Pilot training

Early 30s

Milhous, if you've already got a wife and kids my one piece of advice is that they need to be fully on board with this. Of course you may get a job straight away, and be based around the corner from your home which would be perfect. Or as others have said you may not get a job for years, have to spend money renewing medicals and IRs every year to keep current so you can keep applying for jobs. Then the first job might be in a regional airline where you're based abroad and earning 35k a year all in, and your wife is going to be wondering why the hell you aren't home and earning 80k like you said you would be.

Just try talk to as many pilots as you can and make sure you have all the info you need, and that your wife knows what you're all about to get in to. And hopefully you go for it and it all works out, it's a long road but the views at the end are spectacular

California Dreamer wrote: »

Spoken from someone that only sees the public side of Ryanair.

You will not get a better quality of training than at Ryanair. Where else can you join a company and within 4-5 years have your command?

Sure you do your time and then the grass is always greener elsewhere. Nice to be 25 and be right seat on a 777 in the sand pit.

Most ex guys tell me that it is a hard life but the money is good and the training stands to them.

Realistically people get the command quickly because so many are leaving the company which is not a great prospect for someone joining a company.

billie1b wrote: »

Thats not realistic at all, it’s mostly f/o’s who leave RYR after they get the 2500 hours for legacy carriers, you’ll notice most Captains are still there a good few years later after getting their command.

FOs leave the company meaning there are not enough that go onto take the command, so the waiting list for command is very short, it's the same thing. High turnover = fast time to command, it's the same the world over. A high turnover will be a symptom of something a lot deeper.

@milhous I would echo what others have said, you cannot expect to be based in Ireland post graduation, it will be a luxury if you are but do not plan on it. If you don't mind becoming an instructor then perhaps you can be, at my assessment last month someone there who is currently an instructor at the NFC mentioned they were hiring continuously, so that's a potential avenue if you don't mind it.

One of the lads I flew with in the US back in 2009 got his MEIR circa 2011, He applied for an airline but due to them looking for union recognition at the time all Irish applicants didn't get a look in.
He was lucky that he did it modular and had a job to fall back on plus doing other flight work to keep him current, Eventually he managed to get a job in 2016.
So that was 5 years of applying to every airline before landing a job now I know things have changed and their is a shortage of pilots, It is just like other professions swings & roundabouts my industry cannot get professional drivers or even managers at the moment.

As for cheap flights with a certain Irish airline most lads I know working for them outside of there home country , Commute home on their days off best of luck what ever way you decide to go about the training.

Would have loved to finish my training off but the recession kinda kicked in when I started training, I have a great job but age is definitely not on my side to go back training. :eek:

milhous wrote: »

better off going with a school that is attached to an airline (ie. Afta and Ryanair).

NFC have been around a lot longer than AFTA and countless numbers of their students have been with Ryanair. I don't think the above statement is really fair to say. If you are in Dublin I wouldnt be making the trek to Cork.

Stovepipe wrote: »

Neither school is formally attached to an airline, unless you count AFTA dealing with Air Astana. What schools do is feed the airlines, so if FR come along and say "we want 12 candidates", the twelve with the best results and personal recommendation of the boss of the school will get their names put forward and then they face the hurdle of the Type Rating. In Ireland, a lot depends on airline recruiters calling the schools and asking their old mates, "What's he or she like?", and people who are arrogant or otherwise annoying get shelved quietly. Word of mouth is still strong in Ireland.

I thought they were like a training school for Ryanair or some such. They're mentioned in their ad. Think NFC is the place for me.

faoiarvok wrote: »

That’s if you apply through the airline, when they’re running that sort of recruitment.

No I rang AFTA, it's an ongoing thing. You do an assessment with them and if you pass its 85k for the integrated course, 6k more than their normal integrated course because they also do FR specific SOPs and you have an FR mentor too. So it's almost like a gaurenteed route to first officer with Ryanair afaik

milhous wrote: »

No I rang AFTA, it's an ongoing thing. You do an assessment with them and if you pass its 85k for the integrated course, 6k more than their normal integrated course because they also do FR specific SOPs and you have an FR mentor too. So it's almost like a gaurenteed route to first officer with Ryanair afaik

And its so good that every flight school in europe is doing it as well.......oh wait!? :rolleyes:

Just an idea.....

The aim of the Cadet Pilot Training program is to provide Etihad Airways with qualified future pilots and aviation professionals trained according to the highest international standards to support the growth of the airline. The Trainee will be developed into a well-rounded individual, equipped with a superior set of technical, personal and professional skills. The Training will consist of flying and theoretical knowledge to the standard required for the Cadet to successfully pass GCAA approved examinations for obtaining a Multi Crew Pilot License (MPL)

There is nothing in the advertisement to say that it's nationality based.

How are you getting on with this milhous? I took an introductory flight with nfc last week. Probably going to go the modular route with them

blanchwill wrote: »

How are you getting on with this milhous? I took an introductory flight with nfc last week. Probably going to go the modular route with them

Interested to know too as weighing up a potential career change by doing modular ppl followed by aptl...

milhous wrote: »

I've decided that I will put this dream to one side for a few years and go for FTE Jerez, costs a fair bit more than Ireland because you're pretty much a border but I think its for me.
Edit: I talked to
three pilots and they recommended going here, they ended up with aerlingus

No offence, but what a load of crap.

Basing the fact that 3 people who went to FTE got Aer Lingus, shouldn't be a reason for you to go there.

Did you talk to two of the people who went to NFC and numerous others who got EI too? I take it you didn't. I'd recommend doing a bit more research rather than shelving the idea of postponing because 3 EI "gods" recommended a holiday in Spain.

Best of luck....

People in Aer Lingus at the moment have come from all different backgrounds and schools, the known and the unknown, the pretty and the ugly.

Pick the school that best suits your current requirements and needs. I've no doubt fte are a good school, but regarding value for money ... they are horrendously overpriced and having done the whole training i am very grateful i didn't go to a place like FTE because i would have been ripped off totally. Flight training does not cost anything near 100,000eu and anyone charging you that much is making a heavy profit out of you.

And anyway what about all the guys who went to FTE and never found jobs anyway? If one is to follow the stories of those who got into EI then we should also consider the stories of those who got in nowhere, of which there are more than a few.

Also budget for the fact if EI don't take you, your other option is going to be easyJet ... will you have 35k for the type rating after the 117k spent on training?

I did mine for 60,000eu and ended up with the same license at the end and from going to assessments i am satisfied that my school trained me to a standard that is more than competitive. Regarding standard though, your school obviously matters, but not as much as you in my opinion.

There are people who went to top famous schools and have a skillset that is less than satisfactory and those who went to "poorer" schools and came out with a skillset that is of a very high caliber. The same way you can find excellent instructors at bad schools and bad instructors at excellent schools.

It is a very thorough topic that requires a lot more analysis than meets the eye if you want to go the whole way into "these are a good school they will get me into aer lingus". It doesn't quite work as simple as you'd like to imagine.