Any pilots in the house?

I think the first question your son needs to think about is:
(1) Do i want to commit to a career flying professionally or would I be happy with another career & like to fly for fun.

There are plenty of professional people who own an aircraft and fly recreationally but also enjoy the intellectual challenge & variety that another career can offer - just something to consider.

Yeah deffo go mix with pilots who do it or did it for a living.

Get a real base of perspective.

A lot of young kids start off at astronaut and work down from there

Ie, the concept of an RAF career for me disappeared after a few years at cadets.
As fun as it was as a social thing, to actually work in a formal command structure put me off a great deal.

Well, I qualified as a glider pilot last week. I know it's not particularly noteworthy, but I've absolutely loved it. It's been a real blast, and I can thoroughly recommend gliding in terms of learning the basics of stick and rudder control, meteorology, principles of flight etc that don't change whatever your flying.
I think gliding is a hard task master with regard to skills - no engine means fewer options, and the skills learnt may one day be more than just handy. Plenty of stories of gliding skills in 'proper' aviation being an important thing on the day, and plenty where glider pilots would have instinctively done something different, with potentially better outcomes.
But the real reason to glide, is to understand your skill level, understand if you enjoy it, and become involved in an aviation community. Plenty of RAF / commercial / bush / private pilots in our tiny club, as well as a whole series of technical professional skills, mainly based around engineering.

My biggest gripe around gliding is that it is not a diverse sport, and I wish it were.

But nothing better than feeling the glider kick into a thermal, and start climbing faster than the tow plane. Fab fun.

Houses normally produce thermals. Steep right bank, and slow the speed, and you'll be away in no time. (Well if it wasn't for the boat anchor at the front )
But random field landing certainly increases the heartrate a bit, and the thought you might run out of 'ups' is never very far away IME.

I'd not bother with that level of pay - I mean, it's hardly going to pay the mortgage on a decent house is it? I suppose if you love doing it, it's something, but you might as well be doing charity work as you can then take off the time you need.

Just to echo the points about getting some real flight time.

I was dead set on RAF; got a scholarship, my PPL, then flew with the RAF through uni. Whilst I really enjoyed the sexy stuff; the aerobatics and formation flying, I found sitting in a plane on my own flying up the A1 to Newcastle airport more boring than driving it - at least with cars there was other stuff going on all the time.

My experience is clearly very limited and obviously very different from flying professionally and the experienced experts on here. My friends I flew with at uni went on to great things including one of them becoming Red 1.

But for me whilst I didn't find flying particularly difficult, easier than driving in fact (as in the basic VFR level I was at), I just found it quite boring. So as others have suggested, get some real world experience to see if it's for him because I was just as enthusiastic as he was at his age

I remember doing RC Gliding when younger.

Powered (batteries only got you so high), or towed (old car on the farm haha), or just off a steep bit of field into the prevailing wind.

Completely different to flying a powered RC aircraft and a great discipline in itself.



It makes me think of the purpose of flying. Gliding is more of a past time, enjoying flying for flying sake.

Wheras all the powered machines will almost certainly be purpose driven. Essentially a taxi, lorry, coach, cargo, A to B, hurried, time-tabled, costed.


Which is ultimately probably another factor which put me off anything to do with flying. Boring when put into the 'grown ups' context I observed as I grew up and got closer to it, which wasn't about the freedom and enjoyment, but just about doing a job, but in the sky.

I would echo Claret m's reply.

I was at a recent career's fair and found it hard to actually recommend this as a career these days. So much has changed, and I can't see it getting any better in the long term.

I still fly small planes for fun, and that for me is what flying is. The day job involves precious little 'stick and rudder' skills, so it would depend on what your lad perceives as what being a Pilot is. . . .

Forget the glossy brochures that flight schools push out - it's expensive, tiring and puts a great deal of strain on your social life back home. I was fortunate enough to catch the back end of the good times the industry had to offer, but they've all but gone now, as management seeks to push pilots and crew to the absolute limit when it comes to hours and minimum time off between duties - lorry drivers are more looked after than we are, in that sense.

Even Class 1 medicals are expensive these days, so I personally, would recommend a couple of lessons at a local flying club first. They're great fun and the medical requirements at that level are lower than what's required for commercial licences. If you do decide to step up to the professional licences, then look at Class 1 before forking out vast sums in advance to flying schools, as they will happily take your money, regardless of your medical situation.

Since you posted, British Airways have also reintroduced a Pilot Sponsorship scheme, so well worth having a look at their careers section of ba.com. As Claret m mentioned, competition is fierce, but you won't win the lottery if you don't buy a ticket! Best of luck

I agree about getting trial lessons 1st & then check you can really afford it, prob90 over 150k that will only get you a low paying initial job, only big money if you get left seat after 10 years.

If he really loves the trial lesson then carry on otherwise use the money to help him buy his 1st house!

What he said.

The Internet is full of folks who think they know better

Ultimately, there are better jobs than others, but if you enjoy the work, there will be many companies that offer a good fit. Some like flying for low-cost airlines, they’re home every night and it suits their family life. I like seeing the world and blocks of days off afterwards. Plenty of options in either camp.