commercial pilots licence
Author
Discussion

BPD

Original Poster:

435 posts

227 months

Monday 7th November 2011
quotequote all
A friend is looking to get his commercial pilots licence. Does anyone have any experience of CTC Wings? If so how did you find the course?

mat from preston

186 posts

203 months

Monday 7th November 2011
quotequote all
Have you had a look on pprune? There should be plenty of info there.

BPD

Original Poster:

435 posts

227 months

Monday 7th November 2011
quotequote all
mat from preston said:
Have you had a look on pprune? There should be plenty of info there.
Thanks for the pointer. Shall let him know.

mat from preston

186 posts

203 months

Monday 7th November 2011
quotequote all
If you can look past all the negative stuff on there it is quite useful

siko

2,065 posts

271 months

Monday 7th November 2011
quotequote all
Hi BPD,

I spoke to them recently about my licence - they sound and look extremely professional. I spoke at length to one of their CFIs and he was extremely helpful and knowledgeable - they also have a large fleet of pretty sharp looking aircraft and various deals with airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet (I think?!). I was very tempted but they were quoting me approximately £10k more than the other school (also highly recommended) that I spoke to. I guess the moral of the story is you get what you pay for - if your mate wants to do his course on a fleet of shiny aircraft with a chance of employment at the end then i guess they are a good company to go to.

Me - I think I'd prefer the 'spit n sawdust' and more flexible approach that I would get with a smaller outfit. Plus £10k pays for a whole lot of car..... scratchchin

I'd recommend PPRUNE aswell, several sections for 'wannabes' and 'pilot training', every bone question relating to licensing known to man has been asked in there. It is extremely useful! Back to the CPL study.... read

Moose.

5,345 posts

270 months

Tuesday 8th November 2011
quotequote all
I have a couple of friends who went through them. Neither of them got employment via CTC and are still in the holding pool nearly 3 years on (although now have jobs elsewhere). Be careful and don't believe all the hype about placements with "major airlines".

5150

749 posts

284 months

Tuesday 8th November 2011
quotequote all
I fly with a lot of guys who have been through the Wings scheme.

It's certainly not cheap (debts in excess in 100K), plus once these cadets are placed in an airline as a First Officer, they are paid an absolute pittance that is a disgrace to the industry (cadets still work and are paid by CTC). Add to this, loan repayments - most cadets are getting to the end of the month way into the red - relying on either second jobs or M&D.

CTC is a sausage factory, like most flight schools. They've built good ties with major airlines and have a good record of placing qualified candidates into airline jobs. You stand a high chance of getting a position if you go through the Wings scheme, but ignore the paraphernalia and take a serious look at the figures before you embark on many years of debt, working long hours on low pay.

PPrune has plenty of good advice from successful candidates and plenty of examples of bad experiences. I'd highly recommend looking on that website.

Golden rule is ; do not spend one penny on flying training until you've got yourself a Class 1 Medical from the CAA. If you're not fit to fly, then forget it.


BPD

Original Poster:

435 posts

227 months

Tuesday 8th November 2011
quotequote all
Thanks to everyone for the information. It is all much appreciated.

ForzaWhitesGen2

359 posts

179 months

Tuesday 8th November 2011
quotequote all
CPL or ATPL ?

As you can sit the Theory at both levels? (obviously for the Airlines you need to sit at ATPL level)...

Just done my CPL, but via the modular route. CTC seem to have a good reputation, as do Oxford...

April 2012 will bring in new EASA licensing too......

siko

2,065 posts

271 months

Tuesday 8th November 2011
quotequote all
Are you going for your IR aswell, or do you have it already? I am hoping to have my cpl(h) by march before the easa changes, then do the cpl(a) and IR.
The start of a long & painful journey!

BPD

Original Poster:

435 posts

227 months

Thursday 10th November 2011
quotequote all
He wants to get his frozen ATPL.

fid

2,431 posts

269 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
quotequote all
siko said:
...I am hoping to have my cpl(h) by march...
Who are you doing your CPL(H) with siko? I've just started looking into this so any advice appreciated!

siko

2,065 posts

271 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
quotequote all
Sorry probably won't help, I'm a military rw pilot already, so it's just a cpl (h) bridging exam with self-study groundschool, medical and cash to caa!

Good luck -are you going for the rigs?

fatboy b

9,665 posts

245 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
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BPD said:
He wants to get his frozen ATPL.
He needs to make sure he can get a 1st class medical before spending money. Stopped me progressing from a PPL due to a rare eye condition.

fid

2,431 posts

269 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
quotequote all
Yeah I've talked to Bond and they've said it'd be rigs to start with, but yes the medical is my real starting point. And I'm not particulaly confident...put it this way, I'll be doing the CAD assessment before I do the full medical.

siko

2,065 posts

271 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
quotequote all
Good company Bond, I hear on the grapevine that another major operator will be recruiting next year-might be a good time to get in! Couple of friends fly the rigs, great lifestyle, salary and some really good flying aswell. Downside is having to do the dunker every few years and the danger of course!

Have you priced it all up yet? I imagine you're looking not too far from 100k for a cpl h with ir......

Theflyer

228 posts

180 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
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Considered the RAF son ? hehe

fid

2,431 posts

269 months

Saturday 26th November 2011
quotequote all
Forces considered - very quickly realised I should get over it. Shame. Some friends fly Sea King and Lynx in the Navy, lucky buggers, wish I could!

Bond said no sponsorship schemes are in place at the moment, but there was a hint to keep an eye out for one. Obviously preferable to £100k!

Jamirecluse

465 posts

180 months

Sunday 27th November 2011
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British Airways were offering a full apprenticeship with all fees paid if you would sign up to work with them about ten years ago - my dads still gutted that he didn't take this chance.Do any airlines still do this sort of thing?

JW911

936 posts

224 months

Sunday 27th November 2011
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Jamirecluse said:
British Airways were offering a full apprenticeship with all fees paid if you would sign up to work with them about ten years ago - my dads still gutted that he didn't take this chance.Do any airlines still do this sort of thing?
Funnily enough, BA have been running a similar programme recently. It closed a couple of months ago but will reopen in the future. The financial details are a little different now but it's still the best deal out there at the moment. Details here.....

http://www.bafuturepilot.com/