If truth be known pretty much any Tom, D!ck or Harry with the slightest shred of intelligence can get a Frozen ATPL, it is a lot of hard work, but if you keep up with it and work hard you’ll get the license. There are A LOT of guys on forums like PPRUNE who have licenses…many more than actually have jobs. The simple fact is, if you have the money, you can get the license so actually getting qualified isn’t the hard bit.
The difference between getting a license and actually becoming an airline pilot is huge though! Most of the guys who complain on Pprune about not having jobs trained to the bare minimum requirements doing patches of courses from many different flight schools. After qualifying the real challenges come. Getting your first job is widely considered to be the hardest part of a pilots career, as I say there are many qualified guys out there, but sadly the majority will really struggle to get a job. Succeeding at becoming a pilot goes a lot further than just getting the piece of paper. Determination is most certainly needed at flight school, particularly during the ground school which is horribly depressing!! But to actually become a pilot you’ll need a lot of patience, the right contacts, right timing and a hell of a lot of good luck!
The best thing to do is get on an integrated course (full time) and get your license as quickly as possible. Now although I do go there, I’m not biased, but I would thoroughly recommend the Airline Preparation Program at Oxford Aviation, this is the course I am on at the moment. I really can’t stress enough how good the course is. Granted it is a hell of a lot of hard work and you really are pushed to the limit but it is widely accepted that Oxford’s low hours pilots are the most employable in the industry…sadly there are some who begrudge that! I promise you I’m not being biased 😉 OAT has a very thorough selection for the APP, it has about a 20% success rate of candidates making it on to the course, but most who pass the initial online screening make it on to the course.
Cabair at Cranfield and European Flight Training in Jerez are also very good flight schools with excellent reputations. The thing to look for in any course is the inclusion of an MCC (Multi Crew Cooperation) course. Most airlines will not take pilots who do not have this certificate and there are many courses out there that will claim they give you everything you need to be a pilot, but lack this. The MCC is a vital qualification, as your fATPL (CPL/IR) is a very standard qualification these days. Also, if possible look for a course that offers some for of Jet sim training. At Oxford we get 40 hours in a 737-400 sim at the end of our course, 20 for our MCC and 20 for Jet Orientation, this goes a long way to convincing airlines that you can fly an airliner because there is a huge difference between the twin prop such as a Seneca that you will qualify on and an easyJet 737!
As I’ve said, I am confident that Oxford is your best bet, they have a reputation that far exceeds anyone else in the industry, but Cabair and EFT also both offer excellent courses.
The other thing I would say is it is vital is start making contacts now!!! It doesn’t matter who you are or how well you’ve done on your course, if you have contacts you will go a long way and you give yourself a huge boost above the other 700+ low hours guys without jobs. It doesn’t matter who you get to know, just make sure you try and get friendly with as many people in the airline industry as possible. I started making contacts when I was 14 and I’m now in a position whereby I have several possible options for employment when I graduate including easyJet, BA Citiexpress, Air Southwest, Air Wales and Biz Jet work. Just get out there and get your face known and you’ll succeed…it’s a long and at times depressing road, but with enough work and determination and with a bit of good fortune you’ll get there!
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