different, for us financially it meant we would have some money left to get back onto the housing market! However I would have done Ryanair, and it is worth pointing out although it was going to cost a lot, it would have given me great experience and their training is well recognized. They have also been very prompt regarding information and admin, so don’t believe everything you read regarding Ryanair.
In a strange way Ryanair is partly responsible for me pushing the guy at Bmi baby to see me before I started. I feel very fortunate indeed that it has worked out. You risk so much to pursue this career.
So that is my story, so far. I start early next year, when the next round of hard work begins and the next hill to climb shows its ugly face. I am at the very start of my aviation career and in no way do I pretend to be an expert with recruitment or the industry. I am sure others have done all of the above and have not had their lucky break yet, but hopefully it will happen. It is not an easy journey that is for sure, but if it was everyone would do it.
I think it is important to share the good news as well as the bad (and there is plenty of the latter on this site at times).
Never give up, and don’t be afraid to chase people or ring people, they’re after all only human. If you can get recommended by someone fantastic, but don’t think that will be enough on its own, follow it up, make yourself standout. Show you’re hungry for it and want it more than the next person. You certainly won’t be the only person who will have been recommended. Be under no illusion there is no shortage of low houred pilots with 200hrs looking for a job, so you have to make yourself standout. If you really want it, you can make it happen. I apologise for the length of this, I got slightly carried away!! I hope those that read this get something useful from it. All the very best and
be lucky.
Dan98
I new before I started that networking would be the key to success, the phrase “It’s who you know not what you know “really does apply in Aviation. I was lucky enough to know a guy at Ryanair, but had always thought I would try everything else first. But it didn’t take long before I started thinking I am getting nowhere fast and started thinking about the implications of funding the type rating etc….I remember thinking when I was doing my IR and CPL that if things got really bad I could apply to Ryanair or even lower myself to trying the Turbo Prop companies. I am embarrassed to write that but I did think it, very naïve and arrogant of me!! Down to earth with a bump for me that’s for sure, as the reality of getting that first job set in.
Because less than 2 weeks after finishing my MCC I would have given my right arm for a job on a TP, a kite with 2 seats would have done!!
So I asked the guy I new at Ryanair if he could get my CV on the right desk, but I carried on looking as well. He kindly agreed and the wait for news started.
My other break started back in July, whilst visiting my Mother. She had waited until I was close to slitting my wrists before suggesting that I should call one of her friends who I have known since I was about 5, as her sister was married to a pilot!!! Something my Mother forgot to mention during the 20 months I had been training!! So after a why the hell have you not mentioned it before……. I got in touch with this guy.
He was a Captain with Bmi Baby, we spoke, arranged to meet and he agreed to forward my CV to the chief pilot, after assessing that I wasn’t a complete idiot. I also re-applied online as well. To my astonishment I got an email from the Chief pilot saying he had received my CV and that he would maybe look at me in the future. This is where getting a recommendation really helps. Wow, I couldn’t believe it, progress at last. I emailed him back thanking him, and asked whether he was attending the BALPA Conference in September at Heathrow. He was going, so he went onto my hit list that day.
Meanwhile I managed to organise some safety pilot work on a King Air, out of Southend, this for me was a life saver, as I was flying, for free or £50 admittedly, but for short term experience in a proper aircraft it was invaluable. In a pressurised cabin at FL250 this was proper flying!! With trips to France, Lithuania and around the UK it was not only very enjoyable but great for my confidence and experience. I was very fortunate to be flying with a guy who let me fly when we had no one on board, I was hand flying up to 20,000ft etc… so first tip, if you can do some safety pilot work, DO IT its great fun and looks even better on your CV. It shows you have not sat around doing nothing but have got up off your backside. I totally understand though that this cannot be sustained long term financially but anything is better than nothing.
At the end of August I got the first break of an offer of an assessment with Ryanair at the end of September. I felt extremely fortunate as had I not known anyone at Ryanair I would not have got an assessment so quickly.
So the BALPA conference arrived and I went down there suited and booted ready to ambush this Chief pilot. It was a worthwhile day besides that, just meeting others in the same boat helps you to realise it is not just you that is struggling.
Anyway I ended up queuing 2hrs 15mins to see this guy, for a 10min chat. He promised me nothing, but said he had my CV and that he had plenty of experienced guys he had to look at first, ahhhh, not what I was hoping to hear, but I also totally understood what he was saying.
I emailed him later that evening saying it had been good to meet, and that I would stay in touch. In other words, I will continue to badger you until you give me a chance!! I continued to email him every 3-4 weeks trying to get any update.
I did the assessment with Ryanair on the 29th of September and passed. It was a hard assessment and required a lot of preparation, for me anyway. It was in a 737-200 Sim, SID general handling, hold and NDB approach.
I paid to go in a simulator before the assessment but I met guys on the day who had not, who did not know the profile, who had not flown for 3 months!! Madness. Tip, If you get an assessment, don’t worry about spending £400 – 500 on a sim, think how gutted you will be if you fail, £500 will have been well spent. Getting in a jet and flying accurately requires practice, and unless you have experience or are extremely talented you will do badly and fail to reach the standard required. The best £500 I had spent so far.
So I had a job, I felt really pleased, but being honest the edge was taken off by how much it was going to cost us. We had spent so much already. However long term it would work out, I felt fortunate to have it. But I carried on looking. I knew where I really wanted to go.
I had another break from sending an email to the Fleet manager at Flyglobespan back in June when I first finished. The Captain was kind enough to respond which is quite rare, it is soul destroying when you don’t get a response, and although it was “sorry we have no vacancies” I sent one back thanking him and asking for some advice, which again he responded to. I saved his details and the email.
Then 4 months later in October I sent him another email, stating we had emailed before, that I had passed the Ryanair assessment etc….. And that I continued to look at other companies, how did the waters lie now at Globespan? Whether it was luck, the fact we had emailed before, or it just landed in his inbox at the right time, he emailed me back with an offer of an interview in mid November. I don’t know anyone in the company, so it felt good to have got it totally off my own back.
In the end however strange as this will sound I cancelled the interview. I now had a firm start with Ryanair in December which FGS were unable to match, their system being that even if you were successful at interview you get placed into a hold pool with no firm start date. It was also a Self Sponsored TR like Ryanair, so I wasn’t going to be saving me a great deal of money, and with no start date I would have been foolish to accept it over Ryanair.
I rang and spoke to the captain at FGS and explained my situation who agreed I should go to Ryanair, but to call him in 9 months time, when I have some experience, another contact one day, who knows. If you get an email from someone, even if it is NO, hang onto the contact details, you never know when you might need them. If I had not had Ryanair, Globespan would have been my lifeline!!
Sorry I am turning this into an essay here.
So the situation now was I was due to start with Ryanair in 4 weeks. I had to know whether to start to financially commit, and start booking accommodation, flights to Holland etc…..
Time for a last ditch attempt with the guy at Bmi Baby. By now I had sent around 4-5 emails, and rung him twice! At times this was really awkward, am I going to p*ss him off, catch him at a bad time…. But I thought I have nothing to lose, if I don’t fight to see him, it is not going to happen. So with less than 4 weeks till my start with Ryanair I sent one last email, saying if we are going to meet, it had to be in the next 2 weeks. Come on give me a chance!! That was on a Saturday, by Wednesday I had received nothing. So I then sent a text message can you believe, which I regretted the minute I sent it. I can’t believe you have just sent that I thought.
To my amazement my inbox had a response in it that night, saying he could maybe see me that Friday if I could make it, it was a hard decision that took me about 0.01 seconds to decide to go!! This was what I had been trying to achieve since July. And after a brief meeting at Balpa, emails, telephone calls and one text message, I had finally ground him down. One word of warning, I think I did push my luck at times, and I had nothing to lose because I had Ryanair, I would maybe not have been so forward had this not been the case. I don’t want to advocate sending text messages to Chief Pilots will get you a job!!
I had the interview on the Friday, this was the big one. Every company is different and they all have their own process, and as interviews go this was pretty relaxed, it really was a case of are you a good bloke and would I want to sit next to you on a multi sector day, without wanting to kill you!!
I eventually got the call the following week from him to say that I had been successful. I was practically shaking when I got off the phone, suddenly all the heartache and frustration was worth it. The best feeling in the world. I was pleased when I passed Ryanair, but this was different, for us financially it meant we would have some money left to get back onto the housing market! However I would have done Ryanair, and it is worth pointing out although it was going to cost a lot, it would have given me great experience and their training is well recognized. They have also been very prompt regarding information and admin, so don’t believe everything you read regarding Ryanair.
In a strange way Ryanair is partly responsible for me pushing the guy at Bmi baby to see me before I started. I feel very fortunate indeed that it has worked out. You risk so much to pursue this career.
So that is my story, so far. I start early next year, when the next round of hard work begins and the next hill to climb shows its ugly face. I am at the very start of my aviation career and in no way do I pretend to be an expert with recruitment or the industry. I am sure others have done all of the above and have not had their lucky break yet, but hopefully it will happen. It is not an easy journey that is for sure, but if it was everyone would do it.
I think it is important to share the good news as well as the bad (and there is plenty of the latter on this site at times).
Never give up, and don’t be afraid to chase people or ring people, they’re after all only human. If you can get recommended by someone fantastic, but don’t think that will be enough on its own, follow it up, make yourself standout. Show you’re hungry for it and want it more than the next person. You certainly won’t be the only person who will have been recommended. Be under no illusion there is no shortage of low houred pilots with 200hrs looking for a job, so you have to make yourself standout. If you really want it, you can make it happen. I apologise for the length of this, I got slightly carried away!! I hope those that read this get something useful from it. All the very best and
be lucky.
Dan98
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Congratulations on the job!
I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to read an honest account of flight training and that if you persist and work hard there are opportunities out there.
It's certainly not always the case on this forum, and it's nice to see someone with an encouraging story rather than another dissatisfied tale.
Hope all goes well for you in the future- my boyfriend's out in Holland at the moment on the Ryanair type rating and enjoying it- although occasionally despairing at the work- but it will be well worth it as I'm sure you'd agree
Good Luck, Thistle
I just wanted to say how refreshing it is to read an honest account of flight training and that if you persist and work hard there are opportunities out there.
It's certainly not always the case on this forum, and it's nice to see someone with an encouraging story rather than another dissatisfied tale.
Hope all goes well for you in the future- my boyfriend's out in Holland at the moment on the Ryanair type rating and enjoying it- although occasionally despairing at the work- but it will be well worth it as I'm sure you'd agree
Good Luck, Thistle
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Thanks
....... for confirming what i pretty much thought. I live in a very remote part of Ireland, no flight schools or airports for 2 hrs drive. I done 20 ish hours when i lived in Cork, but lost my job, moved etc and every day it disheartens me as i want to progress to commercial level. I'm 24, self employed with a v.good income, but can't get credit due to a bad investment yrs ago. I want to be able to train, prob in Spain or somewhere i can hour build fast etc etc. At times i dispair, i feel every yr that passes, is one more wasted. Your story was a breath of fresh air, ie a normal guy pursuing the dream. Patrick
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Excellent post Dan, and glad to hear you got the job It's good to hear a positive story rather than the usual pessimism that you get on here! Best of luck with it,
Ox
It's good to hear a positive story rather than the usual pessimism that you get on here! Best of luck with it,Ox
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What is the role of safety pilot? I was under the impression a safety pilot was a well experienced guy who sat in as number three in the initial stages of line training of low hours guys, incase something went wrong.
As a 200hrs guy what exactly does the safety pilot do?
Regards
As a 200hrs guy what exactly does the safety pilot do?
Regards
Thread Starter
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Safety pilot
Smith,
I was a safety pilot on a King Air, which can be flown single pilot IFR. So you do not need a TR on that aircraft, if you are flying with someone else who has. Hence why you cannot log the hours, it is purely for experience, and depending on who you fly with and your level of experience depends on how much they will let you do. But it will get you in the evironment, which is great fun.
You're right, on an aircraft like the B737 a safety pilot would be sat behind a newely quailified FO incase they needed help, but that is different as a 737 is not licenced to be flown single pilot IFR etc....
Hope that clears it up for you.
Thanks to those who have read the post, glad you made it to the end without losing interest!!
Cheers
Dan98
I was a safety pilot on a King Air, which can be flown single pilot IFR. So you do not need a TR on that aircraft, if you are flying with someone else who has. Hence why you cannot log the hours, it is purely for experience, and depending on who you fly with and your level of experience depends on how much they will let you do. But it will get you in the evironment, which is great fun.
You're right, on an aircraft like the B737 a safety pilot would be sat behind a newely quailified FO incase they needed help, but that is different as a 737 is not licenced to be flown single pilot IFR etc....
Hope that clears it up for you.
Thanks to those who have read the post, glad you made it to the end without losing interest!!
Cheers
Dan98
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Thanks and well done !
Hi Dan i just wanted to say well done and it is really good to hear that you got through it all with so many commitments and with so many risks. I am only 18 and i am halfway through my ppl exams with a view of going to the states in febuary to start my long and winding road to success, and if times get hard which no doubt they will I will remember your story and how hard you tried to achieve your dream,
Thanks
Chris
Thanks
Chris
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very interesting read Dan!
If you dont mind me asking, you mentioned you spent £500 on some pricess sim time, what sim did you use? and I'm guessing the instructor was very helpful?
Hope you enjoy going on line and do make a write up about your TR/Line training for us hopefuls....
will
If you dont mind me asking, you mentioned you spent £500 on some pricess sim time, what sim did you use? and I'm guessing the instructor was very helpful?
Hope you enjoy going on line and do make a write up about your TR/Line training for us hopefuls....
will
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Sim Time
Wbryce,
I used real simulation or what was Yorkshire Flying Centre, www.realsimulation.co.uk
before I did the ryanair assessment as they have a 737-200 which is what Ryanair use for the assessment. I also have family up that way, so didn't have to pay out for accommodation!!
The instructor there (Kevin) was very helpful. The sim if I am honest was old and battered, to be expected I guess, but it definitly gave me the practice i needed in order to perform on the day. My only complaint was the real lack of proper feedback through the controls which made trimming a challenge, but in a strange way it then made the sim that Ryanair used easier to fly!!
It was money well spent, thats for sure.
Cheers
Dan98
I used real simulation or what was Yorkshire Flying Centre, www.realsimulation.co.uk
before I did the ryanair assessment as they have a 737-200 which is what Ryanair use for the assessment. I also have family up that way, so didn't have to pay out for accommodation!!
The instructor there (Kevin) was very helpful. The sim if I am honest was old and battered, to be expected I guess, but it definitly gave me the practice i needed in order to perform on the day. My only complaint was the real lack of proper feedback through the controls which made trimming a challenge, but in a strange way it then made the sim that Ryanair used easier to fly!!
It was money well spent, thats for sure.
Cheers
Dan98
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Hi Dan,
Just as everyone else has said, Well done. I was at BFC the at same time as you and I must say I am so glad to see you doing well. I was reading your post thinking, yes i do remember feeling like that, sure it touches everyone in the same way.
You've given some hope to all us wannabes, best of luck with Baby (great callsign at least!!).
C99
Just as everyone else has said, Well done. I was at BFC the at same time as you and I must say I am so glad to see you doing well. I was reading your post thinking, yes i do remember feeling like that, sure it touches everyone in the same way.
You've given some hope to all us wannabes, best of luck with Baby (great callsign at least!!).
C99
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If anyone deserves this Dan 98 does.
I'm in that horrible period between flight school and getting my first interview. Dan 98 is a reminder to keep the faith.
Congrats.
Cloud 99 - You won't be far behind......
Grandma.....
I'm in that horrible period between flight school and getting my first interview. Dan 98 is a reminder to keep the faith.
Congrats.
Cloud 99 - You won't be far behind......
Grandma.....
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Dreams come true.
Thank you so much for telling us your story . Truly inspirational...
My partner has just started with his PPL exams and has passed Air Law at the age of 29(he even can't get to sleep at night cause he is thinking of becoming a pilot). Our circumstances are very similar to yours and I know it is going to be a challenging time for both of us but your story has given me so much positive energy. I've always suported his dream but occasionally i still get really scared that maybe it is impossible or will drive us appart. Your story though, is a living proof to me, that if he wants it bad enough nothing can stop him of becoming a pilot. It is clear that we have to sacrifise a lot but we'll make it.
Once again, Thank You
Oh, and congratulations
. Truly inspirational...My partner has just started with his PPL exams and has passed Air Law at the age of 29(he even can't get to sleep at night cause he is thinking of becoming a pilot). Our circumstances are very similar to yours and I know it is going to be a challenging time for both of us but your story has given me so much positive energy. I've always suported his dream but occasionally i still get really scared that maybe it is impossible or will drive us appart. Your story though, is a living proof to me, that if he wants it bad enough nothing can stop him of becoming a pilot. It is clear that we have to sacrifise a lot but we'll make it.
Once again, Thank You
Oh, and congratulations
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Dan,
A massive well done, you deserve it. You're post didn't drag on at all, i really enjoyed reading it. I should finish my hour building this week and start my CPL, next week. As you pointed out there are so many highs and lows on this long winding road. It is so nice to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and not the usual gloom and doom that's normally posted on here. Best of luck with the TR. Keep us posted on your progress.
Andy
A massive well done, you deserve it. You're post didn't drag on at all, i really enjoyed reading it. I should finish my hour building this week and start my CPL, next week. As you pointed out there are so many highs and lows on this long winding road. It is so nice to hear that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and not the usual gloom and doom that's normally posted on here. Best of luck with the TR. Keep us posted on your progress.
Andy
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Congrats Dan, Its nice to know that there are some positive stories in this industry and that with enough effort people can reach their objectives. Hope all works well for you, and everyone else looking for jobs too, give it a few months and i´m going to be out there looking too.
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Well done
Dan98,
An excellent read.
I could not have happened to a nicer guy. BABY are getting a top class pilot will buckets of determination..
Your 'novel' paints a very clear picture about the hardship each person will go through to achieve that ultimate goal. Its a very tough road but as you have shown, with proper planning, hardwork and sacrifice you have achieved that which we all want. the first jet job!!
Congratulation to you and your family.
Ps. dont forget, i want the first jump seat!
yak-yak
An excellent read.
I could not have happened to a nicer guy. BABY are getting a top class pilot will buckets of determination..
Your 'novel' paints a very clear picture about the hardship each person will go through to achieve that ultimate goal. Its a very tough road but as you have shown, with proper planning, hardwork and sacrifice you have achieved that which we all want. the first jet job!!
Congratulation to you and your family.
Ps. dont forget, i want the first jump seat!
yak-yak