Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Pilot Training in Waterford

Options
2»

Comments

  • Options
    #32
    Feelgood
    Registered Users Posts: 2,191 ✭✭✭Feelgood


    NKJCPM wrote: »
    Haha thanks, I don't think I'll be doing Engineering or Physics.

    I'm inelligble for engineering and I'm just no good at Physics, well im ok but not an a or b in the leaving cert

    People have told me that the physics is not a massive part though and if I have the interest in flying, then it will come to me fine...

    Yea I think I'll go to college but I may just do that FlyBE cadetship?

    Forget the Flybe Cadetship, it means that you will be tied to them making crap money for about 10 years. You will find that there will also be lots of hiddens fees with them for that cadetship.

    If your interested in a subject then you wont have any problems learning about it. If I was you I would do both Engineering and Physics for you leaving.

    You are 15, don't be trying to grow up so fast. Go learn the drums or guitar first!. Maybe aim to be a rock star then you can buy your own jet....:D


  • Options
    #33
    cp251
    Closed Accounts Posts: 476 ✭✭cp251


    Feelgood while your comments are generally good. This is a little inaccurate.
    Instructors are all ex Aer Finglas / BA, etc so you would get top notch training.

    PTC really are the masters of PR. A triumph of style over substance. They really are no better or worse than the other two Irish FTO's.

    I presume you mean Aer Lingus, Aer Finglas went out of business a while ago, (someone stole and burnt out their van). :D But Instructors are NOT all ex Aer Lingus/BA. Virtually all Instructors in most flying schools are newly qualified pilots, instructing to make ends meet while waiting for the airline job in Aer Lingus/BA etc. The pay is lousy and the hours long. Some senior Instructors are retired airline pilots. The National Flight Centre's Head of Operations is an ex Aer Lingus A330 Captain. But the average day to day Instructor is a young guy or girl building hours. There are also a lot of Spanish Instructors in this country. This will give you some idea how hard it is to find Instructors here.

    On the Physics, Engineering side. I would just suggest doing what you are good at. An A+ in anything looks better than a D in Physics. I was lousy at Maths etc but had few enough problems passing the exams and understanding the basics of flying.


  • Options
    #34
    NKJCPM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 38 ✭NKJCPM


    I think I might go for that cadetship because I'm really strapped for cash and I couldn't do it to my parents.

    The FlyBe cadetship seems fine for me. I mean if they pay for it then it's cool and I don't mind having to stay there for 10 years. I will be able to rack up experience and money won't be an issue in them 10 years because I love to fly. Then after the 10 years, I will probably be able to get a better First Officer job elsewhere.

    Can anyone give me any other suggestions, is that ok that program?


  • Options
    #35
    chickenhawk
    Registered Users Posts: 656 ✭✭✭chickenhawk


    NKJCPM wrote: »
    I think I might go for that cadetship because I'm really strapped for cash and I couldn't do it to my parents.

    The FlyBe cadetship seems fine for me. I mean if they pay for it then it's cool and I don't mind having to stay there for 10 years. I will be able to rack up experience and money won't be an issue in them 10 years because I love to fly. Then after the 10 years, I will probably be able to get a better First Officer job elsewhere.

    Can anyone give me any other suggestions, is that ok that program?

    You should contact PTC. As far as I am aware FlyBe don't pay for your course. I might be wrong but I have heard that they pay for parts/make it easier to get a loan etc, that's all.


  • Options
    #36
    cp251
    Closed Accounts Posts: 476 ✭✭cp251


    FlyBe don't pay for it. You do. They help you borrow the money but the repayments are all yours. Much the same with most courses. Even when you are qualified the trend is for airlines to expect you to pay for the type rating training. That's a growing trend. Even if they do pay for the type rating. You are bonded until you work off the cost.

    Sponsorship is dead and gone except for a few isolated cases. Only the military pay you for training these days. Even they haven't recruited this year.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #37
    NKJCPM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 38 ✭NKJCPM


    I see Ryanair offer some sort of cadetship in Brussels and/or Stockholm if I'm not mistaken?

    If I done the FlyBE cadetship and ended up flying Q400's, then would my flight hours be erased if I changed over to say Boeing 737? What would be the best first moves to make career wise?

    Thanks once again


  • Options
    #38
    damo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭damo


    NKJCPM,

    You need to research things a bit more closely....Flybe dont pay for your training at PTC, 'apparantly' if you complete the course they will pay for your MCC, which is woth about 5k. However that isnt guaranteed, youll find nothing is guaranteed in this career.

    The ryanair thing youre thinking of is the self sponsored type rating course they offer to people with frozen atpls (new ptc graduates)....you basically pay around 28k for your own type rating, and if you pass it you may get a job with ryanair (again they dont guarantee it). Thats 28k after youve already forked out 75k+ to get your atpl. Tread carefully!


  • Options
    #39
    NKJCPM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 38 ✭NKJCPM


    Yea but if I get a Q400 type rating, does that pretty much rule out me ever flying for a big international carrier with Airbus and Boeings?


  • Options
    #40
    damo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,074 ✭✭✭damo


    No absolutely not, you can build up your hours on a Q400 and then get a job flying a boeing or an airbus, you just have to do another type rating. You can have as many type ratings on your licence as you want. If you have over over 1000 hours on a Q400 you can start expecting to get a job and not have to pay for your jet type rating yourself.


  • Options
    #41
    NKJCPM
    Closed Accounts Posts: 38 ✭NKJCPM


    Sound damo, thanks a million, flying for a company like FlyBE, how long can I expect to be with them before amassing 1000 hours?


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #42
    wittymoniker
    Registered Users Posts: 205 ✭✭wittymoniker


    maybe 2 years...


  • Options
    #43
    cp251
    Closed Accounts Posts: 476 ✭✭cp251


    If I done the FlyBE cadetship and ended up flying Q400's, then would my flight hours be erased if I changed over to say Boeing 737? What would be the best first moves to make career wise?

    No flying hours are ever erased. All experience is relevant. Look you are really trying to run before you crawl. Some of the questions you ask seem daft to me, until I remember how little I knew back when I started. I was really badly informed. But things are different these days and there is plenty of info out there. The internet is a great thing but I would suggest the old fashioned book might be the best source.

    Try on of these:

    http://www.transair.co.uk/product4.asp?SID=2&Product_ID=7084

    http://www.transair.co.uk/product4.asp?SID=2&Product_ID=648

    I would also suggest this book. 'Flying the big jets'. Its an excellent run through of the basic idea of being an airline pilot.

    http://www.transair.co.uk/product4.asp?SID=2&Product_ID=650

    Don't confuse it with 'Handling the Big Jets' which is very technical and will be useful WHEN you have a jet job.

    You don't have to buy them through Transair either. Sometimes Easons have copies. At least in O'Connell street. Get those books and read them thoroughly.

    Don't set you sights on FlyBe or PTC too much. The nature of the business is that either of them could be gone bust by the time you are qualified. In fact I would bet money on at least one being gone within a couple of years.


  • Options
    #44
    hano
    Registered Users Posts: 38 ✭hano


    HAVE MY SKILLS ASSESMENT ON MONDAY, ANYONE EVER BEEN TO ONE?
    ANY ADVICE?


  • Options
    #45
    cp251
    Closed Accounts Posts: 476 ✭✭cp251


    Don't worry you will pass, After the assessment the Instructor will look slightly downbeat and tell you that there are a few issues to address but don't worry as these will be highlighted during training and are only to be expected from someone at your experience level. Not to mention the fact the simulator can be tricky to the unitiated. But on the positive side, he or she will also congratulate you on how you performed some aspect of the assessment and will no doubt tell that is the kind thing they are in fact looking for in a trainee pilot. You will then be favoured with a very upbeat assessment overall and congratulated heartily on your 'achievement'.

    Feeling mightily relieved you will then be led away and no doubt asked to sign on the dotted line committing large sums of cash to the school. (i.e. the real test). Money in the bank!

    Call me cynical, but I doubt if anyone but the most cack handed, blind as a bat, uncoordinated village idiot fails these tests.


Advertisement