Soft
Apologies for my late response, got tied up then had to leave for work (where I am now at present 🙁 )
Galdri has pretty much summed it up but I will give you my experience & views anyway as I am going the modular route and have just completed the ATPL examinations and am starting the CPL in a few weeks as long as the hour building goes well.
Basically I started the ATPL examination study in Feb 2005, but I didn’t really hit it that hard, I was picking my books up now & again, we also had a 7 month old girl with the wife 4 months pregnant again, the horror. I was then picking the books up once every few weeks which was not good enough, so to motivate me I booked the 2 week brush-up course & exam week for the October & November, I was then studying every single day from about June/July onwards for the brush up which was 3 weeks into October (24th I think), now, I only work a 3 day week, but 14hrs a day & night alternating which includes the travelling to & from work so this gave me some time to complete the studying on my days off, but it was damn hard work, especially having such a young family and my 2nd born in the July of last year, anyway I took the exams which finished about mid November, but then took a break from studying (because believe me if you didn’t know what brain ache was you will by the time you finished the first module), I started Mod 2 mid December and I finished the exams Mid May. I now have 40hrs hour building to complete which I hope to do within a few weeks if the weather stays kind, then it’s the CPL/IR MER & MCC, I plan to have this done by Christmas, you can see the timescale coming from this which will be as galdri said, about 18 months, I would say yours may take you a while longer due to the fact that you have not got your PPL yet and also no hours on top, I think I had about 90hrs when I started the ATPLs.
You will be very very fortunate to obtain a place on a sponsorship scheme, like me you are a little too old, you can try the CTC wings scheme but I am sure you are too old for this, also what are your academic qualifications? because they stipulate a minimum 2 a’levels or a degree, your best bet is modular like myself to be honest.
As for building hrs galdri is right, an instructor’s rating is generally the way to go, galdri has over estimated on the price a little bit here, you can get one in the UK for about £5,000, I am going to do mine after Christmas when I get made redundant from work, at least I’ll have plenty of time on my hands to do it haha, also galdri is correct regading hrs on type after you have obtained a nice shiny type rating, you can pick up a 737 TR for about 14,000 euros if you shop around, there’s a good discussion on PPRuNe at the moment regarding 737 & 320 TRs. The A320 TR will set you back a bit more than the 737 TR.
The MCC in the UK will set you back basically what you are prepared to pay for one, generally between £2,000 & £6,000, you can go with the CTC scheme, to which there is a selection process to be accepted, then if you make the grade they place you with an airline with a TR paid for, you will have a 6 month contract unpaid but will get sector payments, then after the 6 months the airline may keep you employed if there is a need for you, this is the route I am going to take but I have to act fast because the max age for this is 34, and you have to be within 3 months of your 34th birthday.
As galdri said regarding jobs, you will have to be prepared to move anywhere, and if you wish to open your opportunities even more then you will have to be prepared to move to Europe as well, not just the UK, someone of our age Soft, I would target the turboprop operators first, ones like FlyBe & BA Connect, they do take modular older guys with low hrs because these guys are less likely to wander off to a shiny jet at the first opportunity.
Anyway good luck in your ventures, keep us informed as to how it all goes, if you need to know anything just post here, there are always guys willing to help out, or PM me and I’ll give you my phone number even if it’s purely for moral support
Rgds
Dean
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