Dilemma - dream job in jeopardy due to finances

Archergirl

Sorry about the rejection but you know you have done your best so can now move on. In your spare time could you maybe do some volunteer work? That can be rewarding.....

Mands

Nothanks said:

Sorry to hear about the rejection - in this thread there has been some well meaning and sound advice from Marcon and others; I hope when it stings a bit less you can find something to give you that buzz in life. 

Agreed. There have been some great suggestions in this thread. 

If you frame this as "pilot or nothing" then you will be miserable. You have the opportunity to pivot, to build on the passion and energy and turn this into something positive. 

The choice is yours Sky_Rat. You can let this disappointment define you and make you bitter or you can use this as a jumping off point to a fantastic new chapter. Choose well my friend

Lizzie2995

@sky_rat I’m not sure if you will return to this posting as it seems you got rejected by the Airline sponsorship. I’m not suprised as they would struggle to get a return on their investment.

First off - you don’t need to spend £100,000 on your training and take two years out of work. You can do what plenty of other mature student pilots do and take the modular path. With careful planning you can continue to work while fitting around your commercial training. The costs are around 40% cheaper this way. I would suggest you visit the Pprune forums where this is discussed all the time and you can find the up to date figures involved.

As an alternative why don’t you look at a another flying career, maybe become a Flight Instructor ? 

sky_rat

Lizzie2995 said:

@sky_rat I’m not sure if you will return to this posting as it seems you got rejected by the Airline sponsorship. I’m not suprised as they would struggle to get a return on their investment.

First off - you don’t need to spend £100,000 on your training and take two years out of work. You can do what plenty of other mature student pilots do and take the modular path. With careful planning you can continue to work while fitting around your commercial training. The costs are around 40% cheaper this way. I would suggest you visit the Pprune forums where this is discussed all the time and you can find the up to date figures involved.

As an alternative why don’t you look at a another flying career, maybe become a Flight Instructor ? 

Thanks Lizzie, out of interest what do you mean they would struggle to get a return on their investment ?  Do you mean because of my age ?  They arent really investing as its not fully funded, the candiate has to pay all training costs back over the first 6 years (through salary sacrifice) and if the candiate leaves before those 6 years they still have to pay the training costs back.

I came across Pprune 20 years ago and have been following the BA Speedbird post during my recent applications.

I learnt about the integrated and modular paths when I researched becoming a pilot 20 years ago, but the modular path is not possibe either because I don't have £60k+ to finance the training.  There is also an additional risk with the modular path because it can be harder to get a job once qualified, because some airlines prefer pilots who have gone through the integrated path (Easyjet being one of them).

I don't have the finances to pay for a PPL, so there is no way of any flying career unless someone is willing to fund my training.

I just have to accept that Im stuck in a career that makes me miserable and is going down the pan, I've had to put it with it for decades so will just have to continue for several more decades until retirement (and god knows when that will be !)

Savvy_Sue

sky_rat said:

I just have to accept that Im stuck in a career that makes me miserable and is going down the pan, I've had to put it with it for decades so will just have to continue for several more decades until retirement (and god knows when that will be !)

Have you taken NOTHING away from this thread other than the 'woe is me' attitude you arrived with?

Suppose your DD started in a career but then felt it was a mistake? Suppose her 'dream job' was unattainable - wanted to be a ballet dancer perhaps but you couldn't pay for private drama / dance school? Surely you'd point her towards other ways of living a full life?

saajan_12

sky_rat said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sky_rat said:

Obviously I can’t, so I stay stuck in a dead end job I hate and is going down the pan. One reason I have a small amount of savings is for when the inevitable happens and I lose my job

That seems very binary ... and it's not even as if you have an actual choice at the moment: until you're selected for this training (which you can't afford to do anyway), you have no other option than to stay in a job you hate? which is in danger of disappearing anyway? 

I thought these points were well made:

Mands said:

There's quite a lot of numbers in your post so let's put them into a timeline.

• You are 49. The course (which hasn't started yet) takes two years. You'll be 51, at best, when it finishes
• You will have zero income during those two years so will need to live off savings
• When you qualify your starting salary will be 58% of your current income
• But you'll need to start paying back the finance at, say 20k a year
• You will be 57 when the finance is due to be paid off
• Commercial pilots can not fly beyond 65

Do you think that is manageable?

Now, we may have legislation against age discrimination in the UK, but that doesn't mean it's not alive and well. Even if no-one asks for your date of birth, it's likely there are dates somewhere in the application form, and someone's going to be working out how old you are - I don't know about you, but when someone says they graduated in the same decade as me, I don't need a calculator to work out roughly how old they are. 

By all means carry on putting your all into this application if you've seen any way of making it work, but can't you at least put as much effort into a Plan B: finding another career you could be passionate about? Or if not a career, a hobby, an enthusiasm, a passion which gives purpose to life? 

Finding an alternative career has been the bane of my life, I've tried to think of things but there isn't anything.  Typical jobs such as finance, business, healthcare, retail, law etc just don't appeal to me.  Nothing excites or interests me like being a pilot.  I did look into a career in skydiving, but its very difficult to make a living from it espeically in the UK due to the awful weather (even in summer!).  And I was warned against turning your hobby into a career, as theres the risk of it being ruined.  When I look for work in my current career (engineering) I dont have the interest or motivation.  So when I see job adverts or I am contacted by recruiters (who are just sales people and usually for a job thats unsuitable) I just dont have the interest and quickly give up looking, so end up just staying where I am.  I try not to stay in the same job for longer than 5 or 6 years and Im at that stage now.  In fact I have an interview tomorrow, but I will have to pretend I am interested.

How does this gel with the idea of turning your dream of flying into a career? Both could be ruined by having to do it every day, but you'll never know until you try. 

sky_rat

Savvy_Sue said:

sky_rat said:

I just have to accept that Im stuck in a career that makes me miserable and is going down the pan, I've had to put it with it for decades so will just have to continue for several more decades until retirement (and god knows when that will be !)

Have you taken NOTHING away from this thread other than the 'woe is me' attitude you arrived with?

Suppose your DD started in a career but then felt it was a mistake? Suppose her 'dream job' was unattainable - wanted to be a ballet dancer perhaps but you couldn't pay for private drama / dance school? Surely you'd point her towards other ways of living a full life?

I was just responding to Lizzies post about how the integrated route or a flying instructor is not possible either due to the high financial cost. 

I don't know what other career I could change to, so I just have to accept the situation and carry on as I have been,

sky_rat

saajan_12 said:

sky_rat said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sky_rat said:

Obviously I can’t, so I stay stuck in a dead end job I hate and is going down the pan. One reason I have a small amount of savings is for when the inevitable happens and I lose my job

That seems very binary ... and it's not even as if you have an actual choice at the moment: until you're selected for this training (which you can't afford to do anyway), you have no other option than to stay in a job you hate? which is in danger of disappearing anyway? 

I thought these points were well made:

Mands said:

There's quite a lot of numbers in your post so let's put them into a timeline.

• You are 49. The course (which hasn't started yet) takes two years. You'll be 51, at best, when it finishes
• You will have zero income during those two years so will need to live off savings
• When you qualify your starting salary will be 58% of your current income
• But you'll need to start paying back the finance at, say 20k a year
• You will be 57 when the finance is due to be paid off
• Commercial pilots can not fly beyond 65

Do you think that is manageable?

Now, we may have legislation against age discrimination in the UK, but that doesn't mean it's not alive and well. Even if no-one asks for your date of birth, it's likely there are dates somewhere in the application form, and someone's going to be working out how old you are - I don't know about you, but when someone says they graduated in the same decade as me, I don't need a calculator to work out roughly how old they are. 

By all means carry on putting your all into this application if you've seen any way of making it work, but can't you at least put as much effort into a Plan B: finding another career you could be passionate about? Or if not a career, a hobby, an enthusiasm, a passion which gives purpose to life? 

Finding an alternative career has been the bane of my life, I've tried to think of things but there isn't anything.  Typical jobs such as finance, business, healthcare, retail, law etc just don't appeal to me.  Nothing excites or interests me like being a pilot.  I did look into a career in skydiving, but its very difficult to make a living from it espeically in the UK due to the awful weather (even in summer!).  And I was warned against turning your hobby into a career, as theres the risk of it being ruined.  When I look for work in my current career (engineering) I dont have the interest or motivation.  So when I see job adverts or I am contacted by recruiters (who are just sales people and usually for a job thats unsuitable) I just dont have the interest and quickly give up looking, so end up just staying where I am.  I try not to stay in the same job for longer than 5 or 6 years and Im at that stage now.  In fact I have an interview tomorrow, but I will have to pretend I am interested.

How does this gel with the idea of turning your dream of flying into a career? Both could be ruined by having to do it every day, but you'll never know until you try. 

My hobby isnt a pilot, so Im not turning a hobby into a career.

My hobby is skydiving, I would be willing to take the chance on turning this into a career but as I stated its difficult to make a career in skydiving especially in the UK when for half the year the weather is bad. 

Marcon

sky_rat said:

saajan_12 said:

sky_rat said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sky_rat said:

Obviously I can’t, so I stay stuck in a dead end job I hate and is going down the pan. One reason I have a small amount of savings is for when the inevitable happens and I lose my job

That seems very binary ... and it's not even as if you have an actual choice at the moment: until you're selected for this training (which you can't afford to do anyway), you have no other option than to stay in a job you hate? which is in danger of disappearing anyway? 

I thought these points were well made:

Mands said:

There's quite a lot of numbers in your post so let's put them into a timeline.

• You are 49. The course (which hasn't started yet) takes two years. You'll be 51, at best, when it finishes
• You will have zero income during those two years so will need to live off savings
• When you qualify your starting salary will be 58% of your current income
• But you'll need to start paying back the finance at, say 20k a year
• You will be 57 when the finance is due to be paid off
• Commercial pilots can not fly beyond 65

Do you think that is manageable?

Now, we may have legislation against age discrimination in the UK, but that doesn't mean it's not alive and well. Even if no-one asks for your date of birth, it's likely there are dates somewhere in the application form, and someone's going to be working out how old you are - I don't know about you, but when someone says they graduated in the same decade as me, I don't need a calculator to work out roughly how old they are. 

By all means carry on putting your all into this application if you've seen any way of making it work, but can't you at least put as much effort into a Plan B: finding another career you could be passionate about? Or if not a career, a hobby, an enthusiasm, a passion which gives purpose to life? 

Finding an alternative career has been the bane of my life, I've tried to think of things but there isn't anything.  Typical jobs such as finance, business, healthcare, retail, law etc just don't appeal to me.  Nothing excites or interests me like being a pilot.  I did look into a career in skydiving, but its very difficult to make a living from it espeically in the UK due to the awful weather (even in summer!).  And I was warned against turning your hobby into a career, as theres the risk of it being ruined.  When I look for work in my current career (engineering) I dont have the interest or motivation.  So when I see job adverts or I am contacted by recruiters (who are just sales people and usually for a job thats unsuitable) I just dont have the interest and quickly give up looking, so end up just staying where I am.  I try not to stay in the same job for longer than 5 or 6 years and Im at that stage now.  In fact I have an interview tomorrow, but I will have to pretend I am interested.

How does this gel with the idea of turning your dream of flying into a career? Both could be ruined by having to do it every day, but you'll never know until you try. 

My hobby isnt a pilot, so Im not turning a hobby into a career.

My hobby is skydiving, I would be willing to take the chance on turning this into a career but as I stated its difficult to make a career in skydiving especially in the UK when for half the year the weather is bad. 

Then what's stopping you from taking that chance, when the alternative appears to be spending the rest of your working life continuing to feel sorry for yourself? Lots of things are difficult but that doesn't mean they are doomed to failure. Your 'dream job' has only ever been a pipe dream - so why not put all your energy and enthusiasm into making this alternative work?

sky_rat

Marcon said:

sky_rat said:

saajan_12 said:

sky_rat said:

Savvy_Sue said:

sky_rat said:

Obviously I can’t, so I stay stuck in a dead end job I hate and is going down the pan. One reason I have a small amount of savings is for when the inevitable happens and I lose my job

That seems very binary ... and it's not even as if you have an actual choice at the moment: until you're selected for this training (which you can't afford to do anyway), you have no other option than to stay in a job you hate? which is in danger of disappearing anyway? 

I thought these points were well made:

Mands said:

There's quite a lot of numbers in your post so let's put them into a timeline.

• You are 49. The course (which hasn't started yet) takes two years. You'll be 51, at best, when it finishes
• You will have zero income during those two years so will need to live off savings
• When you qualify your starting salary will be 58% of your current income
• But you'll need to start paying back the finance at, say 20k a year
• You will be 57 when the finance is due to be paid off
• Commercial pilots can not fly beyond 65

Do you think that is manageable?

Now, we may have legislation against age discrimination in the UK, but that doesn't mean it's not alive and well. Even if no-one asks for your date of birth, it's likely there are dates somewhere in the application form, and someone's going to be working out how old you are - I don't know about you, but when someone says they graduated in the same decade as me, I don't need a calculator to work out roughly how old they are. 

By all means carry on putting your all into this application if you've seen any way of making it work, but can't you at least put as much effort into a Plan B: finding another career you could be passionate about? Or if not a career, a hobby, an enthusiasm, a passion which gives purpose to life? 

Finding an alternative career has been the bane of my life, I've tried to think of things but there isn't anything.  Typical jobs such as finance, business, healthcare, retail, law etc just don't appeal to me.  Nothing excites or interests me like being a pilot.  I did look into a career in skydiving, but its very difficult to make a living from it espeically in the UK due to the awful weather (even in summer!).  And I was warned against turning your hobby into a career, as theres the risk of it being ruined.  When I look for work in my current career (engineering) I dont have the interest or motivation.  So when I see job adverts or I am contacted by recruiters (who are just sales people and usually for a job thats unsuitable) I just dont have the interest and quickly give up looking, so end up just staying where I am.  I try not to stay in the same job for longer than 5 or 6 years and Im at that stage now.  In fact I have an interview tomorrow, but I will have to pretend I am interested.

How does this gel with the idea of turning your dream of flying into a career? Both could be ruined by having to do it every day, but you'll never know until you try. 

My hobby isnt a pilot, so Im not turning a hobby into a career.

My hobby is skydiving, I would be willing to take the chance on turning this into a career but as I stated its difficult to make a career in skydiving especially in the UK when for half the year the weather is bad. 

Then what's stopping you from taking that chance, when the alternative appears to be spending the rest of your working life continuing to feel sorry for yourself? Lots of things are difficult but that doesn't mean they are doomed to failure. Your 'dream job' has only ever been a pipe dream - so why not put all your energy and enthusiasm into making this alternative work?

Because you only make money when jumping and half the year the weather is bad, so I would not be able to afford to pay the bills. Most people who work in skydiving do it as a part time job in addition to their full time job

And the training is expensive too, I’m not qualified  to teach or do tandems and tandem equipment is expensive e.g £10k for a tandem rig plus high maintenance costs. Anything in aviation is expensive. 

if I lived somewhere with a better climate it would help but the pay is low so again I wouldn’t be able to afford the bills