CTC Best Route

[Felissen]

Hi Everyone,

New to posting here, but have been a reader for a few years now. I have decided finally on my route to become a commercial pilot and chose CTC (WINGS) as my preferred FTO.

I took the assessment back in August and managed to pass first time also I have taken my 1st Class Medical last week and have been cleared to fly.

So what I'm debating right now is whether I should do NZ for both my ground school and flight training or start in January and do ground school in Southampton and the Flight Training in NZ.

Right now I'm thinking I would prefer to experience living in NZ for a year or so before coming back to the UK. However, my flight training will be starting May till January which is basically through the winter and into midsummer which isn't the most ideal weather whereas the Jan start has me doing flight training at the end of Winter till end of Summer.

Would it be a big advantage picking Jan over Nov? and what advice/experience do you guys have that you think could benefit me.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: Just to clarify I want to know if there's any pros/cons you can think of for Southampton vs New Zealand for ground school as well.

[byrondaf]

If you start in Jan, you'll finish the following June. A load of us got interviews and jobs within weeks of finishing, so was just the right time for us. Don't worry too much about this though, different airlines hire at different times. Flybe and Ryanair are all year round, easyJet seems to be May-September, but also Monarch, Thomas Cook and a few others have recruited unexpectedly too.

Groundschool, definitely do it in the UK. NZ was enjoyable, but Clearways is very isolated. 8 months was definitely a LONG time, let alone adding ground school onto that...quite a few cadet blogs going around that might be worth reading.

[Ilyushin76]

For me , NZ would have been the choice. I love that place

[Flaplesslanding]

I agree with Byrondaf. Couldn't have put it better myself really! Especially the part about 8 months in NZ being a LONG time. I loved it, but wouldn't have wanted to spend longer there than I did. It's also a long way back to Europe if you need to come back for any reason (family/medical issues etc), which is more likely to become an issue over 15 months than 8.

[Felissen]

Thanks guys for the responses!

So two for Jan and one for Nov; being isolated seems like it could be fun, and I know I would love NZ but if your saying 8 months feels like a LONG time Nov start would be pretty much double the time, so its food for thought. Will have a read of some more blogs especially the NZ bits.

You guys are starting to sway me more to a Jan start but would like a bit more feedback first before making my mind up!

[average-punter]

8 months certainly is a long time, especially in Clearways. Accomodation is a good standard but is very isolated. Transport can be an issue as you have to share cars in groups. Having said that NZ is a great country and you will have a brilliant time