airline pilot-put down the dream?

pepe the prawn wrote: »

It's a million dollar question. Plenty guys out there who took the leap and unfortunately 5 & 6 years later they still have no job, but conversely some of them do get jobs and I'm sure they will tell you that they don't regret it. I'm doing modular training at the moment and really don't know if I'll go all the way to MEIR with it, the cost versus jobs prospect is shockingly poor, but I'd rather have done it and got no job than not having tried it at all, an expensive gamble yes but one I'm prepared to continue with for the time being.

My advice would be to get your PPL and then re-evaluate your situation and the situation of the aviation market. It'll buy you another year and you'll still be progressing in the mean time. Plus, you've age on your side which is a major plus. Also, finish your degree, there will always be jobs to fall back on in finance, and will be well paid which will provide you with the means to fly even if only for fun.

cppilot98 wrote: »

First off forget your Leaving Cert and the number of points you got or didn't get and what subjects you did or didn't do. I know there is great emphasis on the Leaving in terms of getting the points and going to college. But believe me when you submit your application to some airline in the future they won't even look at them. All they'll be interested in is your college degree but more importantly your pilot qualifications. When you sit facing the interview panel they won't even mention whether or not you did physics. They'll be far more interested in your technical knowledge and experience in aviation. The reality is that the pilot exams aren't the most difficult. Nearly anyone can pass them. Remember they are vocational exams, there to impart knowledge not actual tests of ability.

You want clarity at this stage of your life? At 19? Good luck with that. Wouldn't we all like some clarity in our lives. You certainly won't find it here.

19 is too early to be panicking about whether or not you make it as a pilot. I was middle aged when I finally got a paid pilot job. Yet I read all over PPRuNe and elsewhere that it would be impossible. Yet I know of two guys recently who are in their late thirties, early forties who got into Stobart. Both of them highly successful in their own professions but who decided they wanted to be airline pilots at least for a time. I also hear about the lack of jobs and opportunities for graduate pilots. But meanwhile in the last couple of years four pilots friends of mine got flying jobs. One ended up in Flybe, another in Air Asia, yes that Air Asia, Stobart and another island hopping in the UK. Then of course there's all the Ryanair people I know all of whom found the money and put up with the BS.

None of them were put off. They simply got on with it. They compromised and they worked hard and they made it. On the way they were happy to do GA jobs, survey flying, para dropping etc and becoming Instructors. They didn't give up.

One other thing, all of them were good pilots, some very good plus without exception they all met that hard to define typical pilot personality. Self confident, type A personalities and good company.

Another thing they have in common is none were snobbish about General Aviation. Flying is flying. If you want to be a pilot you have to like flying. If you don't like flying in single engine puddle jumper you won't like flying at all.

You want honest advice so here it is. It'll cost you more in money than you expect. It will cost you more in angst than you expect. It will take longer than you want. You will be frustrated many times before you get the first job. Even when you finally get a paid flying job you'll sometimes wonder if it was all worth it. Many pilots come to hate their job but have nowhere else to go.

You may never become a professional pilot no matter how hard you work, no matter how dedicated you are or how enthusiastic you are. You may never get the breaks or may simply never be good enough. In that you take the same chances as everyone else taking this particular road.

But I think you've already answered you own question. You won't have to wait until you're 70 or 80 to regret not trying for it. That'll come sooner than you think. Once you commit yourself to the normal aspects of life, career, family, marriage etc. You won't be able to chase the dream anymore. I meet people like that all the time. They always have an excuse for not going for it. Usually money or too difficult. I've no sympathy with that attitude. Most pilots don't have the money but they find it. You have to make sacrifices to be a pilot and to stay a pilot the sacrifices never stop unless you are very lucky.

There is no hurry, you're 19 not 39. Just try and progress each year. Most pilots I know who didn't have the money or a cadetship got the job when they were in their late twenties and thirties or older. At 19, waiting six, eight or ten years seems like a lifetime. But in the scheme of things that's nothing.

Put some of that money your savings into a PPL and don't be in such a hurry. Finish your degree and get a well paid financial job while tipping away at the flying. Join a flying club and have fun with it. Flying is fun or it's supposed to be.

By all means take time out to consider your position, one year, two years. Stop putting pressure on yourself and lose the notion that it's dream like one of those saps you see on X factor and other stupid so called reality programes. It's not a dream it's a career, a job, no more no less. Treat it like any other career decision like becoming an accountant.

That's my two cents.

eatmyshorts wrote: »

Unfortunately, its people with that attitude accepting borderline criminal terms & conditions and the dreaded pay-to-fly schemes that has driven the benefits of the job through the floor for the rest of us.

Pinch Flat wrote: »

I'd say go for it - if you have the cash and you're 19 with no commitments start chipping at that ppl but take heed to the importance of the medical.

I was in a similar position to yourself - dreamt of being a pilot from as early as I can remember - at 19 I had some money saved and took flying lessons while my mates were p!ssing it away down the pub. Cycled to and from the local airport, hung around digging in with all sorts of odd jobs. My aim was to have a ppl by mid 20's, work for a few years, save a bit more then add to it bit by bit. Eventually take the leap and borrow if necessary to get to the end game.

For me other things got in the way - mainly I ended up married with a mortgage. Earned a modest salary so never had the extent of spare cash to keep the show on the road and take expensive flying lessons. At that point the dream was over - there was no way my wife was going to consider me borrowing money on what was a huge gamble. Seriously considered moving down to waterford (originally from there so accommodation coats would have been minimal) and doing the atpl - I knew people that took the plunge, some in their late 30s, and for the majority it worked out - electrical technicians, a school teacher and a quantity surveyor - the day of jacking the job upon getting that elusive position in the right seat must have been fabulous. Then again I know of people living near me who borrowed the kitchen sink and hot badly burned - €100kvim debt and on the dole. Not much fun.

There's not a day that goes by that I do not regret pursuing my dream more seriously - I'm 43 now so for me it'll never happen. I work in an area that I have interest in but would much prefer to be flying - there'll be a lot of time to think of this as you get older and don't pursue it. The longer you leave it the harder it'll be.