How would i go about becoming a pilot

Martin there is a CAA Doctor from Northern Ireland called Justin doing my Class 2 (he only does class 2 at home in ni at weekends) and he speaks with a more Southern Irish Accent :S

Good luck with your medical mate! Not the most pleasant of experiences that’s for sure!! I’ve got mine up for renewal soon, not really looking forward to it. Luckily I haven’t got to go to Gatwick to renew it though. If you get an male Irish doctor doing your full body examination….watch out!! His hands tend to roam!!!!

Thanks alot Ian, can’t wait to be honest, full steam ahead if passed, earth shattering nightmare if i dont hehe.

All the best Dean.

yes good luck Martin, keep us posted

Im off for my Class 1 at Gatwick next Tues (24th), wish me luck, then IF i pass its off for my ATPL theory for 18 months (modular) and hopefully by the time I come out with a nice clean fATPL there will hopefully be some spare right hand seats going :D, if I fail my medical, hmmm do I spend my £35,000 on a nice holiday and a car? or pay it back to the mortgage ? :rolleyes: geee let me think …………………………………… hehe

Dean

Martin, after several gloomy years I think things are really starting to look potentially rosy for you if you can get that license knocked out.

I think you might just be right Ian! Here’s hoping!!

Thanks for all the links guys

Martin, after several gloomy years I think things are really starting to look potentially rosy for you if you can get that license knocked out.

BA and BA Citiexpress have been actively recruiting since April this year. BA are taking on experienced pilots whilst Citiexpress are taking a lot of our lads from Oxford and some other low hours guys. The sad fact is that it is very unlinkely BA are ever going to restart their sponsorship scheme and that is on authority of someone very senior within the company I’m afraid.

BA have one the largest sporsorship schemes, but they have to be recruiting for it to go ahead.

bmi dont as a friend looked recently. Thomas Cook and easyJet kinda do as they have this pay it back from your wages thing. BUT you at no point are guarnteed a job at end of course which could leave you with a £60-70k debt and no job!

So are there really any airlines or corporations or whatever offering sponsorships or whatever anymore?

Also who do I establish contacts with really?

Ive got it

I didnt read everyones posts so this might have already been mentioned.

Try the link below its the best booklet ive seen.

BEST BOOKLET!

Srbin,

Airline Sponsorship is really for the most part a thing of the past. Mind they will let you pay for it out of your pay as their only form of sponsoship!

Wow awesome tips guys. I was wondering about more of these airline sponsored programs and how they work and who offers them and how to get into them. My friend got accepted by one of those programs by Lufthansa but as it appears he was forced to quit it for some reason, I really have no idea how he got accepted into it. I am also from Canada.

Hello,first post and all so here goes……

The way I tried to get into a pilot’s role was via the RAF (Yes it was Topgun that did it…..I Know but I was about 6 and impressionable when it came out!),so I joined the local ATC squadron to gain a little experience on the recommendation of a recruiting Seargent. I signed up all full of hopes and dreams at the tender age of 14 but rather bizzarely,and considering it was the AIR Training Corps I found myself undertaking a lot of infantry focused training,shooting,movement in the field camoflage and concealment etc,but we did do a lot of classroom stuff too toward the aviation side of things. It was only really the basics such as the principles of flight etc,(you probably know more than the instructors there now,but to have it written up as a formal exam pass looks better)

A stint in the ATC also proves to them you have good self discipline,have practical experience of teamwork and leadership,as well as excellent communication skills,so it’s well worth the time and effort,plus you may get a few hours in gliders and grob’s too.

Well as for me,it didn’t work out because one fateful summer afternoon my kneecap and a mountainbike became one with the pavement,so my knee that’s now held together with chewing gum and sticky tape thanks to the NHS means the RAF will NEVER consider me…..,but follow your dream,work hard and try to get involved somehow with ATC or a UAS and that’ll help you along the path to glory…..

Good Luck,and I hope this helps

Cheers

If i get in (plan on applying once got ppl in a year and half or so) ill be anything they want me to be 😉

Andrew, no it doesn’t there are quite a fews guys, including myself, with PPL hours, however they prefer it if you come to them completely free of previous flying experience so that in essence they can make you ‘their’ pilot.

Martin, One Question – ive started PPL training – does that rule me out for an OAT course?

BY 767 is mainly accurate but there are a couple of errors.

Firstly, BA does not have it’s own flying school, not since Hamble closed down some years ago. It’s very expensive to run such an establishment and to be honest there’s little need. Most if not all the UK airlines who train their own cadets, do so via 3rd party establishments such as Oxford, BAe (Jerez), Cabair etc. Similarly, sponsorship deals are very hard to come by post-Sept. 11th. Also, read the small print carefully on these deals. Some of them are not as “free” as you’d think and all tend to have minimum bond periods of 5+ years. Some also require you to pay back the money direct from salary too!

£50,000-£60,000 is about right for costs, but as Martin rightly said, the licence is the easy bit (relatively). Finding that all-important 1st job is the real trick. I qualified 5+ years ago and there are still 50% of my cours mates without their first jobs.

The thing that stops most people becoming a pilot is usually none of the obvious problems – money or luck, it is simply down to determination. Everyone will struggle with at least one element of the course even if it’s just the fundiong but anyone determined enough will find a (honest!) way. I’vew spoken to stacks of people who’d like to be an airline pilot but only a handful have ever seen it through.

Regarding academics, Maths & Physics are very useful, the other subjects may be useful to give an overall impression at interview but aren’t so practical. That said, Home Economics, Woodwork and pottery probably wouldn’t be the way to go either. As we all know, common sense and personality are the most important but as airlines are so over subscribed they have to apply a sensible number of filters. Whether or not that’s fair is immaterial, simple case of supply and demand. Me, not a brainiac but i had enough determination to see me through the weaker areas.

My experience? Started off in the Air Training Corps – invaluable in my opinion. Try convincing a potential sponsor you’re mad kean to be a pilot but hung out at the bus shelter with your mates every evening! Got an RAF flying scholarship – not vital but useful CV filler but hard to get. Worked at B&Q and a kettle-switch factory then got a job as cabin crew, so i got myself flying one way or another, knowing I’d be well-placed if the airline began sponsoring. Paid off as in Oct 1997 I got sponsorship and am now a skipper with a major regional airline in the UK.

Summary? As Roy Castle said, Dedication, dedication & more dedication.

Final word, it is worth every penny, every drop of sweat and every tear to get there! But it’s all down to you…..