Your figures are off. 200 hours before the skills test, of which 100 PIC, 5 at night.

Hour building £10,000 or less depending on country and aircraft desired. PPL as little as £6500, ATPL £2500,CPL ME IR £16,000 at Bartolini. MCC + JOC- your choice. None of this comes anywhere close to your supposed £90,000.

Again, the wage for RYR and EZY are stated after line training of above £40k, unless the wikijobs figures are incorrect or I misunderstand them.

As was stated by another poster, if a company wants you to pay for a TR, you have a job flying that aircraft. Most would consider that an investment worth making.

Where are these airlines paying £1500 a month, I'll put them on my list as "most likely to hire me".

Cadet pilots in easyJet start on a lot less money. Their first year at easyJet they are contractors, ie not directly employed by easyJet.

Ah ok, I watched the program on ITV and they said £40k. Where do you get your information from?

Lucky the modular route won't take you to easyJet first as a general rule.

Don't believe everything you see on TV.

Husband is a long term captain at eJ in the UK. He's also one of the union reps there.
I'm a 10 year captain at NetJets Europe.

Interesting that EJ allowed it then.

Maybe you should see the program and see that it's sales program for CTC training. Cost £120.000 the ticket.

And there's me thinking it was just an interesting program for ITV. I'm far too naive for this game

You can compare some modular course costs here:
http://https://www.wingsalliance.eu/...et-calculator/

The normal caveats apply regarding living costs/loss of earnings etc.

Believe me, it's significant money for me, otherwise I would not be working and studing at the same time. :p.

I understand that the answers that you gave were not for me, and I know that you know better than I do about the situation (never meant to offend you).
I was just trying to give a more optimistic point of view for those who were asking.

Best luck to all wannabes and pilots!

Anecdotally, I would conclude that anyone seriously considering going down this route at a later stage in life would be best served by gaining employment within aviation in a non-flying role, and learn as much as they can about the training & recruitment system.

Not only does this get your face known, but it also injects some reality into the 'dream'. People in the industry are also willing to help when they can.

Just my 2p worth.

If I had my time again and had to start from scratch, once more.
I wouldn't entertain the idea of becoming an airline pilot.
I feel that the whole airline culture, from the top down is rotten to the core.
I have nothing but contempt for the banks and some schools too.
We all know who I'm talking about.

Don't get me wrong, I love aviation. I always have.
I've been in the business for over 40 years.
But I started when I was 18, not 35.
Starting late in life is a whole different kettle of fish.
I went from apprentice aircraft mechanic to major airline captain.
But the world I grew up in is far removed from today's.
And I think it's getting worse.

What I'd do, if I were in your shoes, is set my goals lower and be content as a air taxi/charter pilot.
Something like a King Air, PC-12 or TBM.
I wouldn't entertain the notion of borrowing 100 Large, ever, under any circumstances.
I wouldn't spend that kind of money unless it was flowing out of my ears.
Get a CPL/IR by all means, as cheaply as possible, is my advice.
But borrowing money for an airlines MPL? NO!

Or I may work towards being an owner/operator.
This is where the money is.

But starting in your 30s/40s and jumping through all those hoops.
Just for the airline pilot 'dream'.
No, the dream in reality is a nightmare.

I encourage all of you to spend more time outside the 'professional pilot training' section of this site.
Look into the 'interview, jobs and sponsorship' section too.
Don't stop there, look into the worldwide part as well, and see what people are putting up with.
It's sickening.

GIVE A MORE OPTIMISTIC POINT OF VIEW? :ugh:
Why should I lie? Why should I encourage someone to take a risk, that can lead them to loosing all?

It's much easier to recover in life if you try and fail at 25, than you try and fail at 45.

Unfortunately I can't disagree with to much of what you say, and I have not been a lifetime within aviation, I have many times been safety pilot for newbies, only to see the same people 12 - 24 months later, being completely exhausted and jaded from the work, and to see them like this at 25, knowing they have still another 40 years left, is a very sad sight.

Have a read at TC's, it seems many here havent, and believe this is the road to great riches and lots of gold, it isn't.

We have all seen the same selfie.
The 26 year old female captain and the 19 year old 'hair goop' first officer.
People think WOW!!!, that could be me.
Now repeat every week for the next 40 years, and your going to be one crusty old captain.
It's a case of much to much, much too young.
I think somebody's in for one hell of a mid-life crisis.
People think that with one hundred grand, they'll be sittin' pretty.
But with the downward pressure, it's unlikely to ever grow and with new even lower cost carriers is more likely to shrink.

We have all seen the same advert.
Pretty looking girl gets national airline.
Goofy looking girl gets low cost airline.
Handsome lad has to suck hind tit at regional because he couldn't afford a type rating.
Which is fine if Daddies paying out of guilt because he left his wife for his secretary.
But it also encourages people with no money to bet the farm on '13 black'.

If your going to do this, and I encourage you to do so.
Please do it as cheaply as humanly possible.
From first PPL lesson to first paying job took me five years.
During that time I flew the Concorde.

Yes, I rode as a motorcycle dispatch rider round London for Concorde Couriers.

As short follow up to "button push ignored" - working full time in the "Short haul" Lo Co - full time over 5 - 10 years, if you approaching 45 -50 and have family commitments, a life outside aviation, extremely hard.

This is the reason that we today see this becoming more and more a part time job, as the pressure and long working hours, makes it extremely hard to do this job full time with the way the companies are running their operations at the moment.

This is another aspect that many of you who want to start in training in your 40's need to consider. Considering that you can only survive this long term if you are part time, than that means you need wave goodbye to the + £100K salary when you reach the LHS, as it is extremely fatiguing to work Short Haul like Ryanair etc. full time and do close to 900 hours every year.

As an example, let's just use the figure of a Captain, pay is approx. £120.000 before tax. Example flight time is 900 hours, you will do approx. 1800 duty hours. The 900 hours is just your block hours, duty hours is approx. close to double. Just out of interest for the maths, we say you do 1650 duty hours.

After taxes, pension, and National insurance, you will have around £5500 left net a month. For 12 months this is approx. £66.000 net. Not bad is it?

Now you work 1650 duty hours, this means your average hourly pay is approx. £40 an hour after tax. This is the hourly rate for a Captain, and FO, you can divide the figure by approx. 3 or 4 depending on what company you work for, and experience level.

Your peak season is in ALL the school holidays of your children, so for you to get leave the same time as your family / children is like winning the lottery, it might happen once every 5 to 10 years if all works out.

When a jet engine spools up I get a rush of adrenaline through my body. Worth every penny, spent, or lost in wages in my opinion.

"Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life."

And what if you are 60?
 

I am just going to throw this into the ring, so you can have a laugh (at me?), and maybe make the 50 year olds feel REALLY GOOD!

Yes I have made a few bad choices and now I am 60 (only just), and wish that I was flying every day of my life instead of once a fortnight out of the aéroclub.

I am happily married with three grown up children, no mortgage and still ten or fifteen years of work ahead of me (I am self employed surveyor and part time ATPL lecturer in Air Law).

I have my PPL (I fly mostly Piper 28) and am based in LFMD.

The big question, have I really left it too late, is my dream of some (any) commercial flying activity, now just a dream, or is there still a niche out there for someone like me?

Is it even too late (not worth) putting the effort in for the CPL? :rolleyes:

Equation is different if you are 25 or 45, you are kind of missing the point completely. :ugh:

I don't think so. From a modular perspective there has to be something that drives you. 5, 15, 25 or 45, if you press your nose up against the glass at a departure lounge and can't imagine anything more satisfying than sitting in that cockpit, or the rush from advancing the throttle, and that incredible moment when you break a grey rainy surface and into crisp beautiful sunshine, and it makes you feel 5 years old all over again.

That's what I feel, I would suggest if others feel the same, regardless of age, they are forever going to look at jets going over and think, "what if?".

Forgive me for being all wide eyed and optimistic, but there is really nothing else I could see myself doing now, and I would recommend everyone who has the opportunity to at least try, to do so.