From virgin to commercial airline pilot, possible? and how?
Discussion
A friend of mine did exactly this, started ten years ago leaving estate agency behind, sold his house to finance the training, went out to the states to "flight school", unfortunately for him he ended up trainig at the same school that trained some of the 911 Kamikaze pilots... cue FBI interest followed by a global collapse in air passenger travel, and a sucession of second rate flying jobs. However after ten years and many thousands of pounds he is now flying for Easy Jet. It can be done but be prepared to sacrifice a lot!
elster said:
I believe you will be able to lose your virginity after the CPL.
No - that's what the extra exams for the ATPL are about.Anyway - from zero to a frozen ATPL - the point at which you've got the all moves, but you don't have the mileage - will set you back well over £80k nowadays, and at the moment practically nobody is hiring (quite the opposite, in fact).
thegavster said:
Just over a decade ago a friend of mine won a scholarship with the Army air corps, completed that then left and walked into a training course with BA, which he was selected from and is still a BA pilot today.
I think he was f**king lucky.
"Just over a decade ago" many airlines were paying for pilot training. I don't know of (m)any that are now.I think he was f**king lucky.
As someone said look in pprune you'll be more likely to get accurate and up to date information there.
If you read Pprune you'd probably never do it 
There are two ways of getting a fATPL (frozen Airline Transport Pilot Licence) at which point you are employable by an airline, full time (integrated) or part time (modular). I can only comment on the modular route as that's the one I chose. It's allowed me to maintain my full time job in IT (thankfully in the current economic situation!) whist doing all the required training.
Class 1 medical - £300 (Do this before anything else. No point going any further if you can't get this!)
PPL - £8000
ATPL theory - £3000
Hour build to get 100 hours P1 - £8000
CPL - £5000
IR/ME - £16000
MCC - £3000
(all costs are ballpark and could be more/less, actually who am I kidding, it'll be more
)
It's taken me 3 years so far and I've done everything except the MCC as I've run out of money (not ideal really, try and budget better than I did!) but hope to get it done over summer when I've cleared a few debts. Be prepared to spend most of your life dedicated to this, especially when you're doing the ATPL theory (that took a year on it's own distance learning). Also, don't expect to be earning big money when you're done. It's NOT about the money. The only reason you'd ever want to do this is because you love flying.
My best bit of advice is to ask yourself the following:
1) Do I love flying?
2) Can I gamble with ~£50k for a chance at a flying job?
3) Can I dedicate 3+ years of my life chasing this?
If yes to all, then go for it
There are two ways of getting a fATPL (frozen Airline Transport Pilot Licence) at which point you are employable by an airline, full time (integrated) or part time (modular). I can only comment on the modular route as that's the one I chose. It's allowed me to maintain my full time job in IT (thankfully in the current economic situation!) whist doing all the required training.
Class 1 medical - £300 (Do this before anything else. No point going any further if you can't get this!)
PPL - £8000
ATPL theory - £3000
Hour build to get 100 hours P1 - £8000
CPL - £5000
IR/ME - £16000
MCC - £3000
(all costs are ballpark and could be more/less, actually who am I kidding, it'll be more
)It's taken me 3 years so far and I've done everything except the MCC as I've run out of money (not ideal really, try and budget better than I did!) but hope to get it done over summer when I've cleared a few debts. Be prepared to spend most of your life dedicated to this, especially when you're doing the ATPL theory (that took a year on it's own distance learning). Also, don't expect to be earning big money when you're done. It's NOT about the money. The only reason you'd ever want to do this is because you love flying.
My best bit of advice is to ask yourself the following:
1) Do I love flying?
2) Can I gamble with ~£50k for a chance at a flying job?
3) Can I dedicate 3+ years of my life chasing this?
If yes to all, then go for it
Edited by Moose. on Tuesday 14th April 15:33
Yep, ditto with someone I know, sold everything took all the equity from his house and ploughed £60K into getting qualified shortly before jobs got like hens teeth, after qualification he took his first job earning next to nothing flying wrecks, but it then all went tits up when someone took a dislike to him in a pub, rammed his face into the bar and took his eye out on the top of a pump, now medically unfit and he's back dry lining walls £60k out of pocket, it's a big gamble.
As others have mentioned, check out PPRune forums but spend some time looking through the posts before even daring to ask a question. There are sound people on there, but also some [let put this politely] highly opinionated people and some with no time for newbies. Sift the posts and try to get an objective feel re: routes to take, the jobs market etc.
I always wanted to be a pilot but 9/11 happened as I was at uni studying aero. eng. This was supposed to be a fall back option, not the option! I am now reaching the point where I could self fund my training, but am not sure I want it badly enough to potentially get no return for the outlay.
Don't discount the forces. I have a few mates flying Mil aircraft, one of whom gets to peddle this huge thing around the globe:
he's a 'lifer' but going Mil allows for some fun and variety before migrating over to civil work.
I always wanted to be a pilot but 9/11 happened as I was at uni studying aero. eng. This was supposed to be a fall back option, not the option! I am now reaching the point where I could self fund my training, but am not sure I want it badly enough to potentially get no return for the outlay.
Don't discount the forces. I have a few mates flying Mil aircraft, one of whom gets to peddle this huge thing around the globe:
he's a 'lifer' but going Mil allows for some fun and variety before migrating over to civil work.
Edited by shirt on Tuesday 14th April 16:42
shirt said:
As others have mentioned, check out PPRune forums but spend some time looking through the posts before even daring to ask a question. There are sound people on there, but also some [let put this politely] highly opinionated people and some with no time for newbies. Sift the posts and try to get an objective feel re: routes to take, the jobs market etc.
I always wanted to be a pilot but 9/11 happened as I was at uni studying aero. eng. This was supposed to be a fall back option, not the option! I am now reaching the point where I could self fund my training, but am not sure I want it badly enough to potentially get no return for the outlay.
Don't discount the forces. I have a few mates flying Mil aircraft, one of whom gets to peddle this huge thing around the globe:
he's a 'lifer' but going Mil allows for some fun and variety before migrating over to civil work.
Is that a C17 (?) or C141 (?) Starlifter ? I didn't even know that our airforce was running them now I thought we were stuck with C130 Hercs ? But then again I am years out of touch I always wanted to be a pilot but 9/11 happened as I was at uni studying aero. eng. This was supposed to be a fall back option, not the option! I am now reaching the point where I could self fund my training, but am not sure I want it badly enough to potentially get no return for the outlay.
Don't discount the forces. I have a few mates flying Mil aircraft, one of whom gets to peddle this huge thing around the globe:
he's a 'lifer' but going Mil allows for some fun and variety before migrating over to civil work.
Edited by shirt on Tuesday 14th April 16:42
Edited by mel on Tuesday 14th April 17:10
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