Any Bimmersporters Fly?

[huff3r 347]

I have a PPL, got it 33 years ago. let it die after 13 years flying (kids at private schools are damned expensive........), and regained it again 3 months ago. #1 son has just completed CPL - MEIR, and is now off to Australia to fly GA outback. Is planning on doing this for a year, then off to Canada flying float planes out of Vancouver. I have tried to impress on him not to become just any old "bus or truck driver in the sky", and to his credit he does a level headed view of the hard yakker in front - just to make the grade.

As the others above have said, it will be very hard work, but the rewards are there. Go for it!

Cheers, I definitely will.

The way I see it theres no point staying in a job unless you love it. And turns out im not really that keen on mechanical work, apart from maybe a little in my spare time haha.

And no fears of DIC charges, I barely drink and certainly would never drive after a few. I love driving too much to risk losing that licence, let alone a career

[RustyItalian 11]

Also have a look into what commercial pilots *actually* do 99.9999% of the time. Aircraft Engineers often know of pilots as button pushers. If you ever get the chance to ride jump seat you'll see why. There is very little actual flying now, will be even less by the time you get through.

Want to do an altitude change from 35000 ft to 36000 ft in a 787 to get over weather? Just type it in on the keypad and hit go. A/C communicates to traffic control to get authority and (when received) you hit a button to initiate. A/C does everything, controls plane, even lets traffic control know when you leave and have reached altitude. Great job aye?

I have friends in their late 30's who have done the fly since 17 for peanuts thing. Now flying 737/A320 jets in Dubai trying desperately to pay off their massive student loans so they can actually afford to live in Auckland. They did work in Hong Kong for an airline flying about one day in seven. At least it was twin jet hours. All good till they both got laid off the same day...

In aircraft engineering while you may get laid off once in a while you get above average wages (instead of sub minimum wage) and can see the world. Not hard for a dedicated engineer to earn $100k a year pretty easily.

Some can succeed as pilots in NZ (especially if you have a leg-in to the old boys club) but many fail well before reaching the glamour jobs.

[Asoo 0]

This is my 2nd year doing aviation at Ardmore Airport, finished my PPL theory course and Also finished my CPL theory course, in process of almost getting my PPL. its dam expensive but i love it and wouldnt want to do anything else thats for sure,

My only advice is if you get into it just keep at it and never slack off thats for sure

Goodluck

[aaronmartin 0]

I have had my PPL for 5 years, and get to fly quite often for work purposes which is good. I write software for the aviation industry, so I know quite a few people in the industry, so have seen all the different methods for getting through the system.

The CTC course is good, but a bit expensive. Most aero clubs are also doing full time courses now, usually in affiliation with Massey or NMIT or someone similar, so after 3 years (and about $100k) later you end up with CPL, MEIR, B or C-Cat instructor rating and a bachelor of aviation studies or similar. Doing your training through the clubs also gets you industry contacts, and remember the people teaching you to fly at the start, will probably be your captains later down the line.

Ever since CTC came on the scene, they have pushed the national pay rate for instructors up to the point where full time instructors can actually make a living and no longer need second jobs. While this has made flying more expensive ($200+ per hour for a 2 seat trainer) it has also made it easier to move from student to earning as a pilot.

Fully qualified you can either work as an instructor, or work for the GA airlines i.e. SunAir, Skyline etc, doing crappy hours and getting minimum wage, but clocking up the hours. This is probably the hardest part of the career path, and you get really good at spending time sitting in airports. This sort of flying probably looks better on your CV than lots of instructing time, as it is generally twin engine IFR rather than single engine VFR.

You generally need 1000+ hours to get a job with the feeder airlines i.e. Air Nelson, Mount Cook, Eagle, QLink but generally once you get a job with these guys, you've "made it" as they are all owned by AirNZ / Qantas and it is just a matter of doing the time to move up to command, then bigger planes.

It is not a career where you make the big bucks, and it is a bit of an inside joke about everyone wanting to become "rich pilots". There is a saying that to make a small fortune in aviation, you need to start with a large fortune.

[Guest Simon*]

I joined the RNZAF at 17 having passed pilot selection and went into the system to do my flying training. I did my piston engine stuff on the Airtrainer (the older CT-4B) and clocked up quite a few hours. Heaps of it solo and heaps of it aerobatic. At that stage all pilot trainees flew the jet as their advanced phase, so I went onto the Aermacchi after that. What a hotrod it was too! When the poxy Rolls Royce wasn't flaming out that was.

I subsequently got knocked out of flying training and got sidelined. I turned down Navigator and got out of the blue mafia to chase my CPL.

Sat all my theory, including Instrument rating at Nelson Aviation college in Motueka then proceeded to build hours. Somewhere along the way money got tighter and motivation deserted me - the flying was just too pedestrian and too boring after the Air Force. I couldn't see myself being a bus driver in the future and knew that the road to riches was a very very long way off.

I have family and friends flying all over the world. Some of the most successful are the ones who, like me, didn't finish their training and get roped into 10 years service. Others completed their tours in the military and either went to Cathay, etc or the Royal Air Force (UK). Everyone I know with Cathay is biding their time until they can jump on a vacancy with Air NZ. In their first few years they did very little flying too - all of them are bored shitless.

Also I have to agree with almost everything Aaron has stated above, it's very true about the "old boys" network too. Especially at Air NZ.

If I may humbly suggest Paul - getting the Quals in the AF first isn't a bad idea. I have a cynical view of the "pilot factories" type training institutes, and their self promoting stats are to be taken with a grain of salt.

All the best

[huff3r 347]

I joined the RNZAF at 17 having passed pilot selection and went into the system to do my flying training. I did my piston engine stuff on the Airtrainer (the older CT-4B) and clocked up quite a few hours. Heaps of it solo and heaps of it aerobatic. At that stage all pilot trainees flew the jet as their advanced phase, so I went onto the Aermacchi after that. What a hotrod it was too! When the poxy Rolls Royce wasn't flaming out that was.

I subsequently got knocked out of flying training and got sidelined. I turned down Navigator and got out of the blue mafia to chase my CPL.

Sat all my theory, including Instrument rating at Nelson Aviation college in Motueka then proceeded to build hours. Somewhere along the way money got tighter and motivation deserted me - the flying was just too pedestrian and too boring after the Air Force. I couldn't see myself being a bus driver in the future and knew that the road to riches was a very very long way off.

I have family and friends flying all over the world. Some of the most successful are the ones who, like me, didn't finish their training and get roped into 10 years service. Others completed their tours in the military and either went to Cathay, etc or the Royal Air Force (UK). Everyone I know with Cathay is biding their time until they can jump on a vacancy with Air NZ. In their first few years they did very little flying too - all of them are bored shitless.

Also I have to agree with almost everything Aaron has stated above, it's very true about the "old boys" network too. Especially at Air NZ.

If I may humbly suggest Paul - getting the Quals in the AF first isn't a bad idea. I have a cynical view of the "pilot factories" type training institutes, and their self promoting stats are to be taken with a grain of salt.

All the best

Cheers Simon, unfortunately I don't see myself staying with the RNZAF even if I do not manage to become a pilot. I've learnt a lot here, and certainly learnt a lot about myself, but I also figured out that this isn't the job for me.

I am very determined however to fly, I've dreamed of it ever since the first plane i went on (737 ). So I will be putting in the most possible effort, and the way I figure is it's better to do it now when I'm young, and have plenty of time to pay off the extensive loan then to decide to jump for it later, and have to rely on getting a job to pay off debts and survive etc.

However that leaves me with a final decision to make. What BMW should I aim to acquire after becoming a succesful pilot?

[April 2]

[huff3r 347]

850Csi

I like your thinking....

[aaronmartin 0]

If you check out the staff carpark at the airport, you'll find most pilots driving early 90's corollas / nissans etc. Only management drive BMW's :-)