F/O on a 737 at just 19
Hovering AND talking
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Ivor, I'm sure if, at the age of 17 you wanted to go through to fATPL and your parents could fund it, they would have done. We all have different circumstances, some may be harder than others.
I can commend this lad's dedication instead of the social pressures he was no doubt under to go out with his mates, pull and get pished!
Cheers
Whirls
PS - I'm following your option 2 by the way!!
PPS - even when I was at home, my mother mother stopped getting me my breakfast when I was about 8!!
I can commend this lad's dedication instead of the social pressures he was no doubt under to go out with his mates, pull and get pished!
Cheers
Whirls
PS - I'm following your option 2 by the way!!
PPS - even when I was at home, my mother mother stopped getting me my breakfast when I was about 8!!
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Not a record by any means, but fair bloody play to the chap for his acheivements none the less!
After some ear bending and grovelling I was lucky enough to secure the flying training through the old man, he figured, "sod it, you can't take it with you and the lad seems keen" I was 24 at the time!
The source of his funding should not be subject to discussion, some can some can't and others want it so much they just make things happen themselves.
The edge this chap may have had, was his route in through his father, fortunate yes, but I doubt his pops sat his ATPL exams, his CPL, his IR, MCC and type rating for him did he?????......... There are many on this forum who have already overcome each of these commercial training benchmarks and may well be of the opinion that after this much jumping through hoops, the boy deserved his job!
To those sat twiddling their thumbs waiting for that illusive first job??? Your time will come my friends!!
Regards
CR
After some ear bending and grovelling I was lucky enough to secure the flying training through the old man, he figured, "sod it, you can't take it with you and the lad seems keen" I was 24 at the time!
The source of his funding should not be subject to discussion, some can some can't and others want it so much they just make things happen themselves.
The edge this chap may have had, was his route in through his father, fortunate yes, but I doubt his pops sat his ATPL exams, his CPL, his IR, MCC and type rating for him did he?????......... There are many on this forum who have already overcome each of these commercial training benchmarks and may well be of the opinion that after this much jumping through hoops, the boy deserved his job!
To those sat twiddling their thumbs waiting for that illusive first job??? Your time will come my friends!!
Regards
CR
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basically the reason this was in the paper/discussed on the radio is because 90% of the british public have absolutely no idea how to actually get to the RHS of an airliner. it just seems strange to a lot of us because we know that this scenario is highly achievable given the right circumstances.
im about to start at oat and with any luck and a lot of hard work i'll finish 4 days before my 21st birthday and it would have been a year sooner if i hadnt decided to sort out my a level results and get some money together...but i can guarantee if i'd had the money to do some more flying when i was younger i would have worked my arse off to qualify as soon as humanly possible and im sure im not alone in that. as it happened i had to scrape around for all the free flying i could get in the ccf.
at the end of the day you play the hand you're dealt, and well done to this guy and ANYBODY ELSE who sets out what they want to achieve and does it with the resources available to them.
as for young pilots in general, i think theres a lot more nowadays pursuing it instead of university simply because of the rising costs of a uni education - if you're forced to choose, uni is 3/4 years - flying is for the rest of your working life (fingers crossed).
im about to start at oat and with any luck and a lot of hard work i'll finish 4 days before my 21st birthday and it would have been a year sooner if i hadnt decided to sort out my a level results and get some money together...but i can guarantee if i'd had the money to do some more flying when i was younger i would have worked my arse off to qualify as soon as humanly possible and im sure im not alone in that. as it happened i had to scrape around for all the free flying i could get in the ccf.
at the end of the day you play the hand you're dealt, and well done to this guy and ANYBODY ELSE who sets out what they want to achieve and does it with the resources available to them.
as for young pilots in general, i think theres a lot more nowadays pursuing it instead of university simply because of the rising costs of a uni education - if you're forced to choose, uni is 3/4 years - flying is for the rest of your working life (fingers crossed).
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Congrats to this guy. Well done. All those with jealous reactions, put a sock in it and realise that for him it is no easier to get this far than for most others.
Last edited by soullimbo; 10th Mar 2009 at 19:34.
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Haven't read all the posts, but jealosy isn't the issue.
The fact is, if someone put up the cash, all the guy had to worry about was concentrating on the course. OK, you need a minimum level of brainpower (and a good schooling goes a long way to help), but that's all. Age is irrelevant. A much younger kid could do it.
Then you have to get a job. Helped by someone with influence, again no big deal. Age irrelevant once again, then.
But this is the revealing comment.....
Now that does sound like a guy who's too young.
I guess that in Titan the Cabin Crew make all the decisions, based upon their years of experience.
Love to get him in the simulator with a raw F/O and see how much he'd manage to do 'just the same as a Captain'.
The fact is, if someone put up the cash, all the guy had to worry about was concentrating on the course. OK, you need a minimum level of brainpower (and a good schooling goes a long way to help), but that's all. Age is irrelevant. A much younger kid could do it.
Then you have to get a job. Helped by someone with influence, again no big deal. Age irrelevant once again, then.
But this is the revealing comment.....
As first officer you do pretty much the same as the captain
I guess that in Titan the Cabin Crew make all the decisions, based upon their years of experience.
Love to get him in the simulator with a raw F/O and see how much he'd manage to do 'just the same as a Captain'.
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Ivor, I'm sure if, at the age of 17 you wanted to go through to fATPL and your parents could fund it, they would have done. We all have different circumstances, some may be harder than others.
I can commend this lad's dedication instead of the social pressures he was no doubt under to go out with his mates, pull and get pished!
I can commend this lad's dedication instead of the social pressures he was no doubt under to go out with his mates, pull and get pished!
To be honest, learning to fly full time is already a privilege,especially when somebody else is paying the all the bills. I don't see it a big sacrifice to hold back from having an outrageous social life. Having said that, if money is not an issue, one can easily afford to do full time flight training AND even have a social life. No one is going to be studying more than 8 hours a day are they ?
Once again, everybody is praising this outstanding achievement, but give any of us keen PPLs a year off work, 60 grand to spare, a dad Captain in an airline and I can show you a lot of people are capable of that amazing achievement
Hovering AND talking
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I'm not sure I get this concept of privilege? Someone (unless we're talking about the Landed Gentry under the feudal system) had to work hard to pay for their children's education - what parent wouldn't do that IF they could afford it.
My parents worked very hard to end up with a good income etc and yes, they helped fund my degree and, indirectly now, my flying training. Am I privileged? Or is it an accident of birth? In the meantime, I have also worked hard to achieve many things which also contribute to my flying funding.
Everyone's circumstances are different and whatever their circumstances, their achievements should not be decried.
Cheers
Whirls
My parents worked very hard to end up with a good income etc and yes, they helped fund my degree and, indirectly now, my flying training. Am I privileged? Or is it an accident of birth? In the meantime, I have also worked hard to achieve many things which also contribute to my flying funding.
Everyone's circumstances are different and whatever their circumstances, their achievements should not be decried.
Cheers
Whirls
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seriously, everyone can do it...as long as you have money, you just have to start flying earlier it is just about mathematics!...
19,20,21 y/o what's the matter ?! the most important is that everyone is happy in a cocpkit.
And be humble...
19,20,21 y/o what's the matter ?! the most important is that everyone is happy in a cocpkit.
And be humble...
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Congratulations to him indeed. Although i am fairly envious of the ease in which his training was financed for him. If most of us were given the money to commence training so early i'm sure this would become more and more frequent. Nevertheless well done to him.
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Are you guys serious? I would imagine that the reason he`s in the paper is because someone (possibly a reporter) has noticed how young he was and thought hey, that`ll make a good article. Pilot training costs are phenomenol these days, How else are you going pay for it besides help from your folks? Good on him I say, he`s doing well and lets face: experience is great, but proper training and common sense goes along way to making a safe operation.
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Are you guys serious? I would imagine that the reason he`s in the paper is because someone (possibly a reporter) has noticed how young he was and thought hey, that`ll make a good article. Pilot training costs are phenomenol these days, How else are you going pay for it besides help from your folks? Good on him I say, he`s doing well and lets face: experience is great, but proper training and common sense goes along way to making a safe operation.
But to be fair to the lad, he's played the hand he's dealt and there's nothing wrong with that. The only thing is that most wish they had it on a plate as much as this.
I think this thread is taken out of context anyway, afterall we all know how little a grip the papers have on aviation, especially local papers (like the one this story started out in). It was obviously a slow news day and the journo thought (with his complete lack of knowledge of how to get into the RHS of an airliner), hmmm I didn't know you could do that at 19, that's worth a story and BANG there it is, and here's this thread
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up at 6 am work a day and studay at night
Ivor
I agree entirely with your 2 types of student pilot and i fall into the second category. Mortgage to sort out, car to pay, job to do and then come home at 7pm cook, clean and only then pull out the books.
It is frustrating looking at the boy with it all on a silver spoon. Who wakes up at 9am. Daddy paying strolls down to the airfield gets fresh air, pulls out a book or two goes and chats about flying for an hour or two. Gets in a couple of hours of hour building comes home and has dinner served up.
And with no financial worries he is having the time of his life
I agree entirely with your 2 types of student pilot and i fall into the second category. Mortgage to sort out, car to pay, job to do and then come home at 7pm cook, clean and only then pull out the books.
It is frustrating looking at the boy with it all on a silver spoon. Who wakes up at 9am. Daddy paying strolls down to the airfield gets fresh air, pulls out a book or two goes and chats about flying for an hour or two. Gets in a couple of hours of hour building comes home and has dinner served up.
And with no financial worries he is having the time of his life
Hovering AND talking
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Why do you find it frustrating? We all have choices in life and, as someone said earlier, we play the hand we are dealt to the best of our ability.
Cheers
Whirls
Cheers
Whirls
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My problem is not particularly with nepotism- It has always happened, and always will whether we like it or not. The question I have, is- was this acievement actually newsworthy? Especially when hiring cadet junior officers at a pretty young age is the norm. And those that have, seemingly earned their positions through scholarship or sponsorship or by just being top of ther class or thereabouts. I by no means imply that this chap is not a high achiever- he most likely is to have been considered for that position. But didn't the editor stop to think that there may by not-so- subtle undertones of nepotism- epecially in this modern age of 'equal opportunities'?. This looks like one of those 'space plugger' stories- slow day at the press, though I imagine that the story will be of some interest in his local area/county press, but a national story??? A couple years from now there would be another story much like this one, and most would have forgotten Eds achievement.
Strange though...I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that he is a product of the modular route. Now that is newsworthy.
Strange though...I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that he is a product of the modular route. Now that is newsworthy.
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Of course! This is ONLY being debated as a result of its news appearance, as mentioned previously, we simply cannot comment on the chap's assistance as the requirements are the same.
Out of the norm for us?...Probably not!
A smiley story Worthy of a few column inches amidst a paper full of conflict and political bullshine? Great ,why the hell not!
We should be a wee bit more supportive me thinks, if not for the fact that on the very next page, there was more likely than not a tale of some lad the same age in a hoodie, smashing **** out of a pensioner for his walking stick and parker jacket.
Regards
CR
Out of the norm for us?...Probably not!
A smiley story Worthy of a few column inches amidst a paper full of conflict and political bullshine? Great ,why the hell not!
We should be a wee bit more supportive me thinks, if not for the fact that on the very next page, there was more likely than not a tale of some lad the same age in a hoodie, smashing **** out of a pensioner for his walking stick and parker jacket.
Regards
CR