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Career / Re: Are You A Pilot I.e Capt, First Officer Or Cadet? Lets Meet by RDV(m): 12:58pm On May 07, 2008
Femooo,,  shocked, oga sir,

I am a pilot, but I feel say that na 'lazy man' question you dey ask.

You need to ask a specific question for us to be able to reply. If you don't know the challenges or what the job involves, how do you know that you want to be a pilot?

If what you are looking for is a general jist of what being a pilot is all about, then it is not something that can be written here, too long and will take too much time. In that case, better to actually sit down with someone over some drinks or food and chat about it. But na you go pay O!  grin

Also, check this post for more info, https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-51066.0.html
Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 11:45am On Apr 30, 2008
@Pilot955,

grin, it took me two whole days to type the reply to you and IVY4U. I even had to type it first in 'word' and then cut & paste it here. shocked
Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 3:01pm On Apr 29, 2008
@IVY4U

I am going for a professional commercial pilot course (Private Pilot, Instrument Pilot, Commercial Single and Multi-Engine Instrument). Though they have an advance course(The course includes Multi-Engine Instrument, Certified Flight Instructor and Certified Flight Instructor Instrument Certification.  The initial instructor is Multi-Engine Instructor, followed by Certified Flight Instructor Single Engine Airplane and Certified Flight Instructor Instrument Airplane). I could change my course if it means doing that

The most important things u need are, Private Pilot, Commercial  Pilot, Multi-engine and Instrument Rating. With all these, you have a professional licence. The private pilot will not appear on your final licence, because it will have been superseded by the commercial pilot licence. So at the end, you should have a commercial pilots licence, with multi-engine and instrument ratings. That is the absolute minimum you will need to get an airline job.

Do not commit yourself to any kind of advanced course at this stage, but keep it in mind. It is very possible to get a job with the cpl/multi/instrumnet, that you will have. The advance course is for people who need to acquire flying hours on top of their licence in order to meet the minimum requirement for airlines. The minimum hours requirement exists in the USA, but for Naija, it is not an absolute necessity. In Naija, a type rating is more valuable than the flying hours. ( I will explain the type rating later)

If they offer you an instructor job after graduating, then you will need to do the 'initial instructor' course you mentioned. But there is no point doing that until you are sure that they are going to offer you a job, otherwise, you end up with instructor ratings, no instructor job, and a visa that will not let you work at another school as an instructor!!!  shocked

They might tell you that it is still useful to do it because you can use it at another school, but check your visa carefully to see whether it does indeed allow you to work as an instructor at any other school apart from the one mentioned on the visa.

They dnt gaurantee employment,they said one's performance would tell if they would employ you or not,but they do assit their graduate get jobs after training. I intend going for just my training. They are to issue an M-1 visa, is it OK? The P/CPL is for six months, while the Advance is 2 months. what do you think?

Yes, they will assist their graduates to get jobs after training,, but this is usually after you have built up a certain number of hours working as an instructor for them, and subject to your being free to work in the USA. They are referring here to airline jobs, but what you should press them for now, is a guarantee that they will employ you as an instructor at their school after you finish training. If they can give you this guarantee, it allows you to commit to one of the advanced courses, and also might affect the duration and type of visa that the US Embassy will issue to you.

I will check out the details of an M-1 visa, and get back to you, but you can already see I guess, that if the visa is only for 6-8 months, it does not cover you for working as an instructor with them after graduating. A 2 year visa would be more appropriate for that, and in that case, they will have to issue you an I-20 that states that your course is for 2 years.

Now, if you are planning to go just for the training, and return to Naija immediately afterwards, there is something very important that you should be doing now,

You need to start networking now, and acquiring contacts. Try and make yourself known to the chief pilots and recruiters of the major airlines in naija. Its very simple to do,, much like you did with the sponsorship, and will give you numerous advantages. You will get to know each and every airlines entry requirements, meet the people that matter, and decide which type rating will be most advantageous for you.

If you can meet for example, the chief pilot of aero contactors, or Virgin Nigeria, or arik, etc, you can tell them your plans for training, how much you would like to work for them after training, and if there is anything you should do whilst training to give you an advantage in joining them when you finish. You get to know their company in the process of this discussion, they get to see if u are the sort of person they want to work for them (which I am sure you are  smiley), you learn if they need you to have a type rating or not, and they will also refer you to other airlines if they do not have any vacancies.

When you finish the training and return to naija, you contact the same people you saw before you went, who will now remember you and that makes it easier to get a job.

If you can spend a week or so in Lagos, and just go to the airlines offices at the airport. Tell them you are a trainee pilot looking for information, advice and an application form, and that you would like to talk to the chief pilot.


How far with jobs out there, good chances for my likes? I would love to go international,How's that? when/where do i do type rating?

International? shocked, Madam!!!, grin, one step at a time.

Your job chances are very very good. All airlines in the world realise that women pilots are severly under-represented, and would love to have more women pilots, especially if they are enthusiastic, competent and good natured. You sound like you are all these things, so i guess u will have no problems.

The most important thing in flying, is experience. The more experience you have, the easier it is to switch jobs. The key to it all however, is your first job, that is sometimes the most difficult step, because at that point you have no experience, and the airline is taking a gamble on you. Good training record, good personality and a good first impression help them to decide that the gamble is worth taking ( and going to talk to them like i suggest above is a way of showing these qualities).

Once you get that first job, concentrate on getting about 2 years of good experience. Once you have that, you are very marketable, and can then join an airline that will offer you international. I have friends that spent 2 or 3 years in Bellview and Chachangi, and now fly in UK for various airlines. If your first job happens to be with Virgin Nigeria or Arik or Aero, then you might not even need to leave them to fly internationally. And on top of it all, if your future (?) husband happens to be a citizen of UK, USA, etc, you will even be able to relocate there and join a foreign airline.

TYPE RATING

Your CPL/IR/Multi only licenses you to fly small, 6 seater planes as a professinal pilot. For passenger airline work, you need a rating for the particular type of aircraft that you will be flying. Hence, you will need a 'Type Rating'.

Some airlines sponsor and arrange the type rating themselves. Other airlines prefer you to have a type rating when you apply to them for work.

A type rating can cost anything from 15K Dollars to 50K dollars depending on the aircraft type, and where you do the type rating training. Ordinary flying schools do not do type ratings,, only specialist flying schools do them. For example - http://www.alteontraining.com/training/flight.aspx

Because of the high cost, and the risk that a candidate might not pass the course, u can see that most airlines these days will prefer for you to do it yourself. That way they dont have any risk.

The bigger airlines however prefer you to do it on their own approved course with their own chosen instructors, so that they know the standard you will be trained to achieve. So, they will sponsor you for the course, but they will deduct a percentage of the type rating course from your salary for the first few years, or you will sign an agreement that if you leave the company before lets say 2 or 3 years, you will pay them the cost of the type rating back.

Right now, Virgin Nigeria and Aero are the only ones I know who sponsor you for the type rating.

So, the cheaper option is for you to get a job with one of these 2 after you graduate. They will then sponsor you on the type rating, and you will be employed by them from day 1, so they will actually also be paying you a salary whilst you are on the course.

If you will be joining another airline, then you will probabaly need a type rating for the type of aircraft they fly, so gather information on what the different airlines fly and then choose which one to do your rating on. You cannot do more than 1 rating so you have to choose well, or choose something that is commonly flown by different airlines, e.g Boeing 737.

You will get more of an idea of this when u talk to the airline chief pilots.

The course itself is very straightforward. You study all of the systems on the particular type of plane, eg electrical systems, engines, airconditioning, hydraulics, etc (you will also have studied these in a general way during the CPL), and you will do all the flying training you did for the CPL again, but this time in a simulator of the aircraft type you are training for, then you will practice all sorts of emergencies in the simulator, and finally you will fly that same aircraft for real, doing circuits like i described to Pilot995 in my earlier post.

It is during the type rating that you will start to feel like a reaaaaaaal pilot grin and start to use big oyinbo grammar that nobody outside flying will understand

So, I think that is enough typing for one day. lipsrsealed

will let u know about the books soon. in the meantime, check also http://www.pprune.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=37

join that forum too if you can, its got valuable info and insights sometimes

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Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 12:38pm On Apr 29, 2008
@PILOT995

OLUMIDE why RDV? anyway you're lucky oh 10yrs with 7000hrs

grin, RDV is shortened form for 'Radar Vector', which is my user name on a professional pilots website. www.pprune.org
Its quite informative, especially the african aviation section. Check it out.

7000 hours in 10 years is actually average in Europe. We do on average 700 hours each year. ( I have friends in Naija who do more!!!! shocked). The guys in the low cost airlines like easyjet and ryanair also do more, about 900 hours each year. You guys in the NAF are the ones jollofing, grin, easy life, I am jealous o!!!!

I saw a NAF small jet in Geneva a few months ago, I cant remember the type it was, but it looked nice. Maybe it was you?

RDV i have always wanted to find out during your solo flight on the boeings where u d only guy in there? because it bugs me how 1 guy can take off n land in the boeing

Luckily, there is no requirement to do a solo in the boeing, airbus or any commercial passenger aircraft.

After all the simulator training, the only requirememnt before a license is issued is for a "base check". This is basically flying circuits / patterns at an airport with about 6 'touch and go' landings. The aircraft is empty, and the only pilots on board are the instructor and the candidate. Even aircraft as big as the boeing 747 are used for this, so u can imagine how expensive it is, and how airlines even try to avoid it.

The way around it for some airlines, is to use a "zero flight time" rated simulator. This means that the simulator has been classified as so realistic that there is no requirement for base training afterwards. The first time that the pilot flies the plane for real, is with passengers, but flying with a training captain. Sounds dangerous abi? grin. Its not. Its quite common actually. My own airline, KLM, still uses base training, but BA for xample, use ZFT for the big jets, on the assumption that before u get to the big jets u have had loads of experience on the smaller ones.

am so happy that u can help IVY4U

Me too. I remember how it was for me when I was starting out, so I would also like to help newcomers myself. If you look on that pprune.org website, you will see that there are actually a number of Naija commercial pilots on there, always willing to give out info to fellow pilots and newcomers. We were talking on there about forming some sort of Guild of Nigerian pilots, not sure how far, but its worth keeping an eye on developments there.
Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 11:28am On Apr 28, 2008
@IVY4U,

how now? hope you had a good weekend.

I looked at the website of US Flight Academy. Looks like you have made a good choice. They seem to have all the courses and programs you will need, and they also seem to have experience of international students, which is a very important thing.

Which program exactly are you planning to do there? I saw 3 professional programs - P/CFI, P/CFII and P/MEI.

Depending on the agreement you have with them, and the visa you get from the US Embassy, your choice would vary.

If they are able to guarantee you employment as an instructor after your training (make sure your I-20 and visa cover this) then the p/CFI is the option for you. It will cost the least initially, and as time goes on you can upgrade to CFII and then MEI.

If you will purely be there to complete the course, and not work as an instructor afterwards, then go for the P/CFII but tell them to EXCLUDE all the instructor ratings. You do not need those, and will actually be better off putting whatever you save from there towards a type rating (Boeing 737, Dash 8, Embraer, etc will be most useful in naija)

If you already have a breakdown of the course they are offering you, let me see the details.


The best books for you right now, are:

1. The complete private pilot
2. The complete advanced pilot
3. The complete multi-engine pilot

I have old editions of 1 or 2 of them that I can probably send you. I will look for them, and if I find them I we will take it from there. Doesnt matter that they are old editions, its just background reading for now, at the school, they will have their own specific book list.

Thats all I can think of for now, regarding your main questions.

For the rest, Yes I am Naija. (My name is Olumide). I have been flying professionally for 10 years / 7000 hours, and am a Captain at KLM.

Take care for now,
Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 4:21am On Apr 25, 2008
@IVY4U,

Yes, I am Naija. I did my training in Atlanta, USA and Oxford,UK.

I will be back home on saturday morning, and will contct u again then to arrange sending u some stuff
Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 10:30pm On Apr 23, 2008
@IVY4U

Yes, I have read all of your posts, and am very impressed by your enthusiasm. I will do my best to give you good info and encourage you. I am in the middle of a 4 day trip right now, so this is just a very short reply to let you know I have seen your last post.

You are already on the right track. The absolute minimum you need to be a commercial pilot, i.e. to get paid for flying, is a CPL. To be able to fly aircraft with more than one engine, you need the 'mult-engine' rating. To fly in less than perfect weather conditions, you need an 'instrument rating'. Put all these together, and you have a "CPL/IR/Multi" licence. And that is the very basic you will need to get a job with an airline, but only as a Co-Pilot.

When you start working for an airline, and you undergo a 'type rating' course on a particular aircraft type, your 'type rating' will replace your IR/Multi, unless you also decide to keep that current by flying small cessena type aircraft in your spare time.

After you have accrued a certain number of flying hours on your CPL/IR/Multi, you can upgrade your licence to an 'Airline Transport Pilots Licence' or ATPL, and that will also include your type rating.

The ATPL is tha minimum you need to be "Commander" of a passenger aircraft, i.e. the Captain.

So, as you make enquiries with the various flying schools, make them aware that you are seeking a 'professional' licence. They will enroll you on a course that should graduate you with a CPL/IR/Multi, and with that you can already start applying to airlines. The professional licence course is also in many cases cheaper than doing all the various ratings step by step.

Do you have any study material you can be looking at already? That will help you a lot, if you can do some studying before, then you can free our mind to concentrate on the flying training. Let me know if you have anything already. If not, I will see what I can send you.

Hope thats helpful for now.

1 Like

Career / Re: How To Become A Pilot? by RDV(m): 3:37pm On Apr 22, 2008
Hello Ladies and Gentlemen,

its very nice to see so much interest and constructive advice about becoming a pilot, here on nairaland. I hope that I can help those of you seriously seeking information.

I too was like many of you once, seeking all the info I could find on my dream career. I was lucky enough to have colleagues with the same dreams in secondary school, and we all got together and exchanged any info we had, and encouraged and supported each other. Not everybody made it, for one reason or another, but most of us now occupy what we call "the office in the sky".

It is not an impossible dream for anyone, regardless of your finances, gender, academic ability, tribe, etc. With dedication, determination and hard work, it IS possible. Listen to any positive advice you get here, and ignore the negative and sarcastic.

I am now a Captain with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, but sadly I did not do any of my training in Nigeria. I have friends that did, so I know a little about the training there. If you are looking for info on the steps and alternatives possible, I might be able to help.

Post your questions here, and I will try and reply as quickly as possible.

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