Preston, you may well be right, I heard this from some office worker at Ryanair.

Thanks for that wysiwyg, I know quite a few pilots who trained at PPSC and I’ve only heard great things of it. It’s a pitty it went bust. When were you there? Do you know a guy called Steve Hunter, he trained there a while back and is now a senior captain with BA on the 777. He’s been my guru in my quest for an ATPL, coming with me everywhere, giving me references and great advice!

wysiwyg, thanks for the advice, I’ve taken heed, the situation isn’t good at the moment. I’m just going to take it as it comes. However to be honest I haven’t really heard much of Wycombe for the ATPL. From the research I’ve done OAT and Cabair seem to be the only schools actually getting graduates into jobs, and even not many are getting employed in the first 6 months. I do however know 7 pilots personally who have graduated from OAT in the last 18 months 4 of those got jobs in the first six months, and I think the other three are now working.

However rest assured OAT aren’t telling me that airlines will be begging to recruit me 😉 In fact they have been telling me the full extent of the current situation. But I have to bare in mind I won’t be qualified until mid 2005 and a lot can change between now and then. So fingers crossed.

I’ve been very lucky to have people like yourself keeping my feet on the ground and reminding me of the true extent of the situation.

Anyway, on to lighter matters, my ticket for the whole trip cost £35 including all taxes etc.

From what I’ve heard the 732’s won’t be out of service until late 2006/early 2007.

Wow! Thanks for all the info Preston, things make a lot more sense now. That would also explain why the ELA 737-200 was still there 13 hours after I left Stansted.