Student Pilot Finance Help !

Aaronm99

Hello !
I'm a student pilot in Edinburgh working towards my PPL (privot pilots licence) Hoping to advance onwards to my CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence) 

As it stands I'd need to find a way to raise the funds or loan around 60k to complete my CPL. I work as a bus mechanic in Edinburgh getting a weekly wage and I'm not too bad at saving money ! 

Any help will be appreciated, we've looked at some options, part mortgaging the house since we own it but I'm not sure if there are cheaper options 

Hopefully this helps others in my position. 

Cheers !

TadleyBaggie

Second job?

Mickey666

An old friend is a commercial pilot, though she (yes, she) is about to retire this year.
She passed her PPL in the UK and then went to USA to build up her hours because the rules for flying for reward were different than UK and she was able to fly solo mail/courier flights plus other stuff to build up her hours, basically for free.  She did this for a while and when she had enough hours and a bit more cash she returned to the UK.   She stayed with me while doing her IFR and it was great fun sitting the rear of a twin-otter with window blinds obscuring her view while I could clearly see how far off she was on her approach until she got the hang of it.  This was at Stansted in the early 80s, before it was a major airport but even so every practice approach cost her a significant amount of cash.   Couldn't afford it at Stansted today!

After gaining her UK CPL & IFR she got a paid job in Scotland flying mail delivery flights around the islands, one of which included landing on the beach!  After gaining enough experience she managed to get a job with a charter airline out of Luton flying B737s but by this time all the necessary conversion training was paid for by her employer.  She's taking early retirement this year as her current company is retiring its fleet of B757s.

I think the rules for 'flying for reward' are more relaxed these days but even so it can be an expensive business building up enough hours to qualify to take the CPL training.  I've heard that PPLs can legally tow gliders so that's a possible way of building hours at no cost - they lend the plane you fly for free.  Aerial photography also used to be a thing but drones may have put a dent in that possibility these days.  But I'm sure your PPL instructor and/or flying school will be able to advise . . . in fact, when I was taking flying lessons back in the 80s it was almost the only topic of conversation in the clubhouse as most of the members seemed to be aiming for a career in flying!  Personally, I discovered two main things - 1) flying is a very expensive business unless you can get paid for it and 2) I didn't have the passion it needed to spend all my spare cash (and more) on flying as a hobby, so I gave up after completing my solo flights and before the navigation and cross-country part of the PPL syllabus began.  So no PPL for me, but no regrets either.

Good luck with it all!

tacpot12

The rules regarding flying for reward had not been relaxed, and there is no prospect of them being relaxed following the death of Emiliano Sala who died when a PPL was engaged to fly for reward. 

Mortgaging the house is certainly an option, but I would reserve this for end of your training when you have a type rating to pay for. Paying for your CPL, IFR, the hours building and ATPL Theory should be paid for out of earnings. Many aspiring pilots become instructors, in order to get someone else to pay for their flying. Some enjoy it and become very proficient instructors, others do not take to it so well, and should not be taking student's money when they cannot teach well.

A second job and minimising your cost of living is how to build up a pot of money to pay for your next step. I would recommend that you save all the money first, then take that next step. This is so you can complete that step as quickly as possible, with finance never being an issue. If you try to pay as you go, it will cost you more, and you really can't afford this on a career path that will cost at least £60K even if all goes to plan. As with all flying training (and learning to drive), never pay in advance, have the money, but leave it in your bank account until your wheels are back on the ground! 

Good luck. Your mechanical background will stand you in good stead for some of the theory.

Mickey666

tacpot12 said:

The rules regarding flying for reward had not been relaxed, and there is no prospect of them being relaxed following the death of Emiliano Sala who died when a PPL was engaged to fly for reward. 

I thought that awful event was more about the pilot not being IFR qualified.  Breaking the rules by taking money for flying is unlikely to kill anyone, unlike not being qualified for the flight conditions in question.

MEM62

Aaronm99 said:

I'm a student pilot in Edinburgh working towards my PPL (privot pilots licence) Hoping to advance onwards to my CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence) 

The timing is probably not great.  The aviation industry is on it's knees and may be for some time to come. Jobs will be scarce for the foreseeable future.  This will make finance for training even more difficult to secure.    

CSL0183

Aaronm99 said:

Hello !
I'm a student pilot in Edinburgh working towards my PPL (privot pilots licence) Hoping to advance onwards to my CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence) 

As it stands I'd need to find a way to raise the funds or loan around 60k to complete my CPL. I work as a bus mechanic in Edinburgh getting a weekly wage and I'm not too bad at saving money ! 

Any help will be appreciated, we've looked at some options, part mortgaging the house since we own it but I'm not sure if there are cheaper options 

Hopefully this helps others in my position. 

Cheers !

You’re on the wrong forum, go over to PPRUNE and ask them for advice. 

I work in the aviation industry and there’s a good reason why 75% of pilots are ex military. 20% are usually from wealthy families that fund the training and then about 5% are like yourself trying to scrape funds together to get you through. 

I would say your timing is not great and you’re likely going to need double the amount at over £100k to get to where you want to be as you will need type ratings and you will need a lot of flying hours logged before an employer will likely take you on.

tacpot12

MEM62 said:
The timing is probably not great.  The aviation industry is on it's knees and may be for some time to come. Jobs will be scarce for the foreseeable future.  This will make finance for training even more difficult to secure.    

All the more reason to pay for training out of income.