Becoming a pilot, both AirForce and Commercial. Please help!?

Question

what is the path to becoming a pilot?

what is the pay like?

are there any restrictions i might face?

whats it like for an air force pilot and a commercial pilot?

which is best?

if there are any pilots on here can they tell me there xperiences and if they enjoy there job,just genrally what life is like for a pilot. i love flying and i think it looks a great job.

my first instincts are to go towards and RAF pilot

Answer 1

Follow your instincts - Join the RAF.

Approach your nearest RAF recruiting office and see if you meet their requirements. Apply for the next course. Excel while at the academy and qualify for the fighters. You will love every minute of your flying. The pay is good and the RAF is a superb service.

After your stint in the air force, and having gained flying experience, you can complete your civil licences and ratings.

Join any airline and enjoy civil flying. Here the pay will be better and the job a lot more relaxed as compared to the RAF.

You would have got the best of both the worlds. During your younger  days, you would have enjoyed the thrills of fighter flying; and with maturity you will reap the fruit of your toils.

Good luck and happy landings.

Answer 2

Remember that aircraft fuel comes from oil, and there is little practical prospect for alternative fuels.

Anybody starting a flying career now should think carefully about where the airline industry will be in 20 to 30 years time when oil will be in very short supply. Will you get a 40 year career from the aviation industry?

Answer 3

Cannot speak perfectly for a UK citizen but I will do my best. I went civilian. My old brother did military. He told me to stay away from the military. Of course both have plus and minuses.  

Pay is really bad to start and not as good as it used to be even for senior pilots of commercial airlines. Military training takes a long time...but it is paid for. You need to be an officer (College Grad.) in US to be an officer.

Medical restrictions. Make sure you vision is good with glasses. They are allowable in the US. Stay away from strong perscription drugs or being classified as...diabetic, mentally insane, depressed,  having heart disease, etc...

Also...some perfectly healthy people should just not be pilots. There are alot of people who wash out because they simply cant fly safely even with alot of training.

Air Force, you get shot at and go to really S****y places for a long time. Commercial you dont get shot and and go to the same boring places all the time.

IF you can make a carreer out of military that has probably the best security now. Airlines are all failing businesses and let pilots go all the time.

In hindsight i sort of wish i had tried the military route first. They fly the coolest planes and it is all paid for.

Answer 4

I assume you're posting from the UK.  I train a lot of British pilots in the US because it's about 1/2 to 1/3rd of the price to train here as it is in the UK.  If you want to break down everything into two routes, you've got military and civilian.  The military training (getting paid) is of course, much cheaper than paying out of pocket.  

If you can afford the $50-$70,000++ USD (as of today) to get your private, instrument, and commercial multi engine certificates, you're looking at starting out in the $20,000 a year below-poverty range as a first officer for a US regional carrier.  You face constant turmoil, layoffs, sleep deprivation, and overall poor quality of life.  You can upgrade to captain, depending on the airline, anywhere between 1.5-10 years depending on too many factors to list here.  Average captain pay at a regional is about $60k but the quality of life is still miserable. IF (HUGE IF) you're lucky enough to avoid layoffs for about 5-10 years, you might get an interview at a larger airline, your pay goes back down to $30-60k a year until you build some seniority - you're looking at an average salary of $120-$140k per year over the life of a career with today's conditions - IF YOU ARE VERY VERY LUCKY.  Most guys in the industry today will agree that IF THEY COULD HAVE PICKED A DIFFERENT CAREER TO START OUT WITH, THEY WOULD HAVE STAYED AWAY FROM AVIATION!  If you were to do the training in the US and go back to the EU to work, you're looking at even more training (still cheaper to do it this way) and probably 50-100% more pay at a regional and about the same pay at a major airline.  It's a slightly more stable environment.

My advice is go military - job satisfaction seems to be a lot higher.  You have to be an officer as far as I know in the UK to be able to apply to pilot school.  http://www.raf.mod.uk/careers/jobs/pilot...  There's a link with some information on RAF flying.

Rigorous training, fitness, and your medical condition over the next 40 years of your life will affect and may sometimes pose hurdles in your flying career.  My advice would be that if you've got the grades for the RAF, get into something like medical school and spend your big paycheck on recreational flying or owning a small airplane.  About 1/2 my friends at the airlines hate their job... and I've got several students that are doctors and are taking recreational flight training lessons at the moment.  The latter of the two is the way to go.