Becoming a commercial airline pilot

junii

Hi,
I am interested in finding out more about this. What do I need to go about doing this and what are the requirements?

Thanks.

TheNog

becoming a commercial pilot involves alot of training and alot of money. check out airfields such as Weston aerodrome who do flying lessons. they have links on the site that can direct u towards ur goal. i know one person whose brother is a pilot with ryanair and he told me that many people go Florida to train cos it is cheaper but takes about 3 months or so. i believe to train in this country costs about 30,000 euro.

Owen

First of all ring the Mater Private Hospital and book in for a Class 1 Aeromedical. If you can't pass the medical, there's no point in going forward. You'll need great eyesight (Glasses are allowed), no colour sensing deficiency, and have a generally healthy body all over.

If you pass the Class 1, go do your PPL. You'd be amazed at the number of people who want to go Commercial and end up hating flying after 20 hours. If you finish the PPL with confidence you must then :

Do an IR (Instrument Rating including Night Rating).
Do a Multi Rating (2 or more engines).
Hour Build. Most Airlines want 200 hours minimum.

And then your chosen Airline, or rather the Airline that chooses you will send you off for a type rating on what they want you to fly. You'll spend between 50-75k on your own flying, and about another 30k on a type rating.

Try flyinginireland.com for more info!

Mullie06

Was thinking about this myself would it be a good idea to join the Air Crops and get the hours there but the only thing is you have to spend 3 years in Miltary service and another 4 in reserves

testicle

Yes, and suct cadetships in the Air Corps are harded to get than finding a hen with teeth.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

it seems that ned78 knows this thing inside out - maybe he might also be able to give info on the air corps cadetship?

junii

ned78 wrote:

First of all ring the Mater Private Hospital and book in for a Class 1 Aeromedical. If you can't pass the medical, there's no point in going forward. You'll need great eyesight (Glasses are allowed), no colour sensing deficiency, and have a generally healthy body all over.

If you pass the Class 1, go do your PPL. You'd be amazed at the number of people who want to go Commercial and end up hating flying after 20 hours. If you finish the PPL with confidence you must then :

Do an IR (Instrument Rating including Night Rating).
Do a Multi Rating (2 or more engines).
Hour Build. Most Airlines want 200 hours minimum.

And then your chosen Airline, or rather the Airline that chooses you will send you off for a type rating on what they want you to fly. You'll spend between 50-75k on your own flying, and about another 30k on a type rating.

Try flyinginireland.com for more info!

Im going to check out that site now but above TheNog says it cost about 30,000. Whats this on? Can you elaborate on the 50-75k spend and then the type rating please. Thanks.

How much does it cost in Florida? Is this a crash (maybe not best word to use) training course that gets you up a huge amount of hours/exp?

One more question is there many jobs available out there for this type of work or could you find yourself having spent thousands and no vacancies.

It would be great to hear more about the military service? Is there a military forum...perhaps it could be moved there or I could post a second thread.

daveg

I've posted this before but my wife cousin did the course in Oxford in the UK. It costs at least €100K. They spent time flying in spain as well as the UK. Since he graduated some 4 years ago he has been unable to find work. Seemingly it is very difficult to find work in this feild starting off. I'd make sure to research employment opertunities before spending the cash. Didn't easyjet have a trainee programme where you pay the first €50K or so and they pay the rest which is clawed back through your wages? Not sure if they still do this.

Brian21156

You might want to look at the following site: http://www.pprune.org/forums/ . There is plenty of people on it looking to do what you want to do.

Owen

100k is the average cost. It is possible to do it for slightly less, but slightly meaning perhaps 80k or thereabouts. Easyjet still do a Cadet Scheme, but you'd be as well off to have the PPL under your belt before applying. The full details of which are on Easyjet's website, but the gyst of it is that you pay a bond up front of 30k sterling I believe, which they is repaid through your wages once you qualify. And you're contracted to EJ for a period of time.

I'm hoping to get my PPL finished by April next year, and then start the IR. It's not an easy route, but contrary to what a previous poster stated, jobs are plentiful. It's just down to how well you impress people along the way, and what contacts you make. Unfortunately, the Airline industry is more about who you know, and not what you know.

Hitchhiker's Guide to...

Brian21156 wrote:

You might want to look at the following site: http://www.pprune.org/forums/ . There is plenty of people on it looking to do what you want to do.

this is a great website btw

TempestSabre

junii wrote:

Hi,
I am interested in finding out more about this. What do I need to go about doing this and what are the requirements?

Thanks.

How did you suddenly get interested in it? And why?

daveg

You can get your PPV licence in Florida in about 3 weeks for a couple of €K. Much easier and quicker than here.

junii

Ive always been fascinated by planes when see them. Im not happy with what im doing at the moment so I am interested in pursuing this.

dave_brent

New Zealand is the cheapest place in the owrld to get a pilots licence!! Loads of American students study there and get the Pilots lincense aswell

Bluehair

junii wrote:

Ive always been fascinated by planes when see them. Im not happy with what im doing at the moment so I am interested in pursuing this.

You might want to take a few basic flying lessons first to see if you do like it or not. Do spend a bit of time looking around pprune there's a lot of people pursuing the same idea.

Do think about this seriously, "i'm not happy with what i'm doing at the moment" is not a good reason to blow the guts of €100k becoming a commercial pilot, especially with no guarantee of a job at the end.

Owen

Florida is great fun alright. One of my mates just finished his PPL there, and is now in the process of having the License recognised by the IAA (Irish Aviation Authority). Plus, he has zero experience of flying in Irish Weather or Irish Traffic Patterns.

To anyone reading this thread and trying to figure out if it's a good career move or not, go do your PPL. You'll either love flying, or hate it. It is a very glamourous career, but you need to ask yourself if it'll still be glamourous when you're 40, with a family, working mad hours, spending 12 hours a day in a small cockpit running through the same checklists you've run through a thousand times before, and seeing the same Airports 4 times a day. Oh the fun!

TempestSabre

I think there are worse things to do with you life.