My son wishes to be an Airline pilot.

[ath007]

What career / education advice can i take to help my son achieve his ambition of becoming an airline pilot? I have suggested he seeks advice from the RAF. He is not keen to go back for A levels so which college course would they look upon favourably( i belive nvq level 3 is equivalent to A level - am i correct?)

Would joining the Air training core be beneficial? Any other avenues to persue to aid his chances of entry?

Arthur

[Clanad]

Having been an airline pilot most of my adult life, I'd recommend the attached article, since it covers the basics. Obviously, this applies to the industry here in the U.S., but there's not a lot of differences with the U.K. rules and requirments. http://travel.howstuffworks.com/pilot.htm
About a third of the way through the article you'll see a discussion of experience. Obtaining sufficient experience to actually be considered for employment has always been the bigest difficulty. For a dedicated individual, the actual hands-on flying skills are very interesting and most people keep "with the program"... However, after attaining the required certificates (their called licenses everywhere else but the U.S.) trying to find minimally paying jobs just to achieve experience can be disheartening and there's lots of routes to that goal.
Education is an important consideration, but, generally, a sound liberal arts degree will suffice. There's little in the way of really necessary mathmatics or physics courses that have precise applicability, for example.
The cost of flying in Europe or the U.K. is quite high in my conversations with pilot's from those areas. The cost is considerably less expensive here in the U.S. and we see flight schools dedicated almost exclusively to training foreign students here. It's such an expansive subject that it can't be covered adequately in this limited forum, but I certainly encourage your son to pursue flying... I wouldn't have missed it for the world, most of which I've had the opportunity to view from the left front seat of a Boeing 727 (or other fine aircraft) at 35,000 feet...

[Buenchico]

Different airlines have different policies but many UK airlines are looking for university graduates to train as pilots. Even if a degree isn't required, A-level Maths and Physics are often called for. While NVQs, at level 3, represent the same depth of study and level of achievement as A-levels, there are no NVQ courses that provide the same mathematical or scientific knowledge that is present in the A-level syllabuses.

Many UK pilots pay for their own training (which costs over �50,000). This is sometimes done through sponsorship schemes which require re-payment of some, or all, of the costs after training. (This is somewhat similar to the student loans scheme but with much bigger sums involved).

Some airlines will look favourably upon candidates who hold a Private Pilot's Licence. Once again, the cost of training isn't cheap but I've known several people who've gained a PPL through their membership of the Air Training Corp.

The Learn Direct site has further general information:
http://www.learndirect-advice.co.uk/helpwithyo urcareer/jobprofiles/profiles/profile495/

The British Airline Pilot's Association website has a useful pdf document:
http://www.balpa.org/intranet/How-to-bec/index .htm

Several airlines also have a 'careers' link on their website but many airlines (e.g. Ryanair) only take on qualified and experienced pilots, rather than training their own staff.

Chris

[Cheekystar]

try..
www.careersa-z.com

and the one I advise my students to look at
www.wayahead-careers.com
click on oxfordshire, then e-clips borrow this postcode ox1 3rh
and search

[ath007]

Thank you for your kind advice. We will take on board this information and persue all the avenues.

Thanks

[pcploddy]

Oxford Aviation Training

Any good flight school with have entrance tests, like Oxford.

It usually costs about 65,000 just to do the training and when you are employed with an airline your usually have to pay for the type rating. 20,000.

You dont get paid alot, but its bloomin good fun.

If your require any help with the selection process. Im Here

[pcploddy]

Dont do a degreee, waste of time.

[Careers_Advice_Service]

Hi there,

Chris - the link you posted has now changed to http://careersadvice....ename=Airline%20Pilot .

Thanks,

Careers Advice Service