Really disagree with you.
If you are trained to do the job and pass the exams it does not matter how old you are.

Plus your comment about uni... People get into LOTS of debt going to uni and most of the time people go to uni and dont even know what they want to do afterwards and end up doing a job where a degree would not be a "must have"

Least with flying training you can be sure that people do have a goal in their head.

Please dont get me wrong I am sure that quite a lot of ppl going to uni do have an ambition that requires them having a degree, but not all.

but at least they are qualified to obtain a better paid job provided the degree is core subject based...

Some people undertake degrees in 'Peace Studies' or Antopology... But these degrees have no relevant area....

Degrees are pratically a joke in this day and age. Only if you intend on becoming a Lawyer or a Doctor or any other specialist job are they worthwhile. For eveything else they are a "get your foot in the door" mechanism and a very expensive and time consuming one at that.

Even as a computer programmer i learnt vastly more at both A-level and the first couple of months of my job than i did at Uni. If i had not gone i would probably be earning vastly more than i do now too.

A lot of people just see it as an easy 3 year pissup.

thats exactly what doing an non-core acdemic subject in a degree is - a 3 year piss up!!!!

Did mechanical engineering myself which pays quite well, so it wasnt a waste of time for me, it is what you make it i reckon!!!!!

If you are an A-level student and go into flying straight away, well your just plain mad in the head!!!! no-back up plan or anythin...

You might of learnt the most from your a-levels but what job outside of stacking shelves at tesco's are you supposed to get without a degree these days!!!!

From the Cabair website...

Its lucky none of the pilots in WW2 were under 25-26 otherwise we would have definately lost the war!:rolleyes:

That's partly the point about the foot in the door mechanism. But i don't think a degree is necessary for a high earning job. 4 friends i know who are aged about 23 are earning 30k and another is a plumber is on 40k. Of all the friend i know who went to uni, i don't think anyone is above 25k right now. And then you have to factor in the student loan.

Not that i'm a particularly care about money beyond spunking it all on flying. :p

I saw that magazine. Yes that same section, listed CTC and PTC as integrated FTOs alongside OAA and Cabair. Not exactly reliable information.

Part of the USP of PPRuNe is that we're not flying school employees, not magazines funded by flying school advertising, we're not even airline representatives. The advice you can get here is unique because it comes from the horse mouth with no vested interest.

WWW

...and another unique aspect of PPRuNE is we provide the collective memory some FTO's would prefer didn't exist.

Just a reminder that the HSBC loans had already been hugely restricted in recent years forcing wannabees into the arms of just one part of the industry.

There's a lot more to the flight training world and some utterly outstanding organisations long ignored by those fixated on the HSBC route. For the truly determined there's now a whole new world of choice.

The people eventually interviewing you know these schools - low profile but quiet legends. There is genuine cachet to them you'll not understand until you are actually flying professionally. This cachet actually extends to individual teachers and instructors - PPRuNe is where you'll hear of them.

Rob

corsair, i'm not sure what you're driving at - it was a straightforward quote from a guy with a large vested interest in taking lots of money from people who currently have little chance of getting a job at the end of his very very pricey course.

Unless we're supposed to not trust any media ever???

A very interesting debate.

I myself majored in Aerospace Engineering and graduated in summer 2007 from a UK university with honors. The idea was to get an edge over other rookies and to have a back-up. Also, the then state of economy scared me away from forking out even the mere 35k for modular training. Uhm ... has having an engineering degree now helped me find a pilot job with decent pay? Unfortunately I must say ... rather not. At least not to this point.

Now presuming I will be earning a good salary as a pilot in the next few years and supposedly am unfortunate to loose my medical in say 5, will I be able to work for Airbus or RR as an engineer not a mechanic (amazingly and graciously called engineers in the UK too, only God knows why) after that, after being years out of college? Rather not. Simply for the fact I just will not remember a thing of what I studied during my college days.

I am CP licensed with current ME/I ratings and am already flying for a living (admittedly SE VFR "only") but am finding it sooomewhat difficult to land that first elusive job on bigger aircraft. Trust me, have become veeery efficient in sending out CVs ... but the market seems to be inundated with pilots. Some of my friends, who, when I decided to get a degree first, started their flight training earlier and what are they doing now? Flyng 320s and 737s and other beauties and cashing in a couple of grand a month as they were ready when operators were hiring. Oh boy, how much do I wish to have started my training back then, too.

The point I am making is, a degree is not that much of relevance in the UK, as, for instance, it is in the US. It is the hours. And it is the time of training. History books suggest there have alway been economic downtimes but also highs and it is in downtimes when people need to start training so they are ready when pilot demand picks up. That being said, however, I do not mean going integrated and wasting an awful lot of money on training which in no way is any better than modular.

And now, fire away...