how do you become a pilot(commercial)

Chickus

Hi, my lil brother(15) is really interested in becoming a pilot, its all he has ever wanted to do. I was wondering what college course you do to become one and where is the best place.I have heard it is really expensive also, i know there is none in ireland although they are trying to get international aviation degree in Waterford. He plans to start getting flying lessons in light aircraft as soon as he is of age but hasnt a clue of where to go after that..
Any help would be great, thanks

ronnie3585

A few of these are a good place to start;



Tons of info to be found here - http://www.pprune.org/wannabes-forums-102/

There is no degree in aviation. There is a degree in Aeronautical Engineering in UL. A degree is not a pre-requisite to becoming a commercial pilot but it is a help.

If he's 15 he's too young to get a Student Pilots Licence or even log hours. I'm not sure, but off the top of my head I think you have to be 16 to start logging hours and 17 to get a SPL. If he has his heart set on it get him flying as soon as he can to see if he actually likes it. Thereafter he can think about going commercial.

The cost of a frozen ATPL varies. There are establishments such as Bristol in the UK or Jerez in Spain that offer both an integrated or a modular course. A very rough ball-park figure for an integrated course would be around €100,000 and about €60 - €70k for the integrated course. If he wants to fly airliners after that then he will need to pay for a Type Rating. A TR on a Boeing 737-800 is running at about €20k (€33k if you want to fly with Ryanair!) and I think the Airbus A320 is a little more expensive.

It would be a great idea if your brother could actually speak to a pilot that would give him a realistic impression of what life is like as a pilot - it ain't all it's cracked up to be!

This is just my personal opinion but I would advise him to get a good Leaving Cert and go to University. I'm firmly of the opinion that no education is ever wasted and Uni is a great experience to boot. A degree would be an advantage to have when it comes to looking for a job and the extra couple of years in Uni will give the global economy time to recover.

tracker-man

you must be 15 to log hours, 16 to go solo and 17 to obtain private licence. No good asking flying school officials i think, in some cases they will just want your money. I recommend first going for a flight in a light aircraft, triple check he'll stick with it if he starts training. No point blowing a few grand to quit before the end. How mature is the guy? Alot of young lads will have a romanticised view of being a pilot. Speak to a commercial one to get an idea what the job is really like. Lastly where are you from? Nearest flying club or school?
Sorry if i was a bit blunt...

Delta Kilo

Well said ronnie. PTC have started a degree in airline transport management or something of that nature, but it is expensive. I think it's ca. €120k! (including commercial license) Plus, PTC in Waterford do not have the best of reputations as stated by a previous poster.

I am similar to your brother although I am a little older. I am now doing the leaving cert and I too want to be a pilot at some stage. Ever since I was young I wanted to fly and I hope to do so at some stage. I have put HUGE research and investigation into this career to see if it is for me, and while I understand that like all jobs there are downsides, it seems to be right for me. I just belong in the sky.

I did a 1 hour trial flight last summer, and ever since then i have looked skyward, contemplating will I go for it or not. It is like it has gotten under my skin, an itch that has to be scratched if you will.

I have done everything since, ruthlessly went and "pursued" professional pilots, went to flight shows, went to local airfields to inquire about lessons, trawled through various forums and websites, went to an open day at PTC (which, tbh, wasnt a place I'd be happy handing over €98,500 to!). Nobody can tell me I'm making an ill-informed decision and after weighing it up for the last number of months, my plan is as follows:

Finish the LC and get the best result I can.
Go to university (I've applied to do Aeronautical Eng. in UL, not because I think it will set me up or be beneficial to a career as a pilot, but because I am genuinely interested in the subject matter of the course and I'm good at maths and physics) Ive heard (from the head of recruitment at an airline) that they dont care what degree you have done, if you have one, it just shows them that you are capable of taking on something and working under your own initiative and succeeded, plus you have more life experience behind you. So advise your brother to do something that interests him.
While in Uni, I may apply for any cadetships that come up (highly unlikely). When finished I hope to work for a while and save,save,save and apply for a mentored scheme. Hopefully the economy and aviation industry will have changed by then.
If that does not work out, I will probably take the plunge and do an integrated course, borrowing as little as possible in the process.

Thats the plan anyway. It just requires patience, determination and bags of luck. I know it will pain him, as it does me now, to have to wait but realistically, anybody that would consider paying big money now to start training needs a lot of thinking to do. It is just way too risky now, but hopefully thing will improve.

Best of luck.

ronnie3585

You sound like you have your head extremely well screwed on Delta Kilo. It's important to understand what a long and difficult slog it is to get there. However if your sure you want to get it then it will prove very rewarding.

As I said no education is ever wasted. The degree in Aeronautical Engineering is a very good qualification. If things don't work out with the flying then you can always fall back on your degree. For the amount of time and money you invest in an ATPL, it gives you very few options but the obvious. It helps to have a plan B.

If you can afford it I would really recommend starting flying when you are in college. You are going to need 250 hours in order to do your CPL, that's a lot of flying. It would really help if you could start building hours as soon as possible.

As far as training goes, the modular route is the only route for the majority of people who do not come from very wealthy families. Speaking from my own experience and that of my friends, the poor reputations of the schools in Weston and PTC are justified. The €100k that PTC look for is simply insane! That would pay for the fully integrated courses in Aero Madrid, Jerez, Bristol or Oxford - all very good schools who's facilities and standards are light years ahead of what PTC has to offer. Atlantic Air in Cork have a very good reputation for CPL, ME\IR. As for studying for the ATPL exams Bristol offer a superb distance learning course for about €3k, it's really the only way to do the exams - their students get excellent results.

Best of luck with the LC and the rest of it!

Delta Kilo

ronnie3585 wrote: »

As I said no education is ever wasted. The degree in Aeronautical Engineering is a very good qualification. If things don't work out with the flying then you can always fall back on your degree. For the amount of time and money you invest in an ATPL, it gives you very few options but the obvious. It helps to have a plan B.

That is a very good point about the ATPL, actually, and one that I may have overlooked; it gives very few options but the obvious. The degree might not be too bad to have at all. Even if I never use it when I fly (hopefully), it will not be a waste of time.

ronnie3585 wrote: »

If you can afford it I would really recommend starting flying when you are in college. You are going to need 250 hours in order to do your CPL, that's a lot of flying. It would really help if you could start building hours as soon as possible.

It may be difficult for me, especially if the fees come in! I might be able to head out to Coonagh now and again (although I do hear that they have a very precarious runway there) for the odd hour!

John_Mc

ronnie3585 wrote: »

You sound like you have your head extremely well screwed on Delta Kilo. It's important to understand what a long and difficult slog it is to get there. However if your sure you want to get it then it will prove very rewarding.

As I said no education is ever wasted. The degree in Aeronautical Engineering is a very good qualification. If things don't work out with the flying then you can always fall back on your degree. For the amount of time and money you invest in an ATPL, it gives you very few options but the obvious. It helps to have a plan B.

If you can afford it I would really recommend starting flying when you are in college. You are going to need 250 hours in order to do your CPL, that's a lot of flying. It would really help if you could start building hours as soon as possible.

As far as training goes, the modular route is the only route for the majority of people who do not come from very wealthy families. Speaking from my own experience and that of my friends, the poor reputations of the schools in Weston and PTC are justified. The €100k that PTC look for is simply insane! That would pay for the fully integrated courses in Aero Madrid, Jerez, Bristol or Oxford - all very good schools who's facilities and standards are light years ahead of what PTC has to offer. Atlantic Air in Cork have a very good reputation for CPL, ME\IR. As for studying for the ATPL exams Bristol offer a superb distance learning course for about €3k, it's really the only way to do the exams - their students get excellent results.

Best of luck with the LC and the rest of it!

Can you elaborate on the text I've put in bold please? I've read about PTC but have just started logging hours for my PPL out in Weston. Should I be reconsidering this?

diverdriver

No, John. It's merely opinion. I have only had good experiences at NFC at Weston for example. But some slag them off. I can only wonder what their issues are. The important thing to remember about becoming a pilot is that you often get out what you put in. There isn't much handholding but help is there if you want.

If you are getting good training with an interested Instructor at Weston right now. Don't change because someone in the internet implies otherwise or didn't get on with them. It's your training that counts.

tracker-man

i just wrote an article on how to become a commercial pilot here
Its not a definitive guide but it should give newbies some useful information