Radical career change (aviation industry)

thegirlintheattic

flyer31 wrote: »

Do you think this is the training scheme of BA?

ctcwings[dot]com[slash]ba

It says something about they are giving you a loan, but it does not state anywhere how much it actually costs ...

CTC (and similar programs) would probably not touch you at that age because it will be harder for you to secure a job at the end of it (as you have less working years ahead of you). The company 'pays' the cost of the course but you usually have to pay a 'bond' of £40-£80k to ensure that you complete the course and take up employment they offer you. Once in employment the airline pays this bond back to you SLOWLY whilst you are employed by them. They often offer loans to enable you to pay the bond.

I think this is likely to be the kind of scheme your friend was talking about as BA no longer does it's own ATPL training but uses CTC, Flight Training Europe and Oxford Aviation to provide training and so contributes to training costs. If you want BA you have to apply through them, then they sent the application to the training center, then interviews and if they like you as a candidate they become a partner airline for you and take over your bond once you reach a certain point and provide you a job at the end of it. The scheme however for BA (Future Pilots) is currently closed and there is no indication about when it will reopen. So you have to go direct to CTC or similar with no guarantee of a job.

Because of the loan part and slow repayments it is usually the most expensive way of training to be a pilot but works out if you are young, high-flying and unable to pay for the training yourself. These courses are EXTREMELY competitive.

Owain_Moneysaver

flyer31 wrote: »

Oh I see. I hold an Austrian passport but have been in the UK for over 5 years. I do not necessarly need to work in the UK, it is just about getting the training for "affordable" money .

Austrian air force?

Slinky

One of my customers sold their house and went into rented to pay for their son's training to be a commercial airline pilot.

paddyrg

It is expensive, there is no escaping it. It is competitive, no escaping that either. As an Aussie, you will find CPL training cheaper there than here, and I presume being surrounded by Australians is not that offputting for you. Otherwise, pop over to see the Kiwis, it's pretty cheap out there too.

CPL is the very beginning of a life in aviation - a 38 yr old friend just took his CPL and found it hard to find mainstream airline work, but is now flying small Cessna's around Indonesia. Jobs come up when they lose planes/pilots (about 1 each year). He had to self fund, and you probably will too. Why would an airline pay/loan for your training when they have so many ready-trained, willing and eager applicants for each job? If you don't have the money, frankly you will not be an airline pilot.

So, what other aviation jobs are there? Plenty. Find out what about the aviation sector really appeals, then talk to people. Maybe you'd make a great thrower, refueler, mechanic if your dream is to work with planes directly. Maybe you can find office work at an airline's head office, maybe work at a provincial airport as junior management, who knows? But it is such a huge sector you cannot guess at all the options, so start narrowing it down (or saving up!)

agrinnall

Paddy, the OP is Austrian, not Australian :A

paddyrg

agrinnall wrote: »

Paddy, the OP is Austrian, not Australian :A

I am an idiot ;-)

(Sometimes posting on my phone makes things trickier to x-ref!)

psychopathbabble

It is very very expensive to become a commercial pilot. And unfortunately, the airlines like to have a pool of unemployed pilots to choose from as and when they please so even once you are qualified, it is incredibly difficult to get a jbo. New recruits can barely afford living costs when first employed by an airline as they are paying back so much money for their type ratings etc. A friend of mine ditched his high powered city job to become a pilot in his 30s and regrets it. He got his licence part time through a ground school and feels that this, combined with his age means that he is not as employable as a fresh 20yr old straight from uni with lots of his parents money to pay for things.

I'd maybe look at ATC first, and have a good think about whether you want to proceed with the pilot idea with the costs involved and no guarantees of a job.

TrickyWicky

You could always look at smaller piloting jobs - eg helicopter, pleasure flights etc.

cheese189

Quite expensive these days to get up to ATPL (air transport pilot licence):

Private pilot licence. £. 7500
Hour building to about 150 hours. £11000 (minimum...)
Commercial pilot licence. £6500
More hour building. £2500
ATPL exams £2500. ( correspondence course)

At that point you have a CPL that lets you earn money from flying, but only a single engined plane. At this point you could be a flying instructor and pick up some casual instructing at £20 per hour.

To get onto bigger stuff, you would also need an instrument rating ( anything up to £20k) and a multi crew certificate- another few grand.

Then you need to find an airline to take you on- and most these days expect you to pay for your own training on the type of a/c you will be flying- say £30k.

For that you will probably get a 12 month contract and be in debt up to your eyeballs...

TrickyWicky

I guess in short what cheese is saying is that you need to be minted..