Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

Moderator: AndyR

#1636499
Hello, I will keep it short and simple in the hope that more people will read and answer my question. I am 31 years old and British. I have £30,000. I want to be an airline pilot one day. What would you do? Are unsecured loans for the extra £20,000 required possible? I have a 2 year old son so moving overseas is not an option, although doing so for 2-4 months may be.
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By G-BLEW
Boss Man  Boss Man
#1636519
I'm sure there will be lots of answers, but in the spirit of keeping it short…

- Adding a £20K loan to your £30K will still leave you with more money to find if you want to go integrated
- Modular would offer you a more affordable but longer route to your goal, enabling you to earn money between modules

I run Pilot Careers Live at venues throughout Europe, the next event is in London on November 2nd and 3rd. There's a huge selection of training providers and a full seminar program offering lots and lots of great advice.

If you go, give me a shout and we can have a chat there.

Ian
#1636533
I can't comment on loan front directly, but I can share briefly my experience and cost so far to give some insight as someone who is currently on the modular route. I should be at around the £30k mark when I get my CPL - so that includes PPL, ATPLs, hour building and CPL. You'll still need your ME-IR, MCC and JOC if you want to go to the airlines and I would anticipate you would be needing the extra £20-25k for those depending on where and who you do them with. This doesn't include your type rating, which will be more than likely bonded in some form.

I'm doing all my training in the UK - moving to Poland or where ever else for a short period is no option for me - so consequently things cost a little more anyway. Time for modular vs integrated is barely any these days - word on the grapevine at the moment is that an integrated provider in particular are not hitting their "18 months" window sale value - it's taking more like 22-24 months meaning there's barely any difference in going modular if you intend on going full time anyway, whilst saving 40-50% in cost.

Depending on your credit history and circumstances, you could approach some banks (or P2P lenders, such as Zopa) to help finance any short fall. I've used Zopa in the past (car purchase) for a £10k loan and was approved on the day of application and received the money a few days later. May be worth a look - I would recommend them. You can make overpayments and repayment in full early with no fee - unless that's changed, that's how it was with mine :thumright:
#1636544
My ambition is not so lofty, any commercial flying will tick my logbox. I don't have 30k but I do have some sizable assets I can liquidate as a last resort and I'm closer to pension access. Credit is my only way forward as long as I can service that debt and cleverly use 0% balance transfers. So my priority is a job with a just enough salary and flexible hours or day off in the week so I can do my ppl weekdays.

For my loans I'll approach my two long term banks and my long term credit card companies. Key for me is not to take on any debt a cannot service while keeping my very supportive wife happy with the usual home affairs.

If absolutely necessary I'll pay off the debts with pension pot money (on advisement) if I get that far.

Budget like your planning to fly the Atlantic is my moto!!

Good Luck :D