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Is commercial pilot training a good option?

The pathway to becoming an airline pilot?

  • I am a 28 year old British citizen who holds a first class degree (BSc) and has taken some time out teaching English in South America to rethink my career options. I have been looking into training as a pilot, which has interested me for some time, however, time, money and general pessimism have detered me in the past. I have now come to the realisation that it is now or never to make a change and go for what I want to do. I have looked into the defferent paths available to me to obtain the relevant qualifications and experience which I believe are: The military, although the cut off for the UK air force is 25. The Australian air force is a cut off of 43, however they prefer training to start by the time you are 27.5 and besides the point you need atleast permanent residency in Oz to join the ADF. The other option is join the army where the cut off age is 30, howver, you are primarily a soldier and sign up with a hope of becoming a pilot, and if it doesn´t work out you are in there for the long haul! Although I wouldn´t be apposed to being in the military (having been very close to signing up for RAF on two seperate occasions) I feel this is a reisky avenue to venture in order to achieve the relevant experience. The other option is flight school in order to achieve your private pilot certificate, which I believe is the first expensive step in a long journey to becoming a pilot, having the instrument rating, commercial license etc in the future. Another option is to get me CFI and I understand some schools will exchange flight hours inexchange for teaching students. As I don´t have an endless pot of savings, and were not blessed with wealthy parents I would need to be thinking about ways in which to supplement my training in terms of loans, working in exchange for flight hours, or financial aid if there is any available. Furthermore, I would also look into a postgraduate course in aviation or something along those lines if it would be a benefitial step in the right direction. Basically, if anyone has any information on whether this is a realistic goal I have set for myself, or whether I am simply too old and should have gone with my instincts at 21 and have carried out my application to be a pilot in the RAF (and not let a long term girlfriend get in the way!) then I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance

  • Answer:

    You're basically too old to have a realistic shot of flying in the military. You would have to be way above average both academically and physically to even have a remote shot at it. That leaves civilian training. In order to become a CFI you are facing the same "long journey to becoming a pilot, having the instrument rating, commercial license etc" as any civilian trained commercial pilot does. All pilot training begins with the Private Pilot License. A post-grad aviation course will not help you unless your goal is aviation management, flight operations, or engineering. It won't help you become a pilot except that with a post-grad degree in some field or other you can earn more money than with an undergraduate degree and therefore might be able to pay for flight training without borrowing loads of money. There are next to no chances to work in exchange for flight training, at least not enough to get you very far. Because you already hold a degree you cannot qualify for financial aid, not that there is much of that available for pilot training in the first place, especially in the UK. That leaves you with borrowing money, which in the current economic climate requires stellar credit, a good income and / or some serious assets (such as equity in a home) to borrow against. Presumably your current salary won't allow you to afford flight training at anything but a very slow pace, and you don't have much time to waste if you are thinking in terms of an airline career. It's still possible to pursue your dream, but it will require time, very hard work and major sacrifice to achieve. Email "Ben Dere" and ask his advice. He's one of the top contributors here and by all accounts started about your age with no money or assets and managed to become a commercial pilot.

Elliot at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Hi Elliot, As you predict you are now too old for the RAF even with a degree the upper age limit is 26 upon entry (unless they've changed it since) and 24 for non-graduates.As someone else has said you might well have been laid off by the RAF as a pilot if you had gone in with the cut backs.I was down at Bristol ground school last year studying module1 ATPL theory ,around 60-70% of the course were military pilots who were getting the boot. As for airline pilot ,well you've probably done the research but I'll give you a condensed summary as I get fed-up of writing an answer with more words than war&peace everyday. As a mean average(so statistically less for a new starter 250HRSTT,CPL,ME,IR,MCC) 20 applicants to each first officer job, 2 years to train (full time), roughly in the region of £80k from scratch not including living expenses. If you've won the lottery or something and just want to do it for the sake of doing so go ahead.But as a viable career(that's a joke in it's self for most pilot JOBS these days) to get in debt for I wouldn't UNLESS I knew I was going to get a job at the end of it.The choice is yours good luck either way wether you persue a pilot career ,or another profession.

Ben

Had you gone into the RAF you could have been made redundant as a pilot by now even in the unlikely event that you had made the grade - few do All you can do now is look for an airline that is recruiting for training but I would say you have left it too late.

Timbo is here

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