Airbus 320 Type Rating

[gwoods]

Hi all, just finished my MEIR a few months ago and now Im looking (like the rest of us) for a right hand seat to sit in for next few years of my life. Ive finally cleared my debt from my flight training, a great feeling i have to say, seeing my balance in the red for so long was making think about becoming a character out of Breaking Bad . Anyway I have a friend flying for a pretty big airline and he was saying if i was to get a type rating on the a320 i should be a cert for an interview and hopefully... A JOB!! I was wondering if anyone knew of any good TRTOs (preferably an affordable one and in Europe) that offers an Airbus TR. Its very hard to find any website that advertises cost and i don't want to call around leaving my details everywhere.

Any help would be appreciated!!

[fa2fi]

Your friend doesn't know what he's talking about. All you'll get buying a TR a without a job lined up is a bank balance that is very much into the red and most likely, no job. There are exceptions absolutely, but few buying speculative TRs actually get employed.

[appfo09]

May I ask in which TRTO are you going to do your TR?

[gwoods]

Sorry for the delay in reply guys, i think your right i wasn't willing to go looking for another loan from the bank, the last time it nearly killed me. I wasn't sure where was a good place to do a TR there aren't many at all in Ireland so id have to pay extra for my accommodation and travel. Any suggestions??

[Aeromar27]

It looks like you're a little out of the loop. People who have been flying for big airlines for a long time, normally have no idea about how things are going today for unemployed pilots. That notion that paying for a TR will increase your chances of employment in Europe, only shows that long established pilots have regressed to a naive perception of the industry. Today, in most cases, hours on type are key. Money will buy hours though.

Here's the thing. Today, a TR is simply not enough in most cases. Airlines which value a TR, also require you to have a certain amount of time on the type you're rated for. That's where PayToFly programs come in play. A trained pilot like you can pay some 50000€ and in exchange, you will get a type rating plus a couple hundred hours on type flying actual company routes. After you fly those 500h, they'd kick you out of the company in most cases, and and a new pay2flyer will hop on.

You should know that you're competing against people who are willing to, not only pay for a type rating, but to pay large sums of money to an airline, to be allowed to build time. To most of us, it's very unethical.

I'm not an expert, and I'm still not in that stage, but I would invest my money in a different route. Maybe an instructor rating? USA? Who knows anymore...