Any pilots in the house?

[Crumpet]

djc206 said:

The two guys I know who’ve done it went to EasyJet to try and do what you’ve suggested.

I flew don’t to Nice in the cockpit with EasyJet in early 2020 before the world went mad and the captain was ex bizjet (Gulftsream for a Russian billionaire), had moved to them for a bit of predictability, probably quite glad of the move now…

It can definitely be done, especially if they’re desperate at the time for captains. I know a few who went to the airlines and did 6-12 months in the right before moving back to the left. I don’t care which seat I sit in, I just want the money!

[Chuck328]

I don’t joke. I hate the industry. I’m ready to go.
34 years go this year to my first flying lesson ( not old enough to drive a car ).
I want out. Had enough.

But… for those wishing to start..,

A few nights a go, climbing out of Edinburgh on a gosam departure.







Never forget the view. Forget all else and love that…
If you want in.
It’s worth it.

[DirktheDaring]

Where’s El Stovie when you need him?

[djc206]

Crumpet said:

It can definitely be done, especially if they’re desperate at the time for captains. I know a few who went to the airlines and did 6-12 months in the right before moving back to the left. I don’t care which seat I sit in, I just want the money!

I always thought the likes of Netjets pilots would make better money than the commercial stuff regular folks like me fly on. Is that not the case?

[Crumpet]

djc206 said:

I always thought the likes of Netjets pilots would make better money than the commercial stuff regular folks like me fly on. Is that not the case?

Netjets pay very well once you get into the bonus structure. Rumours of First Officers taking €200k if they work their nuts off. Bizjet pay varies quite a lot, just like with airlines, the good jobs can be legacy carrier kinds of money while the small stuff would be like a small regional airline.

On the whole it’s less than airlines, though. But, depending on who you work for, bizjets can give you a very different way of life - I think I’m on about 130 countries visited now, so more than your average Ryanair pilot!

[Kiribati268]

Chuck328 said:

I don’t joke. I hate the industry. I’m ready to go.
34 years go this year to my first flying lesson ( not old enough to drive a car ).
I want out. Had enough.

But… for those wishing to start..,

A few nights a go, climbing out of Edinburgh on a gosam departure.







Never forget the view. Forget all else and love that…
If you want in.
It’s worth it.

I'm not flight deck, but did work in aviation.

Views like this make me miss it. It's an industry you only understand if you work in it.

Then I think 'was the 3am alarm wake ups and 1am arrivals home worth it?'

Absolutely not. I loved it, but I couldn't give my entire life up for mediocre pay.

[Big Bad Ben]

Chuck328 said:

I don’t joke. I hate the industry. I’m ready to go.
34 years go this year to my first flying lesson ( not old enough to drive a car ).
I want out. Had enough.

But… for those wishing to start..,

A few nights a go, climbing out of Edinburgh on a gosam departure.







Never forget the view. Forget all else and love that…
If you want in.
It’s worth it.

Nothing beats the view











(Of course I was either above 20,000ft or riding on the jumpseat when I took the photos)

[LimaDelta]

BA Future pilots scholarship now open for applicants - for the next two weeks.

https://jobs.ba.com/jobs/vacancy/speedbird-pilot-a...

I might apply out of curiosity, just to see how far through the process I might get. Not that I could do it if offered, but it would be nice to know.

[22]

My 17 year old son is applying - it's all he's ever wanted to do.

A question to anyone who has applied this kind of way, is how should he present his CV? He has a Saturday job (food service) and is a straight A student, runs a flight sim club at the grammar school (where he's just started year 2 of A-levels), but it's not an expansive CV by any means. Any help appreciated.

There are obviously questions with narrative answers as well about why etc, but it also asks for his CV. He's been speaking to a former student who became a pilot, one of my customers who recently retired from BA, other pilots he chats to on discord etc.

[Big Bad Ben]

22 said:

My 17 year old son is applying - it's all he's ever wanted to do.

A question to anyone who has applied this kind of way, is how should he present his CV? He has a Saturday job (food service) and is a straight A student, runs a flight sim club at the grammar school (where he's just started year 2 of A-levels), but it's not an expansive CV by any means. Any help appreciated.

There are obviously questions with narrative answers as well about why etc, but it also asks for his CV. He's been speaking to a former student who became a pilot, one of my customers who recently retired from BA, other pilots he chats to on discord etc.

The first question is, is he happy (and are you?!) to quit his A Levels if he’s successful? He won’t be able to complete them if he’s just started his 2nd year.

As for the CV, a customer service focus is excellent, as is demonstration of his ability to learn, think on his feet, be organised, show attention to detail, etc. For example, perhaps he could find out about “pilot competencies” online (British Airways says there are 9), and then subtly link the items on his CV to these competencies (he won’t be able to demonstrate all of them! But he’ll tick a lot of boxes if he makes links to the ones he can).

For these “ab initio” courses, no flying experience is expected or required (in fact, if you’ve got any ATPL qualifications, you’re excluded from applying), so the company is looking to mould the cadets from nothing into BA pilots - so the CV doesn’t have to have a massive focus on experience in aviation, just enthusiasm for it (like setting up a flight sim club - tick).

They’re looking at making a £150,000 investment in the successful applicants, so they want to be sure first of all that they’re going to pass their ground school exams.

Then they’re looking for personal interest and enthusiasm in, a) Aviation, because on those cold, dark, rainy mornings when you’ve got to get up to go flying or sit in a neverending metereology class, the main thing that will get you going, especially when training, is your love of flying; and
b) British Airways, because they don’t want to give you a shiny new type rating only for you to bugger off to Easyjet because you prefer an orange tie.

Finally, they’re looking for tenacity, customer service, multitasking, communication and interpersonal skills, safety focus, etc - to make sure the cadet can actually do the job when they’re on board.

The final face to face interview may have a couple of technical questions (“Tell me everything you know about the Airbus A320”), but that’s way down the line.

Edited by Big Bad Ben on Thursday 21st September 13:23

[22]

Big Bad Ben said:

lots of very helpful stuff

Thank you very much for your time, very kind. Applications are this week, with commencement September next year so he'd finish A-levels; but would quit them in a flash if it was tomorrow - with my blessing. The similar TUI scheme opens for applicants early next year.

I spoke to the customer of the company I manage and turns out he used to sit on the panel of the pilot selection interviews (these were part-funded then and applicants numbered a few hundred). A hastily arranged few hours yesterday afternoon has given us a lot of useful information also - including some technical questions my son answered well. He has said that if my son is invited for interview, he'll do a mock interview with my son first (suited & booted etc). There are some very generous people around, including when you scratch beneath the surface on PH.

Thanks again.

[JuniorD]

The Aer Lingus fully sponsored “Future Pilot Programme” is running again, but the 2024 programme closed for applicants in August. It used to get a fair few applicants from mainland UK however I think the eligibility criteria re right to live and work permanently in the EU will stop affect that now. It’s a great scheme so it’s wonderful to see it back.

[Big Bad Ben]

22 said:

Thank you very much for your time, very kind. Applications are this week, with commencement September next year so he'd finish A-levels; but would quit them in a flash if it was tomorrow - with my blessing. The similar TUI scheme opens for applicants early next year.

I spoke to the customer of the company I manage and turns out he used to sit on the panel of the pilot selection interviews (these were part-funded then and applicants numbered a few hundred). A hastily arranged few hours yesterday afternoon has given us a lot of useful information also - including some technical questions my son answered well. He has said that if my son is invited for interview, he'll do a mock interview with my son first (suited & booted etc). There are some very generous people around, including when you scratch beneath the surface on PH.

Thanks again.

Let us know how he gets on. PM if you have any questions.

[22]

Apologies for hijacking the thread!

My lad is through to the next stage with his BA application

This will be a video exercise - presented with two tasks and asked to record video responses. He streamed flight sims through covid so I think will be ok speaking on camera (stakes are higher obviously), but we don't know if it's 'live' when you click the link (or a given time to respond) or can record in your own time and then send.

I've no idea how many are dropped at the first hurdle, but if an anticipated 10,000 are applying, I can't imagine they'd want to watch that many videos!

We had a room full of family yesterday for his 18th (was Thursday) when the email landed, so was lovely timing. A nicely positive experience thus far whatever happens.

[AndrewGP]

22 said:

Apologies for hijacking the thread!

My lad is through to the next stage with his BA application

This will be a video exercise - presented with two tasks and asked to record video responses. He streamed flight sims through covid so I think will be ok speaking on camera (stakes are higher obviously), but we don't know if it's 'live' when you click the link (or a given time to respond) or can record in your own time and then send.

I've no idea how many are dropped at the first hurdle, but if an anticipated 10,000 are applying, I can't imagine they'd want to watch that many videos!

We had a room full of family yesterday for his 18th (was Thursday) when the email landed, so was lovely timing. A nicely positive experience thus far whatever happens.

Congrats, that's great news! Things have changed quite a bit since I did it but I've got a couple of mates going through it at the moment and I believe from what they've said you get two goes at it only, ie it records when you hit submit, you can watch it back and if you're not happy you get one more go. Best to rehearse it a few times to camera before you hit the button!

The interview will be next, there's a fair amount of prep work that he'll need to do before that and then there's the sim assessment which is IMHO the hardest part. If you want and further info, feel free to drop me a PM.

[Earl of Hazzard]

Looks like BA will have an extra vacancy after this pilot's shenanigans! A great career down the toilet.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12563901/amp/BA-p...

[Hilts]

Earl of Hazzard said:

Looks like BA will have an extra vacancy after this pilot's shenanigans! A great career down the toilet.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12563901/amp/BA-p...

Wow, Senior First Officer on BA Long Haul - talk about being set, looks quite young too. Reads like he was also banging the stewardess who he sent the messages to, if you can believe the papers. Wife can't be too happy.

As much as this guy has f'd up I hope he gets some professional support before he does anything even more daft.

[JuniorD]

Earl of Hazzard said:

Looks like BA will have an extra vacancy after this pilot's shenanigans! A great career down the toilet.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12563901/amp/BA-p...

When Nigels go wild

He wouldn’t be the first one to do this.

And he definitely wouldn’t be in the first 4000 to do this but minus the coke.

[22]

With many, many thanks to Andrew & Ben for some private exchanges, my lad is through the next round and been invited to an assessment day at Heathrow.

Obviously the dates clash with a school trip to France, but we'll fly him in and out if poss, otherwise the trip gets binned.

[djc206]

Excellent news. Nicely done PHers.