A Huge Financial Gamble For My Dream Job, What Would You Do?

lukefinch

lukefinch

lukefinch

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I have been presented with an opportunity to train for my dream job, however the training itself is very expensive and it would mean being in debt for 10 years of my working life. It would also mean moving to Florida for a year at the age of 17.

What i am wanting to do is become an airline pilot. I am nearly done with getting my Private Pilot's Licence however i now need to be taking the next step to getting my Airline Pilots Licence.

The opportunity i have been presented with is doing an integrated course with The Pilot Training College, where you spend around 55 weeks in both the USA and Ireland getting trained on aircraft, simulators and theory.

It sounds fantastic, being able to travel around the world, flying in some of the nicest areas of the world to fly in, meeting new people who share my interests, however this is the drawback. It will cost me £75,000 for all of the training.

The plus side is however, i would have 10 years to repay it and i wouldn't have to start repaying until i was in work as an airline pilot, and £7,500 a year out of an airline pilots salary isn't too huge. And it will mean i will have my dream job for the rest of my life, get to travel all over the world and of course, get free holidays for myself, family and friends ;)

So i was wondering, if you were a 17 year old in this very same position, what would you do? I would love to do it, but im not exactly comfortable with having a £75,000 student loan hanging over me.

Hmmm, decisions, decisions...
 
If you go about it the right way you can get away with becoming a pilot for far less.
Will see what some of my friends say.
But I would rather pilot in the RAF for ten years, then transfer to a CPL. I'm no expert though.
Also I thought companies like Easyjet were always looking out for people to sponsor.
Also remember to factor in living costs.

To be fair if you search on here there's a number of similar threads.
 
lukefinch said:
So i was wondering, if you were a 17 year old in this very same position, what would you do? I would love to do it, but im not exactly comfortable with having a student loan hanging over me.
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i would have 10 years to repay it and i wouldn't have to start repaying until i was in work as an airline pilot, and a year out of an airline pilots salary isn't too huge. And it will mean i will have my dream job for the rest of my life, get to travel all over the world and of course, get free holidays for myself, family and friends ;)
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Is common sense required to be a pilot too? You answered your own question in the original post. Do it. :p
 
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Thunderbolt said:
If you go about it the right way you can get away with becoming a pilot for far less.
Will see what some of my friends say.
But I would rather pilot in the RAF for ten years, then transfer to a CPL. I'm no expert though.
Also I thought companies like Easyjet were always looking out for people to sponsor.
Also remember to factor in living costs.

To be fair if you search on here there's a number of similar threads.
Click to expand...

I remember seeing somewhere that its not as simple as you would imagine to transfer from the military to civilian flying and that some airlines see the military training as a bad thing.
To the OP if you're guaranteed a job at the end of it, go for it.
 
tom_e said:
I remember seeing somewhere that its not as simple as you would imagine to transfer from the military to civilian flying and that some airlines see the military training as a bad thing.
To the OP if you're guaranteed a job at the end of it, go for it.
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Maybe things have changed but the only commercial pilots I know were military trained.
 
If it was my dream job then personally, I'd go for it. I'd have to be sure it was the career I wanted, but if it certainly was, then the debt wouldn't bother me so much.
 
have you looked at the similar scheme(s) in the UK, don't think the one I was looking at cost that much, same deal you pay it back once you've got a proper job, was linked to it from on here.
Initial flight training for that was in NZ I think
 
Speak to [ui]ICEMAN, he's actually a commercial airline pilot who is from england but now lives in Florida, he may be able to tell you a little more? I know he's leaving the game now to become a radiologist but he's done a few years in the pilot trade :)

IMO, absolutely do it. I know a lot of people who have moved to america for university at this kind of age, and not a single one has regretted it (they were on basketball scolarships). As for the debt, £625 a month is less than a lot of people spend on car repayments a month, so given the earning potential it's absolutely nothing (there aren't that many jobs that will pay you only £625 a month less but need no training)
 
Just to play devils advocate, there isn't a whole lot of pilots jobs around at the moment and £7,500 from a first officers starting salary IS a hefty chunk. In the current climate a lot of carriers are expecting new pilots to also fund their own type rating, there's another £25,000 down the pan before you even have a job offer.

I was in a similar position as yourself a few years ago, having a wife and kids I chose not to gamble and went for another aviation related job which looking back on was the right decision for me. Only you can decide if it is the right decision for you.

Good luck whatever you do.
 
I am in the industry and we have a guy working for us who is a trained pilot. He is finding it very hard to get a pilots position with any company hence he is working maintanence with us.

Very hard to get on the ladder and even then companies like Easyjet and Ryanair are having their first officers actually paying to fly for them to get hours up on type.

Don't want to put you off, all depends if you want to gamble that amount of money on it or not.
 
Abraham said:
have you looked at the similar scheme(s) in the UK, don't think the one I was looking at cost that much, same deal you pay it back once you've got a proper job, was linked to it from on here.
Initial flight training for that was in NZ I think
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That's the CTC Wings scheme. You end up with around 80 grands worth of debt and no promise of a job. As stated above, it's a gamble.
 
(Insert dodgy Mexican accent) You can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream jobs are hard to come by so if you have the chance of going for yours, grab it with both hands. You have already said that the repayments would be negligible on a pilot's wage so what is holding you back?
 
Why Do You Have To Capitalise The First Letter Of Every Word In Your Title? It Is Very Annoying.
 
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