UNIVERSITY OR PILOT TRAINING?

You feel it is important to gain a degree as it will give you much better employment opportunities?

You are also interested in becoming a professional pilot?

Here are a few facts why pilot training is the better option:

• You do not need a degree to be an airline pilot.
• Airlines (your potential future employers) are not interested in your academic achievement. When you go for your interview the very fact you are there proves to them you are qualified enough! When asked in a survey which attributes are most important for a new recruit First Officer, academic achievement ranked far down the list.
• Why incur a huge degree debt if you want to be a pilot? Pilot training is not cheap, so to incur the debt of a degree on top would be insane.
• Gaining a degree is NO guarantee of a job. Admittedly, gaining professional pilot qualifications is not either. However, you will be highly specialised as a pilot, and if you research properly as to when is the best time to train, you can qualify at a time when there is a lot of recruiting going on.
• Airline pilot salaries are very attractive. Google them. Plus there are a lot of perks.
• Once an airline pilot, you will have a good few days off between flying. If you really want to do a degree, use that time to gain one – maybe ‘Business’ orientated for when you move from flying into airline management.
• If you want to fly – fly! If you have to incur a debt at least choose a profession where the rewards will allow you to pay the debt off quickly and easily.