Finishing your master before ATPL ??
 

My son wants to become a pilot. He is at this moment doing a Master in Management in The Netherlands which is complete June 2026.
During this summer (2025) he is doing his PPL. His preference is to stop the master and start immediate with the full ATPL, but me (as his financial sponsor) says that I prefer him to have his master first, just in case he doesn't get a job as pilot or get later in life a medical issue and can't be a pilot anymore. His view is... i am getting too old... (He will be 25 when he start his ATPL).

Any view out here.. Stop his master, and go straight to ATPL.. or do it my way and first have a study which he can use in case all fails.. Will airlines like favourable to candidates with a master... or will they not care.. and is (young) age more important ?

Hi,

Having a master’s degree can certainly be advantageous during challenging times, such as the economic downturn we experienced during COVID-19. Does your son have any work experience in the field he is studying, or did he transition directly from his undergraduate degree to his master’s without gaining relevant industry experience?

The value of his master’s degree may depend on its specific focus. If he doesn’t have any relevant work experience, it might not stand out as much to potential employers, especially if he’s seeking a position quickly during periods of reduced demand for pilots.

It’s worth noting that airlines typically don’t place significant emphasis on academic degrees unless they involve subjects like mathematics or engineering, which could be helpful in assessments for new pilots. These degrees often don’t directly impact the day-to-day responsibilities of a pilot.

That said, time is an important consideration in a pilot’s career, particularly regarding salary progression and mandatory retirement at 65. Starting at 25 is by no means too late, there’s still plenty of time to build a successful career in aviation.

Thanks for your vert detailed response.. Really appreciated. Yes the KLM school and Transavia is on his list. And YES, that is his preference, but realistically it is only 5% of the candidates who get hired. We therefore have a PLAN-B in case this is not successful. But his strong preference is the KLM or Transavia. Plan B is the Peru route. He is mixed Duch/Peruvian. In Peru the PPL is only 10K USD. And the CPL (Which is sufficient for the large latin American airlines) is another 35K USD). The most expensive school which says almost everybody gets directly hired by LATAM or similar airlines told us that MAX 50K USD in total. And yes we go for his medical first. He did already an COMPASS test with EPST and his score was 39 out of 42 (cutoff is 26). Most pilot in LATAM go and get their 1500 flying hours and then move to the Middle East. We spoke to three LATAM pilots who now all work as captain in the middle east. The PERU route is only possible for Peruvians.. therefore you not see much of that in this forum. And it is all in Spanish. But as mentioned earlier, the KLM/Transavia route is by far the preferred route.. but the likelihood... we don't know.. Nice that you confirmed that his age is not an issue. Your response was greatly appreciared.

Are you sure about that? First he wanted a degree. Then he wanted a Masters. Now he wants to be a pilot (which requires neither a Bachelors nor a Masters) and I'm guessing he wants you to sponsor it... What will it be next year?

I'm a little surprised your son isn't asking these questions on here and doing the research himself.

Quite a lot to unpick here. What I’d say is that this forum is fairly weighted towards the UK market, not exclusively but heavily. So a lot of the advice will be from that background, so keep that in mind.

I would say your approach, and I do wonder if it is your approach or your son’s, seems a little scattered.

What is his end goal? Is it to be a pilot at KLM? More broadly a European pilot? Or a Peruvian pilot? Or an emirates pilot?

Arguably keeping in the EU market is better than the South American market for long term Ts&Cs. Is the training a bit more expensive? Yes absolutely. But the difference would be washed out in a year or two.

Ryanair, EasyJet, Wizz, those would normally be the airlines of choice for an EASA licence holder not getting straight into their native flag carrier. I just don’t understand why you’d then pivot towards LATAM, unless he especially wants to fly for them, then of course it makes sense.

If he were to get into a sponsored course with KLM then by all means bin uni, the degree serves no purpose from then. KLM’s safety net in terms of pension and loss or licence is his backup. A year of lost seniority at KLM is not worth a masters.

But for everything else, he can start flying training little and often when not doing the masters and it would seem very rushed to drop out of an already started masters just to do a regular licence to apply to Easy/Wizz/RYR down the line.

I would echo other posters sentiment though. It’s pointless you forcing your dream on him. He’s not 15 any more, you’ve got to let him decide what he wants to do. You then decide if you are comfortable financing it

A few thoughts which may help.... But first, I am not a pilot. I have worked in aviation for 45 years and now reaching the end of a fun career. I started out as an air traffic controller harbouring a desire to be a pilot (but there were few jobs available at that time). I found that I enjoyed ATC and stuck with it for nearly 20 years before deciding that there were other things that I'd like to see if I could do. I did airport management for a while and then moved into a variety of roles which touched every part of the civil aviation industry and, latterly, do a bit of consultancy and training. When I left school I did not go to university because there was nothing that interested me enough to continue my schooling, later I continued studying whilst also working full-time - I suspect that it was much harder doing it that way! The degrees that I have did not get me any of the jobs that I did, but they definitely got me through the paper sift and into the interviews on a couple of occasions. I tell you all this not because I want to impress but rather to illustrate that, even at the relatively old age of 25, one is very lucky to know what they want to do with their life, and your view on that life changes over time. Aviation is an unforgiving business - after leaving ATC I had a medical issue that would have ended my career overnight. I talk with my ex-ATC colleagues who, in the years up to their retirement, could not wait for their last ship. Likewise, pilots of a similar age that I know would have happily hung up their headsets but were not qualified to do anything else.

My advice to your son is to keep as many options open as possible. Complete his degree and apply for the big carriers' training schemes - if they like him, they may well defer his pilot training until he completes his degree. If he's fortunate enough to be offered a pilot training place which conflicts with his schooling the he can decide which path to take - he can always complete his degree later. Have that plan B, and a C and a D. If a European career is his aim, training in Europe is the way to go if at all possible - the rules make it difficult to transfer qualifications from elsewhere into a European licence (this applies to all disciplines). Take every opportunity to gain experience in related things and to develop additional skills and competences so that he has something more to offer than just piloting skills should he wish or need to do something else at some point in his career.

Age is less of an issue these days. When I was starting out, airlines (and ATC companies) who provided low-cost, free or even paid training want young people who would complete their training successfully and then, for the majority at least, would spend their whole working life repaying that investment for them. Now, pilots move between companies more frequently until, maybe, they reach their 'goal' company - and even then, it seems, may move on to other opportunities. (That's not to say that he shouldn't pledge life-long loyalty if he gets a job at the interview :).) I'll be boring and mention that starting a pension that will cope with multiple jobs as early as possible is a good idea.

To sum up, aviation is a fun career, but plans too often do not come out as expected, so the more you can offer, thebetter.

Once again Thanks for the many response. This response is a feedback on all the suggestions and questions :

Not sure why scattered. It is either a good carrier with base in Holland like KLM or Transavia... or otherwise Peru. Why Peru.. Will as mentioned already by somebody if it is not with one of the major carriers you likely end up in the early days in your carrier with Ryanair, Wizz, Easyjet etc. In that case initially a few years from Peru with a carrier like LATAM is far better. There are several reason for that. The pay the first few years in the low cost carriers is also not great, but you a base location which those low cost carriers decide, which is very likely not in The Netherlands. Than you need to add the cost of renting and life possible in a cold country with rain, snow, winds etc.. And a cost of living which is compared Peru far higher.. and pay also a lot of tax. I agree that Holland also not has a nice weather, and tax and higher cost of living but you have then a perfect long term contract with a major carrier. And you living in a country were you have friends and family instead of living in a base the low cost carrier decides. In Peru we have a house in a nice compound with pool, gym, squash etc.. and a nice beach house a 100Km from Lima where he can play with his Jetski etc. Then his life is much better than living for Ryanair in cold Germany or something like that. And after a few years and 2000 hours he then moves to Qatar or Dubai where life is (tax free) and good. (we lived there before). Salary is less in LATAM, for sure, but quality of life, being with friends and family and low cost of living is far better than a Ryanair job.

Why I am asking these questions and not my son... i am paying... and feel I need also my idea checked.. that is why i am asking. But obvious my son has a major say as well.

Somebody else asked my if my son now finally knows that he is sure that he wants to be a pilot.. and not yet again is asking for another 4th study.. He is sure.. I am convinced. His bachelor was done because he had no idea yet.. Same as with his master. But I have never seen him as motivated as now.. Therefore he wanted to stop his master and move full time to study pilot.. which was the entire reason for the question I raised if he should or should not finish his master..

Once again thanks for everybody feedback. I think my steer to him will be as follow, continue your master, unless you get into a cadet program of a major carrier.. And after your Master go to Peru and work with LATAM for a few years and then move to nice warm tax free middle east. Thanks all and greeting from a warm and shining Lima Peru

We recommend to our students a backup that can be easily picked up and dropped off, such as electrician, which has some of the elements of study for the pilot licence anyway. Picking up and dropping off is not so easy with a job that requires a degree. The irony is that he will probably earn more money :)

You recommend to your students that they put their flying careers on hold to first spend 3 to 4 years training to become an electrician before they become a pilot, just in case they have a bit of time being out of work as a pilot?

Don’t know where to start with that really, crazy

An electrician's course takes just a few months. Obviously it would be better to go straight into ATP training but some parents insist on a backup. If you go straight into ATP training and wash out at least the electrician/plumbing training is easily taken up.

That last part is key, it’s a good backup if training doesn’t work. I agree with that sentiment. In reality you need 2-3 years to train, complete apprenticeships etc to become actually useful and readily employable.

I picked up on this because there’s other posts that often make throwaway statements about ‘learn to be an accountant before training, just in case’ without any grasp of what that actually means. As said then as now, would you advise a vet to first train to become an accountant just in case? Clearly not as that’d be an absurd waste of time effort and money.

If you want to become a pilot, become a pilot. The training isn’t particularly difficult, and most people get jobs without all that much difficulty afterwards. And if you don’t, that’s unfortunate but also relatively unlikely. So that’s the stage to try something else, not before.

He should complete his studies first. A university degree can be a career life insurance, just in case. And he is not wasting the work he already put in his master. 25 years of age to start the ATPL later on will still work without any problem.

A masters degree costs more than flight training, so it also seems absurd to spend more on your backup plan than on your actual plan.

Have a plan C by all means, but Plan B should always be to aggressively enforce plan A. And if you're going to spend 3-5 years on your plan C, at least wait until you actually need it!

A master in Holland is costing 2500 Euro on university fees, and you get a stat subsidy of roughly 4000 Euro...
A pilot training is roughly 100.000 Euro... And it is not 4-5 years. He only need 1 year and 3 months to complete his master.
And he decided only recently that he wants to become a pilot. Not sure why it is "absurd" to spent more money on a backup plan.

What is a year? By still completing the master first he can prove to himself that he has the stamina to complete the pilots course later on. It will contain boring periods, it will require a lot of learning, some frustration and to not give up and carry on.
What he could do concerning the ATPL is getting a medical first. Eyesight and such. Sometimes this is the showstopper for a (pro) pilot career.

Generally you need 3 years to get a Bachelors degree, then 1-2 years for a masters. That makes 4-5 years. During which time you need food and shelter. If he decided only recently then that's fair enough. If it had been the plan all along then it would have been deeply flawed.

In this instance absolutely finish the masters. Unless KLM come knocking and offer a sponsored job. That won’t wait, and seniority is king. Places where seniority isn’t a thing can and will wait.