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IT’S ONE OF the all-time top dream jobs for kids.
But, as the years go on and we realise we’re not very good at maths or engineering or Flight Simulator, many of us abandon plans to become a pilot.
But how hard a job is it to get?
This week, Aer Lingus announced they would recruit 12 new cadets to fly their planes, sparking a wave of excitement in the thousands of people who grew up wishing they could take to the skies for a living.
The 14-month course will see potential pilots undertake an extensive training course both on the ground and in the air in Jerez in Spain.
Of course, competition for the jobs will be fierce, but don’t panic if you don’t have experience flying or a degree in aeronautical engineering.
Captain Eamon Kierans is the Manager of Training and Standards with Aer Lingus and he told TheJournal.ie that those who are being recruited need a wide range of skills.
We’re looking for all-rounders – the guy or girl who at school did well academically but was also on the sports team and is also socially capable. Flying is an interesting job because you’re in a cockpit with someone for long hours while operating a fairly complex machine, so a good diverse set of skills is needed.
“Hand-eye co-ordination is necessary in the skills that you need to develop to fly the plane.
We’re looking for people who are mature, who can take responsibility and who can speak up when things aren’t right. We need the younger people to speak up to a captain when they feel something is wrong.
“You don’t need to be particularly academic or particularly sporty, but it all helps.”
Kieran O’Connor from the National Flight Centre, which trains pilots for every kind of aviation, says that anyone thinking of applying should remember that “the job is just a job”.
“You need to be someone who wants to do it, number one. If you have the aptitude, that’s great, but the interest is more important. You need an easy-going, reasonably intelligent person. There is a reason that the Irishman as an airline pilot is well sought after.”
Get to work
The training for the cadets will see them undertake 14 months learning at a flight school in Spain and, unlike previous years, won’t cost applicants a penny.
Which, when you consider that training can run to over €70,000, is handy.
“That Aer Lingus pay for it is a big thing,” says O’Connor, who has flown almost every type of aircraft there is, bar a Zeppelin*.
“We would charge about €70,000, so if you’re being paid for, that’s massive.
It’s about 1,000 hours of study which is mandatory. It would be 200 hours of flight time. No more than any degree, there’s a set curriculum.
Just don’t expect to take off on day one.
“The first half of the course is quite heavy academically,” says Kierans.
“The material is not particularly difficult to understand or use, but there is a huge volume of it.”
On the job
Taking to the skies is still seen as something of a glamourous job, but both men say that the reality is slightly different.
“People think you’re jetting off to foreign places which looks great,” says Kierans.
But the reality is, you fly to a place and spend 45 minutes on the ground while the plane is being cleaned.
“The job is the best job in the world, but it is busy.”
Successful cadets will fly on Aer Lingus’ short-haul routes, so a typical day might look like this:
Or on shorter flights:
Our days can be demanding. Our earliest flight is 6am, so you could be up at 4am to be in at 5am. But we have a great rostering system – pilots work five days, then have three off.
“We have a later shift, where guys would be coming in at 2pm, but only our long-haul flights are overnight.”
And, despite what some will tell you, it’s not all autopilot now.
“There is a whole raft of conditions to the technical systems that allow you to operate them,” says Kierans.
“You have to make sure they’re working properly. It’s a tool, but it’s not the be-all and end-all.”
O’Connor says that being a pilot is a “good job, especially somewhere like Aer Lingus”, but says that it’s not that difficult, autopilot or not.
I never found it a difficult job. The air does the lifting, it just takes training and dedication.
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You anti-women-pilot people are laughable. You’ve probably got a one in five chance of your next flight transatlantic being flown by a woman. Lots of female pilots in Aer Lingus already, one of them was Chief Training Officer if my memory serves correct. I didn’t bat an eyelid when I saw them on their way to the planes then, I don’t now. Women pilot aircraft. Deal with it, or don’t fly.
Relax, the other ad said they all wanted to go to kildare village and you didn’t give out then.
I couldn’t care less if it’s a male or female pilot, once I get to my destination that’s all that matters to me great that the training is being paid by Aer Lingus
Aer Lingus: look we have two good looking women in our ranks for the first time, reality TV show on the cards executive board??
Let’s play sexist bingo!
oh yeah. I’d let them fly my aeroplane like to London or something. Them when we land I’d respectfully wait for the seat belt sign to be switched off before getting out of my seat.
Don’t mean to sound sexist but I wouldn’t take a plane if there was a woman pilot.
Just wouldn’t feel comfortable.
Men are better equipped to deal with stressful situations if things go wrong. Men don’t panic.
hahahahaaaaaaaahahahahahaaaaa
They’ve got instruments up there!
Like guitars and shit?
My mother drives better than me, Tommy.
@lou – no you’ve got to concentrate… you’ve got to concentrate.
I just wanted to say Good Luck we’re all counting on you.
Put your hands in your pockets, they’re dragging on the ground. I pity you.
Odour – in all fairness those lovely ladies would make great pilots… i mean there is no parallel parking on aircrafts. *boom* I went there.. yes i did.
Tommy.. Men don’t panic??? I must introduce you to my husband.. He panics when the toast gets burnt
But how do they put on their make up without having a rear view mirror? I’m really walking the line here the morning
Ah the old burnt toast trick. He only does that so that you’ll make it the next time. Oldest trick in the book
*yawn* lazy lazy boy
There is a mirror on the back of the cockpit door,Good looking girls all right Ryanair also have a good few women flying for them.
Thank God there is no roundabouts in the air.
spot on pal, I wouldn’t like to hear all my luggage is somewhere in the Pacific as she forgot to close the boot or wait till you see Ryanair planes with half skirt stuck in the plane door :)
3 years ago trainees had to enroll on private courses, no cadets. One such training college PTC went bankrupt in the usual school fashion. No one cared about over 50 irish students as they assumed they where are rich mummies boys and cadetships were not available. Goverment did nothing, parents and students into major negative equity. Hopes dreams dashed, so i hope this becomes standard and more than 12 cadet places become available.
An irish airline had an fairly serious incident at 30000ft a few years ago, male captain, female first officer, the woman froze and wet herself. I was travelling in a car that a woman was driving and another car pulled out in front of her, she let go of the wheel, closed her eyes and started screaming. She ploughed straight into it. Moral of the stories, a woman driving something = a kitchen going dirty somewhere.
What the pay tho??
Who the hey ho?
When the ash show
Cut the cash flow
But the wind blo
The ash go
Starting salary with Aer Lingus upon completion of training is approx €40k.
Depending where you fly and are based is it not a 100k a year job when you reach captain?
Usually the bigger airlines I’m assuming vtoo
Truth be told why would you care if the pilot was female ted? And you can’t just walk off a plane, unless its an emergency. doesn’t work like that.
That would be 7 hours and 5 mins for the longer flight?
Pilots work 5 days then have 3 off. Ah the good old 8 day week
Does it not cost over 100k to do the training. I know a lad paid a returnable deposit if it wasn’t for you and got it very hard to get the money back when he pulled out
Hi , I am B tech Aeronautical student in India.
I would like to know Which is the best university or training institute in Ireland for PILOT Course.
How much it will cost and period.
Once we get trained do we get job in Ireland or which all country i can get a job based on this licence.
How will be the salary on job.
pl guide
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