Buggington

I'm not too sure which is the CTC Modular route, but I think it's the Wings Takeoff, as below.

CTC Wings Takeoff | CTC Wings

Prices can be found here, but I think there's something missing. I added up the values in the table and it came out as £36k.

Even at smaller flight schools the costs come out at circa £50k for a modular course, so I would say something's missing. They might have done it on absolute minimum hours (I wouldn't be surprised), but I would fire off an email to them to find out how much it would cost.

Do you have any plans to visit any of the flight schools? Before you set your heart on any school, visit them a few times. While Oxford and CTC are pretty much the same on paper, I felt personally wouldn't have felt comfortable spending £100,000 of my money with them and despite having visited other training schools which offer an integrated course I still like CTC the most.

I might add that this is just my opinion and that I'm not trying to sell you CTC - go where you feel comfortable (if/when you make the decision).

CPL

Friend of mine has just gone CTC finishing off. he had a ppl and ATPL exams complete. Cost £37000 for the rest to be done and an additional £7000 for an MCC and other bits and bats that they can wank about and hopefully get a job quicker. Do your college course and get high grades and then you can always have something to fall back on over time maybe go uni. the industry at the moment isnt the best but if its something you want to do then go for it, no ones stopping you from flying. Remember don't do the work for the money

with that said, ive doing modular. outcome overall cost will be around £30-40k and im just on to doing my CPL. There will be many people in my position that read this and all i can say is Good luck guys. Hopefully we will all be up there one day. Hopefully

CAT3C AUTOLAND

Chaps,

Its all well and good diving into training, however, one of the FIRST things you should consider is getting a class 1 medical. If, for any reason you are not granted one from the CAA any training you do, will be a waste of time and money, so book yourself an appointment with the CAA and get it.

There is lots of useful info on this site using the search function, regarding pros and cons of all routes in the industry and lots of sound advice and experience from guys that have been there and done it.

The whole process will require a tremendous amount of research and thought. It will also require a tremendous amount of dedication and hard work, and lots of ups and downs, however, if you love flying and aviation, the rewards it brings are very satisfying.

I wish you all the best with it.

Cheers.

Buggington

I second CAT3C's idea.

Just thought of the following:

If you're bored and have half an hour to spare, then I would recommend you watch the programme below. I watched it earlier; it gives you a pretty good idea of what you might be getting into and the current state of the industry. I apologise if it's a little harsh, but it will give you an excellent idea of what people are talking about on this forum when they complain about how they're treated in a company.

Of course, Ryanair is the lowest of the low, but at the moment it (or EasyJet) is likely to be where you are having finished training.

Dispatches - Ryanair: Secrets from the Cockpit - Channel 4

Ben-Stoke

Thanks for the great replies, I was thinking of going to look around some local flying schools soon and see what I think and what they have to say. Once I am in my second year of college, I was thinking of going to look around the larger flying schools such as Oxford and CTC.

I hear from my one of my friends Dads that doing the Modular route 9/10ths of the time works out cheaper.

After I have had a look around the local schools and 100% put my mind on what route I am going to take I shall arrange a Class 1 medical.

This time last year, I did my first flying taster/lesson and thoroughly enjoyed it at Blackpool, just thought I'd let you all know

Ben-Stoke

Regarding the Class 1 medical - When I was about 12 I had a corneal lacceration basically a scratch and small tear to the cornea, however it has healed 100% and I would never have known it happened.

I just wanted to know whether this could make me fail the medical.

I only though of this because I was looking at the medical review sheet on the CAA's website.

Daydreaming

I am contemplating becoming a pilot. I have worked in a few different industries in the past and am now thinking of moving into aviation to become a pilot.

I have never been that person who as a kid always wanted to be a pilot. I have flown for a few hours and enjoyed it, but never was the type of person who wanted to be a pilot and only that. I have lots of fleeting interests and am nervous that I will pile 100,000 dollars into flying and after a few years I'll want to move on and do something else.

My father was a pilot and I guess I never wanted to follow his footsteps as a kid I was more interested in creative fields and carving my own path. As I got to my mid twenties it hit me "why have I never thought about being a pilot"? I began researching, asking more questions and getting excited about the prospect. I applied for a couple of cadetships that I was eligible for and was rejected on multiple occasions. This obviously affected my confidence and I now am questioning myself as to whether this is a smart move.

I wonder if there is anyone else out there who has been in a similar situation or knows of anyone who is in the same boat who can share their experiences?

If not feel free to chime in and give your thoughts and opinions. Is flying really for those who cannot bear doing anything else with their lives?

Malkovitch

Hi,
First of all I have done lots of research but the more I read the more disheartened I get.
I am 34 and moved to Brugge, Belgium 2 years ago. My partner is from here and she wanted to move back. I have spent that time learning the language (Dutch) whilst working part time for a large animal pharmacy. (I did 12 years in England as a Veterinary Nurse, GF is a Vet).
Now that my language studies have finished and my original job doesn't really exist here in Belgium I decided to look into fulfulling my lifelong dream of becoming a pilot.
I recently (2 weeks ago) had my COMPASS selection test for the BAFA flight school in Antwerp and I'm pleased to say that I passed. I have been offered a place to start 9th September. Problem is I am now having doubts.
The more I read on here and other forums/websites it seems to paint a very negative image of the airline industry.
The training that I will undergo is integrated full time and will cost 83,700 euros. It seems that once that is completed and I have my frozen ATPL I will then need a type rating. If I want to go down that route. Am I right in thinking that the airlines rarely pay for this nowadays? As far as I can tell people are paying for this themselves and this is encouraging the airlines to duck out of the costs. Which i can understand from their point of view.
But anyway my initial excitement 2 weeks ago is all but gone. I could end up with debts of over 100,000 euros and be none the better for it.
I truly do want to fly for a living and to be honest I would be happy doing any flying job from pottering about in a small prop plane, flying rich business people in private jets or all the way up to a full blown airline job. Hell I would even crop dust if I got paid for it. I was truly shocked at the level of wages you start at, but that I can live with as I know it will pay off in the end.
But what I really want to know is:
Is there a 'bright' future persuing a career in the airline industry? Is it worth the huge finicial risk? What is the current/projected job market like? Am I too old?
I know these have been asked millions of times before, but I just keep getting conflicted views. I am on the verge of making one of the biggest decisions of my life and I don't want to regret it - either way.
Any advice from those in the industry/studying/recent graduates etc would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks in advance for you replies. You may be as harsh as you like, I can take it!

Ben-Stoke

Daydreaming, you could try doing your PPL first like I will be doing and then after finding a ground school where you'll be able to do you CPL, this way it is a lot cheaper and is called Modular, however if you have a lot money you could do an integrated course where you will do your PPL and CPL at the same place. However, for me this works out about £30,000 to £40,000 more.

Daydreaming

Hi Ben, thanks for the advice, I think this is probably the only way I can be sure. I mean if I come out the other end and I have a ppl a little bit of debt and a clearer mind to make a decision, I will be far better off. This is pretty much the best idea I could come up with also.

At the moment I am planning to do a year long integrated course, they reduce the cost of the ppl for those who do integrated. I wouldn't be able to afford modular as the Aus govt pays for integrated at some schools with a repayable loan over your career called "vet fee" vocational education training.

I think I'll just have to bite the bullet, take some time off work and do a ppl!

benish

First things first read this http://www.pprune.org/interviews-job...nt-market.html

Secondly go to Uni and get a degree first, before parting with 50-100k of money you won't see again unless your in the lucky 5% (probably less) who get hired.

Wizbod7

Hey guys!

Need some opinions. My goal is to become a commercial pilot, I'm 23 years old and left school with not 1 gcse, not because of lack of ability but just had no career goals or ambition and was very immature!

A few years after leaving school I realised that becoming a commercial pilot is the path I wanted to take. I looked into it and found that my education needed improving so I've done that and now I'm in a position to take my A levels, which I understand are important for sponsored schemes.

The dilemma I have is whether I should start my A levels this September or wait a year and get some money behind me as I'm literally broke at this moment in time, and I find it hard, I can't bear it anymore, I feel the lack of money will affect my ability to achieve the highest grades, I'm from a poor family so I cannot get support from them.

If I do decide not to start this year I will be 26 by the time I'm finished my A levels, would this be too old? I just don't know what to do as becoming a pilot is something I feel I must pursue! I understand how tough it is, and I must admit I do have second thoughts sometimes because if how unpredictable the aviation industry is but I can't see myself doing anything els until I've tried to achieve my goal!

Taking a year out will allow me to take my class 1 medical, start my ppl and save some money!

Please guys! I'm really in need of some guidance and would appreciate any input! What would you do?

Bealzebub

Firstly, well done on recognising the need to repair your education and actually doing something about it.

Is it possible to combine employment with your A-level courses so that you can address both your educational ambitions and your practical need for income? If you can, that might be well worth considering. I sympathise with your predicament, but given your motivation this option might allow you the flexibility to set your own timescales for A-level attainment and possibly a PPL as well, all within a reasonable timescale.

You can also apply for whatever sponsorships (such as GAPAN) and other assistance that may be available. The odds may be stacked against you, but you certainly have nothing to lose, and you stand as much chance as anybody else who shows motivation, commitment, and desire.

You are right, it is a tough industry to break into and I don't think it is likely to get any less tough. I think your broad game plan is a sensible way to proceed at this stage given your resources. If you can combine and accelerate those plans as much as possible (which obviously won't be easy and will need a lot of extra time commitment,) you would probably be doing yourself a favour.

look at night school, correspondence courses, assistance from your local education authority with regards to the A-levels, and at the same time look for employment that allows you to finance (and hopefully save a bit) your life, over a 12-18 month timescale to complete an accelerated course if you can do this.

Also try getting down to your local airport and seeing if there are any opportunities there to find some additional work, even if it is weekend odd jobs. That sort of thing can help you feel motivated, involved, and can in itself open up the opportunity for the odd ride, lesson, or opportunity. It also sometimes provide the resource to "network" with people who can provide valuable information, that may well help you later.

Wizbod7

Hi, and thanks for your response, much appreciated!


I do believe it would be possible to combine the 2, I'm just concerned working may jeopardise my grades, that's the last thing I was as I'm aiming to achieve the highest possible grade which will support my applications. Do you agree or do you think I could still obtain the highest grades if I were to combine the 2?


I do know about GAPAN as I have looked around their site before, it's really helpful! I will be applying for anything available as soon as I have made my final decision, which I haven't got long to make unfortunately.


Are you a pilot? If so what would you advise me to do if you were in my shoes? Is it something worth pursuing? Good balance of work/social life? Sorry for all the questions I just want to be satisfied with my final decision as I don't want to waste more time of my life, I need to make something of myself, I'm fully determined to succeed, I just need support and guidance!

Thanks again!

Shamrock 84T

Hello everyone, I'm from Ireland and currently I'm working my way toward becoming a professional pilot via the modular method at AFTA Cork. For several reasons I have decided on this approach the first one being money, although my father works in the public service as you may know our country has been suffering imormously for over 5 years now and his pay is a 1/3 of what it used to be whilst expenditure has increased during those years, but hey it's where we are and it ain't gonna stop me, I hope.

I'm 19. And I love my passion for this so much it takes my life over at times, I work Mondays to Fridays to support my family and pay for my training and to have an actual social life also which comes third after flying which is my second priority, family is and will always be first. To make sure this was the right career to be going down I passed my Class 1 medical with flying colours last week, as I work weekdays I will complete my PPL at the weekends until I receive my licence, I will then seek a loan to carryout my ATPL course. This whole process I estimate will take me just over 2 years, my questions are;

1) When I have completed my ATPL what happens next?

2) How likely am I to get a job following the completion of this process?

I'd also like some of your opinions with regards my method of doing this, I really appreciate you reading this and would like to hear your views which would be massively appreciated.

Bealzebub

As unhelpful as it might sound, the answer to both of your questions would be to spend a lot of time reading these forums and look at other peoples experiences.

There are a lot of people who acquire CPL/IR's every year and very few "jobs" for those that do. Then there is the question of what do you mean by "jobs?" Airline vacancies for pilots tend to be either at the experienced level or at the cadet level. The former tends to be in the 2000 hour plus range with significant previous experience (catch 22?) or in the case of the latter, usually via specific cadet training programmes. Both of these routes are very heavily subscribed.

In the middle, you have many thousands of would be hopefuls looking for the limited spectrum of (often) stepping stone jobs that are themselves both rare and keenly fought over.

Nobody can really answer your two questions for you other than to say you presumably look for a job and should plan for a long period of drought, with a realistic set of "what if" scenarios. Again, spend a lot of time researching, and look in some depth through these forums where your questions have been answered by those who have been in this position time and time again.

Good luck.

Yeager

Mate,

If you want to fly aeroplanes - do it. You already have a healthy priority at a young age - putting family just before flying. If your "family" does not include "your own" family (wags, kids etc.) keep going. Get your commercial license probably also the Instrument Rating and buzz off to Africa or Indonesia and get some fun flying experience and more importantly FLYING experience in order to proceed.

Good luck mate.

flyme19

I set out on my training when I was 19 and just beginning my IR now 3 years later. It took this long due to saving to fund where I am up to now.

My advice to you would be that you have 2-3 years of training to come. Jobs out there are slim at the moment and as I'm sure many people would echo on here, it's not what you do, it's who you know. For me personally I worked as cabin crew and this gives great contacts and insights into an airline.

So all I'd say is enjoy it and do whatever you can to get in and around the industry as you don't know what it might lead to in the future!

sudden twang

Is there a website anywhere that shows the proportion of modular fATPL holders who get jobs v integrated grads?

sudden twang

I'm still researching stats, I'm interested in the numbers going through training, modular/integrated split plus numbers that don't gain employment. I appreciate I may have to do the number crunching myself but if it's already been done......
It's entirely possible that I can return the favour in one form or another

Edited to say I've done it now what a task it was too.