Training as an airline pilot is a very complicated, time-consuming and intense process, much more involved than many people think.
There are two routes to becoming and airline pilot, one is called integrated (ab initio) or the modular route.
Modular route
The modular route is where you do your training in stages then keep adding to it. Modular training costs anything from £40,000-£65,000 depending on where in the world you go to do it. When you have completed training and if you are lucky enough of be offered a job, depending on the airline you may have to pay up to £30,000 for a Type rating. Type rating is specific training so you can fly a certain type of aircraft. For most new pilots this will likely be the A320 or the 737. Modular training involves gaining the following qualifications.
- PPL (Private Pilots Licence)
- Hour Building
- ATPL Theory
- CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence)
- MEP (Multi Engine Piston)
- IR (instrument Rating)
- MCC (Multi Crew Co-operation)
- JOC (Jet Orientation Course)
- Apply, hope, pray & never give up.
As you can see it is quite involved. The good thing about the modular route is that it allows you to gradually build up the skills required to get your FATPL (Frozen Air Transport Pilots Licence). The bad thing is in recent years airlines seem to be showing a preference for Integrated students. There are some airlines who still hire modular (Ryanair, Jet2, Flybe, Thomas Cook) however a lot of airlines are launching their own integrated cadet courses with the 3 big training schools (CTC Aviation, CAE Oxford and FTE Jerez).
Integrated
Now there are two types of integrated training. The FATPL training as detailed in the modular section (minus the PPL) and the newer MPL (Multi Crew Pilot Licence). The MPL is interesting because it is set up to take you to the deck of a multi crew aircraft for day 1. However the most important thing about it is, it is sponsored by an airline from day 1 and comes with a conditional job offer on competition. In the UK both EasyJet, Flybe and Virgin offer this type of training. Obviously for this reason competition is high and while the FATPL training is still good and the flight school will help you to find a job there are no guarantees at the end of it. The airline industry is a very expensive risk but when it pays of, it’s amazing.
Conclusion
Now don’t get me wrong modular training can and does work so I’m not making out it’s all doom and gloom because it isn’t. The MPL seems to be the best route at the moment due to the airline sponsoring you from day one.
If an MPL is not possible I would look at modular training due to the cost savings over a FATPL training course.
However all routes can and do lead to the cockpit and people from both paths are successful every year.
I hope that this is the flight training process explained.
