What a great selection of responses. The only thing I can add is to do everything in your power to immerse yourself in aviation in less obvious ways. By that I mean perhaps trying to get involved in helping out at Duxford or any local airfield. You’ll find all sorts of useful experience coupled with contacts who may become invaluable through places like these. Definitely join the Air Cadets as suggested above and try to steer any educational choices you have towards those that will help you towards a flying career (i.e. Maths isn’t absolutrely essential but having studied it to a reasonable level will certainly make life easier when you’re training to be a pilot). The reason I stress these particular points is that these are the things that will sell you onto a sponsorship or show an aviation employer you have the dedication to be the one he should employ.
Here’s how it wotked for me –
Started hanging about at a gliding club aged 12. Spent all my school holidays bumming around the gliding club getting myself a reputation as a helpful, willing sort of chap. Went solo in a glider on 16th birthday and managed to cajole the parents into helping me do a short conversion for a PPL due to my gliding experience. PPL completed age 17 and all school holidays spent working as a hanger rat in exchange for flying, etc. All other days were spent tugging gliders in old crop sprayers. Left school at 18 with A levels in Maths, Physics and one other and took a boring office job but then a friend had to turn down an opportunity to be a professional instructor in gliders and motor gliders. I stepped in to save the day and spent 2 years as a professional instructor. Left to join the airlines as cabin crew (just networking higher up the scale) having met a lot of airline crews through the flying clubs. carried on instructing and glider towing on my days off while working towards commercial. Got fed up with instructing and towing so I got involved with ultra cheap PFA open cockpit VW powered aeroplanes which I could maintain myself. I even had one aeroplane that I kept in the driveway at home! 17 years after I started I finally found myself flying a commercial turboprop for little money and the rest is history to everyone on this site. Do yourself a favour, if you can buy your way in do it. I had great fun along the way but I really don’t know if I could go through all that again.
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