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Extremely confused!

Old 3rd Sep 2012, 14:19
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Exclamation Extremely confused!

Hello everyone, my name is Mikhail. I am currently studying at high school in United Arab Emirates. It is english school with the english curriculum. I have just recieved my GCSE results, and so far the subjects that i have chosen for A-levels are all A*/A. Also i have started my A-level mathematics at the end of grade 10. I will soon be completing further mathematics. I am taking Music, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics for A-levels.
Now I have few questions to ask.
1) I am Russian, I have a Russian passport. I would like to find out if I will be considered as EU student when applying to University in UK.
2) I would really love to become an airline pilot, however i know it is really expensive. I have looked everywhere on the internet and there is just so much different information that confuses me so much! I need to know: if it is requiered to obtain PPL when entering university. When they say Pilot Studies does it actually mean they train you to become a pilot.
3) Maybe a very stupid question, but what is the difference between an aviation college and pilot studies in the university.
4) Is it possible for me to get scholarship if I am Russian at the UK university.
5) Could someone please give me a link about the courses at the university about piloting. Or some of the good unviresities in UK for piloting because I am completely clueless...
6) If I do go to the piloting university, do they take me all the way through from PPL to ATPL, or do I need to obtain those in different places.
Last one: Please could someone who has been in the similar situation share with me how to get up there! I have talked to my dad alot and he says he doesnt even know about the price, because it is so different everywhere else. Please I really need someone elses help.
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Old 3rd Sep 2012, 16:00
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(1) No, you'd be regarded as coming from outside the EU.

(2) Look at the individual courses, each one is different. Some provide a bit of training (e.g. Sheffield), some a full PPL (e.g. Brunel), some more:but those tend to be pretty weak courses academically (e.g. Bucks)

(3) These names are just that - what each institution decided to call the course. Look at the actual course content in each case, and to some extent the credibility of the university itself.

(4) It's possible, but those scholarships will almost certainly be from Russian organisations to allow their nationals to study abroad, not available in the UK.

(5) Brunel, Salford, Sheffield, Bucks, Leeds. [The websites are all easy to find www (dot) universityname (dot) ac (dot) uk

(6) Not really in Britain, if you are going to get a real degree, you have time maybe for the PPL and some hours - after that it's the engineering or science degree that will take up all of your time. It is fairly possible to use the long summer vacations to work on your ATPL groundschool, then you can go and do the CPL/IR/ME/MCC courses that add up to the fATPL in the couple of years after graduating. Not a quick, or necessarily cheap, way of doing it - but people have done it.

I would say, a degree is not a particularly clever route into professional flying. If you want a degree, do a degree in a subject that fascinates you. If you want to learn to fly - go and get on with it and start looking for professional pilot jobs.

Mixing the two is just a lot of work and money. Unless for example you go into the military or pursue an unusual career route such as test flying (which is incredibly hard to get into) you'll only use one of the two, so put your money and effort where it really matters to you.

There are institutions in the USA where you can do a rather lightweight "flight science" (or something like that) degree alongside flying training. They're pretty good on the flying side, but pretty weak academically most of them. Look at Embry Riddle as one of the best, or perhaps University of Central Missouri.
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Old 3rd Sep 2012, 21:46
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thank you so much for your reply!
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Old 4th Sep 2012, 00:17
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God don't even consider going to Embry Riddle UND or any of the other pseudo flying colleges we have here, the degrees are not worth the paper they are printed on and you will end up with a staggering debt load and not much of an education. Go to a good College, Moscow University has a pretty good rep. Major is something solid, not the Aviation Management BS Riddle cranks out. Then go to flight school, my pilot certificate says Airline Transport Pilot, not graduate of Riddle or UND! It not cheap. Why not give the Russian Armed Forces a shot? They do have some pretty interesting airplanes and helicopters. I will tell you that there are lots of good flight schools in the United States and we are very good at teaching people to fly, if we were not they would not come in the numbers that they do. The Europeans make it all way to complicated. Being a old flight instructor and bush pilot, I even think how great it would be to spend a couple of years hauling stuff around Siberia in an AN-2! One more thing sonny, its a tough road to get to the airlines, tougher still to stay employed and have some sort of retirement. Flying for a living is really the pits. Ask any pilot who been pushing an airplane around 30 years or more with the second and third tier airlines. Its were most that started out to go to the flag carriers end up. I last aircraft I flown was 65 years old, a pile of junk but it was a job, I can now say that I have Wright R-1300 time. That and 4 bucks an I can get an over priced cup of coffee at starbuck's
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Old 4th Sep 2012, 00:47
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Get a degree in something other than aviation. Then try to go to flight school in u.s. Its cheaper there. If you really want to start early get all your flying licenses first and then go to college like an online one or something while possibly already flying for a living. In aviation the sooner you start the better. also I heard in Russia, unlike everyhere else where flightschools are just claiming it to attract more students there actually is a shortage of pilots so try to get a job there. if you gonna get your licenses somewhere else and then fly in Russia find out how hard it is to covert them to the Russian ones first.UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO NOT GET YOUR COLLEGE DEGREE IN FLYING.

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Old 4th Sep 2012, 23:20
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What do you mean do not get your college degree in flying? What am i supposed to do then?
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Old 6th Sep 2012, 19:21
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step by step

Hi, you don't need a university degree to be a pilot, it's good though that you get as much as you can.
What I first recomend you is, regarding your age is go to flying school, aeroclub for example, start from a Private Pilot Licence, then you see if you like it, after that, begin adding hours to your log book, in the main time you continue university in any subject, when you colect 200 hours, do an ATPL 6 month theory course, finish all exams and you will have to do the practice, CPL-ME-IR.
But, if you don't have an EU passport you will never be elegible for working in any EU country. You can try to do the same in Russia.
One thing is true, you can do an EASA licence and then convert to any country with more or less paper work.
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Old 6th Sep 2012, 21:52
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Don't bother getting a degree unless a. It's in a subject you are generally interested in and b. it is in a subject, and from an institution, with some academic merit. By this I mean a rigorous academic subject from (in the U.K.) a Russell Group institution. "Aviation" degrees from dubious institutions will carry little weight with employers of all kinds. "Aviation" is not an academic subject so how can you do a degree in it?! (Contrast with aeronautical engineering, or similar).

As others have suggested if you're sure you want to be a pilot, get on with it straight away. Flying training is expensive enough without first incurring student debt!
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Old 10th Sep 2012, 03:39
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Like I said in my post earlier. To be a pilot all you need is licenses ratings and experience/hours. You do not need a college degree in aviation. Go to a regular flight school and get all of the above except the degree. get your degree in something else that you like.

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Old 10th Sep 2012, 06:56
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Russia needs pilots, but they don't hire foreigners. Try searching on a Russian pilot forum. A Russian friend of mine became captain at Aeroflot by 25 years old. I heard Aeroflot is setting up their own school to meet the demand.
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Old 10th Sep 2012, 19:24
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If you actually read his post he is a Russian citizen.
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Old 17th Sep 2012, 22:08
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Mutar5 how long are you gonna be in the UAE?
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