machineman9 wrote on Jul 14^th, 2007 at 1:31pm:


Very roughly, your Private Pilots License training in a US flying school would be about 1/2 the cost of a UK school (around £2500), plus air fares and living costs is still about 2/3 of what you'd pay in the UK(not much change, if any, from £5000)

Here's a good link, well worth reading - http://www.flightstore.co.uk/lounge.learningtofly_ukusa.html

Commercial licenses, depending on whether you can get sponsorship or take out an airline sponsored bond, such as with [url=CTC Wings]http://www.ctcaviation.com/wings/[/url] can vary from being zero initial outlay, to tens of thousands of pounds.

machineman9 wrote on Jul 14^th, 2007 at 2:40pm:


Look into every possible avenue, even the RAF/RN/Army (in that order!)

machineman9 wrote on Jul 14^th, 2007 at 3:00pm:


Well, if you can stomach 10-18 years in the RAF, and pay which isn't too far off what decent airlines pay (and more than a FO for SqueezyJet or Seanair), then that could be the way forward. More "interesting" flying potentially too (not saying that "take off - autopilot engaged - read a book - autopilot disengaged - land" is boring!)..

too bad the URL doesnt work (not that i know)

ooooh... ozzy... any help?

Charlie wrote on Jul 15^th, 2007 at 4:48pm:

someone posted some porno above that message

Other than the military route, consider a college with an aviation program... if you really want an airline job, a "fall back" degree in something not directly related would be smart.

Good luck, and be prepared to make really lousy money with the airlines at first, even in the US. It's not what it used to be.

Charlie wrote on Jul 16^th, 2007 at 10:14am:


True, true... in that regard, professional flight training is like becoming a doctor... only without the payoff at the end.

But there are student loans, grants, scholarships, etc... if I was 14 and was sure I wanted to pursue that career I'd be researching all of that right now.

I have been flying since I was 8 but back then it was cheaper cause of the lower fuel costs. I started my proper flight training last year and hopefully look to get into the airlines one day. As for cost, for a PPL in Australian dollars your looking at around $25,000 to about $30,000, I don't know what that equals in Britain currency or American Dollars. For a CPL its upwards of Aus $50,000 but on top of that there are endorsements. As long as you stay motivated, your on track to a rewarding career in aviation. Like me

Hope that helps

Charlie wrote on Jul 17^th, 2007 at 5:28am:


Ok, you've got me there. I may have rushed those figures there but after a bit more research I found that an average of Aus $20,000 tops for a PPL and Aus $35,000 for a CPL.

Thanks for that Charlie. I might have scared people off with those figures