I’m creeping up to 30. I was a lazy sod at school so I don’t have any A-Levels and I don’t exactly have amazing GCSE results either.

However, on the upside, since then I’m doing very well for myself. I work in the city and I have a good, well paid job. In other words, I’m not stupid.

That aside, I feel like I haven’t fulfilled my ambition to be a pilot. So I’m thinking of a career change.

I’m assuming I could go back and get my exams GCSE’s/A-Levels but then what? Do I still need to fork out the £60k + required in order to finance my training or would I be able to apply, like the other school leavers and be considered for a position based on my qualifications? Is it even worth re-doing the exams?

I’m beginning to think that either I need to win the lottery in order to do this or maybe I should just accept the fact that I should have tried harder at school and I will never be able become an airline pilot (grumble grumble).

How do these 18/19 year olds afford all the training?

I don't know, but I have been told to get there earlier than later (training) and as long as you have at least 5 GCSE grades A* - C then you should be ok.

About the 18 and 19 year olds. That is probably because they have really rich famillies and get all of the financial backing from them.

This has been asked by me before: http://www.flightlevel350.com/forum/index....showtopic=11558 lol

Hope that is helpful,
Chris

PS - Good luck

Go for it, your still not to old. While yes you will most likely have to put out the money for training why don't you just get a loan and go through accelerated training right to the seat of an RJ. You will be a professional pilot in 6-8 months.

Fixed.

You are never too late to be a pilot, and at your age that is not at all too old. I recall Joe (a previous Flight Level member) having to get a substantial loan to obtain his licence in New Zealand. He had to put down a large deposit as I recall and if he quit within a certain time he forfeited the deposit. As you all probably know he is a pilot working for Easyjet so it was all worth it. If you really want to be a pilot then go for it. Find out as much as you can about the financial side of things of course but in the long run even if you have to take out a loan, you will be able to pay it back when you get a job with a major airline. Good luck anyway.

If all else fails, apply to the RAF. You can always go civilian later, and you'll probably find it easier, as many airlines favour ex service pilots as they have plenty of experience.

The RAF have an upper limit of 26 or so. They will also ask some nasty questions like: "Why you didn't apply earlier? "Where is your science degree and two A levels?" and so forth. And then you have to remember that the RAF only take a very few of the thousands that apply (because they don't need many). They are very picky!

And not all service pilots find civvy flying attractive and not all airlines will give preference for single crew fast jet jockeys. Too many are a pain in the bum to work with. The multi-crew boys (Herc, C17, Tankers, AWACS) find the transition very straight forward. It's not a dig at the fast jet guys ability to fly - if you want somebody to zip off and bomb a little building in the middle of anywhere, defended by fearsome AA systems or to shoot down aggresive intruders when hopelessly outnumbered, these guys are the best. But airline operations are more about making flying a non-event and general management than it is about flying.

PM