Emirates Aspiration's
 

Hi, my name is Isaac. I am 18 years old and I live in Birmingham. I am wanting a career as a pilot and this is a journey that I have already started. The reason why I am writing to you today is to tell you a bit about myself, my aviation journey so far and ask for some bits of advice.

I have always wanted to be a pilot. I have been interested in aviation ever since I can remember. As a child, I was regularly taken to Birmingham airport to watch planes; this is something I still do and undertake plane spotting at Norwich airport whilst we are on holiday. I really started researching the world of aviation and being a pilot over the first covid-19 lockdown. I was originally drawn into the world of aviation through helicopters wanting to be an RAF Helicopter pilot or an Offshore Oil and Gas pilot flying the AW139 from Norwich. As I researched deeper, I discovered fixed wing aviation and this really was the basis of where my aviation journey truly started. I discovered that I could start flying lessons from 14 so armed with this information, I got myself a paper round in September 2020. Originally this was a Saturday round but quickly grew within four weeks to a daily round. Having this paper round meant I could start flight training and did so in June 2021. Ever since then, I had flying lessons with Coventry Aeroplane Club flying PA28’s.

I chose to do the LAPL course initially because it was what I could financially afford as I was self funding just like many other student pilots. I did my paper round for four and a half years which has been the basis of my funding for flying lessons. In 2023 I gained a second job working on a farm and both simultaneously have enabled me to continue flying. I achieved my LAPL license on the 18th of March 2025 at the age of 18. Apart from my physical flight training, I have taken other opportunities to widen my career knowledge of a pilot. This has been done through my time as an air cadet by taking the opportunity to fly Grob Tutors as part of our air experience flights but also have been given the opportunity to fly as a passenger in an RAF Chinook as part of a muster day at RAF benson. I have also been able to experience offshore helicopter operations with two different companies being Bristow Helicopters in Norwich and NHV at Blackpool. Bristow was an afternoon spent with them during the Easter holidays of 2023 and NHV was my school's work experience week; from the 1st to the 5th of July 2024. On the 28th of May 2024, I attended the British Helicopter Association Safety Day at Cranfield Airport with Tim Rolfe courtesy of Helioffshore which was where I got to meet several high profile Rotary Pilots.

Furthermore, I spent two weeks in Cambodia courtesy of school form the 14th to the 28th of June 2024, during this time, I took the opportunity to meet eleven pilots with seven being Emirates and four being Tui, speak to cabin crew about working for Emirates and living in Dubai, being toured around an A380 in flight by our captain whilst also being invited by 2 captains to go to the cockpit on the ground and the aircraft in question was an A380-800 and a B777-300ER. On the 11th of July 2023, at school we had an unexpected visitor consisting of the air ambulance landing on the school site and I was given the opportunity to spend some time with the crew of the helicopter talking about my personal aviation journey, their journey, talked about the role as an air ambulance pilot whilst also taking about next steps and how he was able to help me. Whilst I have focused on the job itself, I have taken opportunities to discuss commercial flight training as in my opinion, starting early allowed me to get on academies radar so they know who I am, what I do and what I am about. I arranged a day in October half term 2023 to visit Leading Edge Aviation at Oxford Kidlington Airport with my dad to talk to aviation experts first hand, speak to students, see their aeroplanes and see how days run first hand. I am currently flying from Sleap doing my LAPL to PPL conversion with Shropshire Aero Club. I am planning to go the modular route because that is what I am able to afford but also this route because it allows me to continue to develop as a person (as I am still young) focusing on the interpersonal skills and key pilot characteristics needed for a career as an Airline Pilot whislt getting as much exposure to different situations enabling me to further develop as a person.

The reason for writing on here is to find out what else there is I can do other than what I am doing already/have done already.

I would like to thank you in advance for reading this and I will look forward to reading any pieces of advice given.

Issac, I am sure your journey & plans are interesting (to you) but your post is hard to read being in bold, too long and too much irrelevant information ie. state you have 9 GCSEs but we don't need to know the breakdown. You need to precis your post.

To get the best out of to this forum first look at the fixed posts at the top as most of what you are experiencing & asking has been done before. Then if you require further assistance ask direct questions that are short & to the point.

Best of luck.

Dear Isaac, please break up your wall of text into four or five more paragraphs so that people will read it. Presentation matters.

You can edit your post by clicking on the edit button below the post.

I encourage you to keep chasing your dream. :ok:

Hi Isaac, hope you don’t mind but I got ChatGPT to cut the word count by 80%, I think you meant to say this:

Hi, I’m Isaac, 18, from Birmingham. I’m aiming for a career as a pilot and have been working towards it for several years.

I started flying lessons at 14, funding them through a paper round (4.5 years) and farm work. I gained my LAPL in March 2025 at 18 and am now converting to a PPL at Sleap, planning the modular route for affordability and personal development.

My experience so far includes:

• Flying PA28s with Coventry Aeroplane Club and Shropshire Aero Club.
• Air cadet flights in Grob Tutors and a Chinook at RAF Benson.
• Visits to Bristow (Norwich) and NHV (Blackpool) for offshore helicopter operations.
• Attending the BHA Safety Day at Cranfield.
• Meeting Emirates and TUI pilots in Cambodia, cockpit visits on A380 and B777.
• Spending time with an air ambulance crew at my school.
• Visiting Leading Edge Aviation to learn about integrated training.

I’m keen to hear suggestions for other experiences, skills, or opportunities that could help me on my path to becoming an airline pilot. Thanks in advance!

Hopefully that’ll help other people answer your question as it was pretty hard to understand what you were asking before. My take on it…

Training is either expensive or it isn’t. If you can get funded training then amazing, all paid for. If you don’t, make sure you’ve got 100 grand ready and waiting. You’ve got to get a type rating at some point remember.

Given the huge investment in the licence, you’re going to want to use it. As such getting a first job is key. Unless you have right to live and work anywhere else, that’ll be some sort of job in the uk. Could be anything. The Emirates dream, that comes many years down the line.

I’d start by visiting schools, both integrated and modular, to work out what it is they offer, and work out what you really want from the training. Then get a really good understanding of the UK job market. Need to walk before you can run in terms of what’s realistic to set your sights on for the first couple of jobs.

Hi Isaac,

In your position I would firstly get a class one medical, about £800, which you will need for your CPL, if for some odd reason you find that you can't get one you are throwing your money away.

You also need to decide whether to just go for a UK CAA licence or EASA or both (I'm doing UK CAA only as I don't have the right to work in the EU and don't fancy a double batch of APTL theories and associated costs) (I also think the pond life in Westminster will eventually re-join EASA in some form).

You are going to need about £40000-60000 to get you to the CPL/IR stage depending on hours though not all at once. Depending on funds think about a share in a 150 or similar, It might be cheaper for your hour building.

Good luck 🙏