Money saving flight training ideas

In response to your question regarding savvy money saving flight training ideas,

Firstly may I say a great big thank you for your nice comments on my website EuropeanPilot.com.

That yearning to fly you have is something I've had my whole life. I hope that some of the information and flight training ideas here and on the website will help you to also achieve your ambition.

Pilot Sponsorship
At 30 and with no A-levels, I'm afraid you are correct in what you say regarding sponsorship and cadetships in aviation. You're on your own, but that's nothing new, sponsorships are so rare even for people who are in the age bracket and with Masters Degrees. Don't worry. Also your age is a fairly typical age to get into commercial training. Typically mid 20's to mid 30's is when people start. That is an age when they can start to consider the expense.

Money and Pilot Training Ideas
Money is more often than not the sticking point for alot of people wanting to train to be a pilot. There are two ways to approach the subject. The first is the savvy approach (not my prefered). This is the way where cheap hours are sought by buying an aircraft or shares etc... In my humblest of opinions I think it's far better to let someone else take the risk of aircraft ownership and you pay slighly more but do not get stung for corrosion damage or an unexpected engine change.

Ensuring that your training is completed in the correct order so that hours are kept to a minimum is not savvy, it's just plain common sense (once you have that 20/20 hind sight). I've been there like many others. You need to know every hour you need before you start, every text book, every exam and every exam fee. Have it in writing so you are certain in your mind. This will help you make appropriate decisions and ask the flying schools the hard questions so you can see who is full of it and who really gives a good deal. If it's too good to be true it probably is.

My favourite way of approaching pilot training is the "head down" way. Look at your final goal but do it one bit at a time. Concentrate on passing your PPL exams, then finishing the PPL, then hour building etc... Making sure you are getting quality hours all the way and not just flying for the sake of it. This way means you tend to do it with means you have. The final stages of CPL and Instrument training will almost certainly need to be financed in some way so make sure you build a good credit history, keep some cash in savings and make sure you can get money. Also look into government loans for career changes and adult education. This is something I'll add to the site eventually but for now I have other jobs awaiting.

I hope this has been some help to you. The subject is genuinely massive. If you need any more information, specifics or flight training ideas, please feel free to drop me a line.

With my warmest regards

Peter

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