FTE starting course
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Anyone starting any sort of Integrated flight training currently needs their heads examining. The premise one could start now to get ahead and be ready just simply doesn't work. Airlines are going broke and there's no sign of improvement anytime soon. Throwing 100k into the fire is of no use to anyone. By the time you finish the very best you can hope for is for any airline to still be in business! Notwithstanding the thousands of experienced guys ahead of you.
Join Date: Nov 2017
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There will be a shortage of pilots... because of a shortage of airlines... because of a shortage of passengers... because of a shortage of Covid Vaccinations. I have a shortage of keys.
Do people still going into Integrated training not read what's happening in the world right now? Please be realistic and face the facts.
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Anyone starting an integrated course in the second half of 2020 will never get a job in Europe, they’ll fail the mandatory EASA psychological assessment when they go for any airline interview.
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Completely unrelated, would you interested in purchasing some magic beans? Plant them and the tree will grow money for your integrated course, and to keep your 737/320 rating current incase you don’t get a job after you graduate from FTE. Not that you’ll need it, there will be a shortage of pilots next year!
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Join Date: Feb 2020
Location: Milano
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I agree that even for 2021/2022 the demand for pilots will be nil, these perspectives are very changeable according to the course of the situation, but I really think that everything will start again.
Join Date: Aug 2001
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As eloquently alluded to above, I would hold off parting with a substantial sum of cash now on an ab-initio course. If you are just out of high-school I'd consider some college course for a few years (preferably non-aviation related) and see what state the industry is in down the line. In the meantime maybe do a PPL if you want to get flying but I wouldn't go any further than that. Just my 2 cents.
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Join Date: Feb 2020
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Yeah, that is an intelligent idea, because also a degree is important in aviation right now. But I'm looking only if there is someone that is going to start at fte or that is currently doing the course in order to ask him/her some questions.
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Optimistic to be sure.
I'm sure the remaining, slimmed down and streamlined airlines will be crying out for newly minted, inexperienced pilots when there is a vast raft of highly experienced laid off flight crew available who are cheaper to train back up and have a proven record.
Good luck.
Perhaps 5 years but 1 or 2? Not in my humble opinion.
I'm sure the remaining, slimmed down and streamlined airlines will be crying out for newly minted, inexperienced pilots when there is a vast raft of highly experienced laid off flight crew available who are cheaper to train back up and have a proven record.
Good luck.
Perhaps 5 years but 1 or 2? Not in my humble opinion.
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Call FTE and ask them all the questions in the world... they’ll be more than happy to answer... in fact they may even bite your hand off and send you a ‘free information pack’ complete with a free lanyard. Then for just a small fee you could visit them to sit in their shiny planes and post as many pilot selfies as you like on your social media. Then for just a little bit more you could pay to fly said shiny plane and it goes on and on and on...
Without wanting to encourage anyone too much, I would point out that generally the best time to start (not to finish!) training is in a downturn. That has certainly been the case in the past. At what point in the downturn it makes sense to jump back in is the question. For those with long memories BA did not hire anyone for around ten years in the seventies and eighties. I know a few people who spent twenty years in the right seat, followed by a generation where some people got a wide body command (767) relatively quickly.
Join Date: Aug 2016
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The truth is, nobody knows how this is going to play out. If you start now, you will finish in spring 2022 or thereabouts. After that, if you factor in 12-18 months to find a job, you might not be far off that timeline. Just be realistic about the situation and have a plan B in case it takes you one or two years to get a job following course completion. The aforementioned plan B should include how you're going to cover your living expenses and how you're going to stay current flying-wise and maintain a good level of theoretical knowledge. Also, make sure that you get a comprehensive loss of training expenses insurance as no school is completely financially secure, especially these days and no matter what the marketing department tell you.
Join Date: Feb 2010
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Just a note of caution. In a 'normal' downturn airlines might park up a hull or two but often they will just alter rotations and utilise aircraft less thus reducing the need for flight crew as the seasonal flying will be reduced albeit often with increased downtime. At this point headcount reductions are made as the new fleet plans require less flight crew. When the industry 'picks up' those hulls are already there and their utilisation increases increasing the need for flight crew.
This mess is fundamentally different. 'Some' people want to fly but the vast majority are confused by the mess of differing requirements, rules, tests and quarantines that it makes flying simply not worth the effort. Airlines have reduced and scrapped aircraft. An A380 is crewed at around 8-10 crews per airframe, the jumbo was similar. Those aircraft are gone. Not parked, gone. Airframe utilisation is right down at bottom and still companies are laying off flight crew.
This is not a normal downturn. This will take concerted, coordinated effort from all countries of the world to produce a standardised, safe and accurate system of ensuring safe flights from COVID. Personally I don't think we will see a return to 2019 levels for at least 5-6 years. LH pilots will migrate back to SH to keep current and then will trickle back to LH as the routes open up.
By all means go for flight training if that is what your heart is set on but be well aware that the time scales may be long and you might need to budget for keeping your shiny CPL valid while all of the 1000+ experienced, qualified and type rated pilots are sucked up ahead of you.
(Lederhosen, some got the 767 as it was a 'dying' fleet which dropped LH to do SH and no-one wanted it. SH became so onerous that you could get a command within a year or two. Lifestyle has become the currency of choice for fleet decisions at BA!)
This mess is fundamentally different. 'Some' people want to fly but the vast majority are confused by the mess of differing requirements, rules, tests and quarantines that it makes flying simply not worth the effort. Airlines have reduced and scrapped aircraft. An A380 is crewed at around 8-10 crews per airframe, the jumbo was similar. Those aircraft are gone. Not parked, gone. Airframe utilisation is right down at bottom and still companies are laying off flight crew.
This is not a normal downturn. This will take concerted, coordinated effort from all countries of the world to produce a standardised, safe and accurate system of ensuring safe flights from COVID. Personally I don't think we will see a return to 2019 levels for at least 5-6 years. LH pilots will migrate back to SH to keep current and then will trickle back to LH as the routes open up.
By all means go for flight training if that is what your heart is set on but be well aware that the time scales may be long and you might need to budget for keeping your shiny CPL valid while all of the 1000+ experienced, qualified and type rated pilots are sucked up ahead of you.
(Lederhosen, some got the 767 as it was a 'dying' fleet which dropped LH to do SH and no-one wanted it. SH became so onerous that you could get a command within a year or two. Lifestyle has become the currency of choice for fleet decisions at BA!)