Daniel. New. Atherton qld

[Danlake]

Hi

 

I'm Daniel Lake from Atherton, Queensland. I'm in yr 11 this coming year and am aiming to be a commercial airliner pilot. I am fascinated by all, mainly larger aircraft and have been on one of the old War birds at Mareeba airport and on some international flights to Hong Kong and England. I had just as much interested in the travel to and from as well as in the countries.

 

I would like to do some flying lessons in the near future and have been saving up for some with my part time job. I am not quite sure of what steps i should take to achieve my goal of being a commercial airliner pilot but i am sure it would help and be a great experience if i did.

 

 

[kaz3g]

Go for it, Daniel. And best of luck to you.

 

Hope you are getting some good careers advice so you know what courses are available and the pre-requisite subjects to get through them.

 

Lessons certainly aren't cheap but you can do a lot of preliminary reading to give yourself the best start when you get to your chosen flight school.

 

Cheers

 

kaz

 

 

[Guest Walter Buschor]

Hi Daniel,

 

I agree with kaz, go for it ! What a wonderful and exiting goal. Suggest to be good at school - and hang out at the local airfields ( guess you do that anyway ). You get to score some free flights once your face is familiar.

 

est of luck!

 

Walter

 

 

[maulonir]

Daniel,

 

There is a Recreational flying club in Atherton that meet on the third Sunday of the month at the air field. There are allot of friendly and experienced aviators involved with the club a couple of ex comercial pilots and an ex GA instructor. There web site is FNQUA - The Master Page. I fly my Gyro up over the range from Innisfail to attend the meetings, might see you there sometime.

 

Rob

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Getting an airline job

 

Daniel,

 

If your heart is set on being an airline pilot there are some things you must do right now. The cheapest way is to secure a cadetship with an airline - I assume they fully pay for your training but do some checking. The airlines all have minimum entry requirements.

 

Things to do NOW - get an ARN, a passport, full birth certificate, a Class 1 medical, make sure you have enrolled in the higher level mathematics (Maths in Society, Maths A don't qualify), make sure you have good marks in English or an equivalent humanities subject. Practice speaking clearly and bone up on Australia (history, politics, tourism) because international airlines like their pilots to be good ambassadors for their company and country (it sells more seats). Application is usually months ahead of the intake date and can be competitive. They will want school results, reports etc and it can be a little disheartening as they assess you against your grade and not your love of flying. For some the training for the Commercial licence is in conjunction with a degree at their favoured Uni where you also do the theory for the ATPL (Airline Transport Pilots Licence). QANTAS has cadets who train through QantasLink.

 

Be aware that some employers (QANTAS in particular) charge YOU at every step of their process (for sitting the apptitude test they invited you to take etc). They will also require you to move to the city they decide and for you to cover your own moving and living costs - but you should be able to get a Living Away From Home student allowance from CentreLink (I hope). Also pulling out before graduation may involve a financial penalty.

 

You could aim for a regional airline which might not be as rigorous but you may not make it to the highest paid glamour jobs on the international routes.

 

The traditional route for getting someone else to pay for your training was joining the RAAF - very competitive though and you have to sign on for a period of time before you can ping off to the airlines.

 

You have come along at a fantastic time for young pilots. When I was involved with a flying school 15 years ago there were so many young pilots hocking their granny to get the $60,000 for the commercial licence, travelling all over Aus for the odd job that paid nothing and had a few flying hours, but usually ending up working to pay off that massive debt (you could buy a modest house for that back then). Some companies even offered work (usually instructing) where the employee paid the employer for every hour they flew in order to get enough hours to be attractive to a real employer (ie who paid their employee). A couple of years ago the industry started screaming about a pilot shortage, and these cadetships are the result.

 

The other way is to do your own training and work your way through the commercial charter companies, to small airlines (RPT services), and then knock on the door of the big boys with an impressive track record and all quals in hand.

 

Things to do:

 

• Check out the CASA website for pilot requirements Civil Aviation Safety Authority - Home
   
   
  
• ARN (Aviation Reference Number) apply for one with CASA - its free and you don't need to fly first - see CASA site. You need this for the medical.
   
   
   
  
• Medical - Must be Class 1 - if you fail that you can't fly commercially. Contact a DAME (Designated Aviation Medical Examiner) - the list is on the CASA site. You can't claim this one on Medicare and it could cost a bit. It is a full medical, eyesight, hearing, lung function, balance, heart, colour blindness, etc and it will take some hours. Ask the Doc if you can also qualify for other things at the same time eg Coal Board Medical - could be handy if looking for work to pay for training.
   
   
   
  
• Go for a TIF (Trial Introductory Flight) to find out if you really can stomach flying - the instructor should be able to assess your hand/eye co-ordination which is important for future training and talk to you about ways to get your licence. You can do your training in an ultralight (which is cheaper) and then have the equivalent competencies ticked off for the PPL.
   
   
   
  
• Get an Australian Private Pilot Licence theory text book (see shop on this site or any other aviation outlet) or borrow one and study. You need this to pass the exams for the pilot licence. The Commercial licence is more hours and competency in flying and more attention to weight & balance - so most of the theory is covered in the PPL texts. ATPL is usually done through a TAFE or UNI and from what I hear, a pretty hard slog. Get a Pilots Log book too.
   
   
   
  
• Start a thread under Training (on this site) and title it something like getting an airline job and post what you have found - eg who offers cadetships, what the medical cost, training opportunities etc. You will find there is a wealth of experience out there just waiting to help out, and you will be helping others too.
   
   
  

 

 

Well that's enough from me - its now up to you. :thumb_up: Go for it! :thumb_up:

 

Sue

 

 

[Wangaratta]

Sue, some great advice and information.

 

Gave me some knowledge, I also am interested in getting a job as a airline pilot.

 

I'll be able to tick off TIF on your list of "Things To Do" Sometime Next Week Of The Week After, Cant wait!

 

Daniel a good idea (you might have already done this..) is to open a new savings account, joined to your streamline account which frequently withdraws money from you streamline account say each week into your savings account for your flying lessons so that you are saving. I do this but also have another account for a car. although i tend to put some more money in the flying account then the car :P

 

-Jack, 14.