Agree with Alex and Paco, the modular route (or whatever it is called these days) in my experience is a great way to train. You also meet different people in the different locations and environments that you train in, which helps with the contacts side of things later on down the line when you are trying to find that elusive 1st job. It is significantly cheaper and you can tailor most of your training around your life (job, family etc) rather than sacrificing it all to go on an Integrated Course for months. This then leads to the question of financing the training. Well, old fashioned I know, but as some of the posters have alluded to in previous posts, you can work whilst you train with this route or you can save up for it before starting the bulk of the training. Just my 2p's worth.

One thing to consider - if you go modular you get a piece of paper in the shape of a PPL early on in the process, so if you happen to know someone who owns an aircraft or get the chance of a ride you can do it. if you go integrated you generally don't get any paper until the end of the course, if at all.

Sorry hahaha.

I was reading this half asleep.

Good post Alex and especially from someone who is in the training industry.

I listened to you at one of Aeros FastTrack days at Gloucester and being an older person, 38, am seriously looking at the viability of training before it's definitely too late. Have wanted to fly for years but cost was always prohibitive and my situation.

Out of interest, what's the oldest person you've had training for fATPL ground school?

I spoke to someone recently who said if you have the conditional job offer, then sometimes the additional £50-70k can be worth it but not so sure myself...

Pegasus Personal Finance
 

It would appear that a company under the name of Pegasus Personal Finance offer loans for Flight Training, as they put it. Also appears to be in conjunction with a number of schools, Cae Oxford included.

Has anyone had any dealings with Pegasus?

I've not heard of them before but would be interested to hear if anyone's been successful applying for funding through them.

They have been advertised on several websites, but seem to be a worse option than BBVA, considering their high-interest fee.

I was under the impression BBVA had left the pilot loan market altogether?

Aeros
 

Are you doing the aeros fast track? Im looking to work save and then apply for them....

No, unfortunately I've given up on my dream as I'm now 40 with wife and kids and just can't afford the training. Instead I'm trying to get my microlight license on the Eurostar so i can still fly for pleasure.

Sorry to revive this, however, where do you get this less than 50k deal?

Keep an eye out for some scholarships. The Aer Lingus one is ideal, but can’t see them advertising any time soon.

On the subject of dedicated training loans, I imagine that in the coming years those will be non-existent. It's simply too high a risk for the potential lender, especially after a number of cadets from programmes advertised as coming with a secure job in the end got dropped in the past months. Unless the loan is underwritten by an airline and the airline agrees to cover the costs for the lender in case of a hiccup and only then possibly reclaim them from the candidate, it will most likely be a no-go for a long time. And, anyway, why would an airline do that if the supply of either already qualified or self-funding individuals will be more than enough to cover all vacancies for quite a while?

The only wise solution to not having the money for the entire training readily available is good old modular, spread over some years on a pay-as-you-go principle. That option has been around for almost as long as civil aviation has and it has proved to be working for thousands of pilots throughout the decades. For many, that's the only option. For the youngsters it's an especially good option because it will make you stand out as mature and determined in your airline interview. Someone who has actually put some skin into the game will always be more appealing to recruiters than a school kid who simply asked mum and dad for a bag of money to become a pilot. Do not burden yourself with loans and, by all means, never, ever, ever remortgage the family house for something as volatile as flight training! I just can't stress that enough after all the horror stories of schools going under with people's money, cadetships being cancelled at the final stages of training and whatnot else. It's an awful lot better to do everything off your own back rather than take the gamble of borrowing a massive sum of money with no guarantee that you will be able to repay it as quickly and easily as intended.

Agree with PilotLZ, if you really want to go for pilot training nowdays, modular is the way to go.

Suits your own pace, no big cash upfront, and also let's you diagnose how is the industry moving so you can speed up/slow down training if required depending on market and economic conditions. That's how a rational individual would approach the idea of training. I did it that way, and came out in one of the best moments of hiring in commercial ops (2013), and also debt free.. and with that I mean 0 debt.

Then you can also go out and ask for a 100,150k loan and put whatever assets of your parents as guarantee (good luck with that!), with the associated compromise to repay the loan immediately after training, just to find that jobs as a pilot are extremely limited. It would scare me to put myself into such situation. Be careful and smart!

One of the few logical comments I see. I second this completely. Aspiring pilots now should focus on being smart with whatever money they have for future training, this especially applies to integrated courses with fancy sales pitches and lots of upfront reoccurring costs. None of which will guarantee you a job, especially at the moment.

The smartest way to go for the next few years is modular where you can study as little or as much as you like with the ability to put the financial brake on any commitments.