--First Job as Pilot--

[Kyriakos]

Guess we ll just have to keep trying and wish for better days to come mate...
As you said connections is vital especially in this industry since the slightest wisper of an opportunity might get you on the wheel...

Thanks and best of luck to you as well!

[500 above]

Ade rai Kyriakos!

Instructing is always a good start but i have to wait a bit longer for Aegean's plans as im on the stand-by list... Cyprus is more like a mission impossible so i have my eyes and ears open for opportunities anywhere in the world with the lowest possible requirements.

It's not impossible mate. It can and does happen without paying for it. (flying, not chicks )

Did you learn at LCA or PFO?

[Galloping]

Hi Santom,

From my experience the hardest part of becoming a pilot is not the training itself but getting a job at the end of it without paying for a type rating.

I found pilot training challenging but very enjoyable and passed all exams on first attempt. But once training is over and you've obtained your frozen atpl -reality can strike with a bang.

In my case I qualified in mid 2008. Didn't have the means to finance a type rating and didnt want the burden of a 30k+ loan.

I worked for two years in flight ops for an airline as an attempt at another avenue into the industry. But alas the airline started its own pay to fly scheme which I didn't partake in.

I've since given up on the aviation industry and reverted back to my original career which i qualified at "pre pilot training".

The reality was that those in my class who had financial backing from parents obtained jobs. All in this case were with Ryanair! Those that weren't in a position to finance a type rating including myself have not flown passengers ever commercially!

However, maybe I should consider myself one of the lucky ones to have escaped the industry. It was only this week that I heard of Ryanair pilots having to pay to park at their respective airport bases on top of everything else there paying for already!

They say far away hills are greener. In my case I'm now glad I'm far away from the aviation industry. It's a money pit!

If you feel the desire to enter this industry still. Go in with eyes wide open and wallet tightly secured!

[500 above]

Read this from another thread, same forum. This is today's attitude. Paying for LHS next? Disgusting behaviour from the play station generation...

For the last time it looks like, the preferences of many airlines are going a wrong way in employing first officers. Every airline is trying to cut the costs and I already know several companies employing on right seat pilots, who are flying for free or even paying for that. My last company did the same last summer, one previous company where I was working has started doing the same. I was fired during the crises and instead of taking back experienced pilots they give a chance to low timers without any experience, because they don't get a salary. One day there will be a thousands of pilots who goes tru this way and the airlines keeps the costs low by paying for the captains only. Why nobody offers for example the program for experienced F/O to get captains trainig and get 500hrs as a captain? There are no jobs for B737/A320 for experienced F/O except something in China and the reason is simple as I'm describing here. I already have qualifications and enough hours on type to be qualified as a captain, but my airline has a seniority system like many others and a waiting time is more than 5 years or maybe even more today.

http://www.pprune.org/interviews-job...mployable.html

Think before you pay. You could/will be doing someone out of a job, then the same WILL happen to you.

[Ojah]

Flying has always been a dream of mine. I am not one to dive into situations uninformed and from my observations over the past few years, I have come to the following conclusions;

Pilots with little experience have become cogs in the corporate machine and are very disposable.

Self funding through flight school (CTC/OAA) has a high probability of producing broken dreams. The flight school may boast high employment rates, but these are often short term positions with low cost carriers that end in unemployment and the need for additional training at your expense.

The only way to safely enter the profession from scratch is through a fully sponsored ATPL scheme such as BA FPP. At least then you are guaranteed employment with a decent airline.

To what extent do people agree with my conclusions? I am currently going through university with 1 year to go. At present, I think I will apply for the BA FPP upon graduation. If I am selected, excellent. If not, I have a degree to fall back on and would not entertain the idea of self funding myself.

[Bealzebub]

Self funding through flight school (CTC/OAA) has a high probability of producing broken dreams.

I am afraid you need more than just dreams. You need to do some serious research and have realistic expectations and back up plans. The organisations you quote in fact are likely to be the best source of achieving your ambitions, depending on what those ambitions are, coupled with your ability, resource, timing and luck.

The only way to safely enter the profession from scratch is through a fully sponsored ATPL scheme such as BA FPP. At least then you are guaranteed employment with a decent airline.

No, I am afraid that you are guaranteed nothing. The scheme is in fact a variation of other long running affiliation cadet schemes through exactly the same organisations you paradoxically suggest as "producing broken dreams," in the first paragraph. In fact the scheme is a good one, but success is still conditional on many factors both within and outside of your control. Again you are guaranteed nothing, and any loans or borrowing are at your risk.

I am currently going through university with 1 year to go. At present, I think I will apply for the BA FPP upon graduation. If I am selected, excellent. If not, I have a degree to fall back on and would not entertain the idea of self funding myself.

You would be self funding in any event. Only if the conditional offer of employment at the conclusion is realised will some of the costs be refunded to you on a non inflationary basis over a period of around 7 years. This scheme may help you to secure the borrowing if you are unable to secure it yourself, but it is still your borrowing, and the sums are very large. The training risks are also yours. Similar schemes are offered with other airlines, but the number of such offers is very low as a percentage of the overall market.

If you see only one cadet scheme as being acceptable, then go for it, and good luck. However I would point out that the odds of success are very small, and competition is fierce. By ruling out alternatives you have already diminished the probability of success to very low levels. Obviously you accept that, and just like filling in a lottery ticket...Fingers crossed!