Major life advice needed from wise people
#16
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
I don't do advice anymore.
I can tell you that the only things in my life I regret, are the things I didn't do.
I can tell you that the only things in my life I regret, are the things I didn't do.
#17
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
Have you asked your folks if you can live rent free and eat their food for the next 3 years? You should be able to save a decent chunk of change this way.
#18
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
Join the Air force? Moving to Canada won't solve your housing issues or your love life issues.
#19
Account Closed
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 0
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
I know a few pilots but all trained in the US or Canada but they all had to take out pretty substantial loans to pay for training and work for the rest, at least the ones who went the civilian route along with having to work for crummy regional airlines for a fair amount of years until they had enough hours to get on with a mainline carrier, a few went into the US military and let the military train them.
UK have a military route you could take?
Last edited by scrubbedexpat091; Jul 5th 2019 at 12:22 am.
#20
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
#21
Forum Regular
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 37
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
My experience: no, but not worse.
My experience: absolutely NOT
This move might be a good change for you if you just need a change of scenery but be prepared for some struggle in the beginning. I heard the pilot school here isn't cheap either but it may be more doable for you. Have you started taking baby steps? Like making sure you'd even pass the physical exam? I would also look at how transferable the training is, not just the school itself but seniority and such. You can always move elsewhere or go back if things don't work out. Good luck.
This move might be a good change for you if you just need a change of scenery but be prepared for some struggle in the beginning. I heard the pilot school here isn't cheap either but it may be more doable for you. Have you started taking baby steps? Like making sure you'd even pass the physical exam? I would also look at how transferable the training is, not just the school itself but seniority and such. You can always move elsewhere or go back if things don't work out. Good luck.
#22
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
when it comes to your love life, you are who you are no matter WHERE you are. just moving to a new country isn't going to solve that element. find something that makes you happy to do with your life then believe it or not you'll become more attractive. no-one wants to date someone who hates their life. sorry to sound cold about it but would you?
#23
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
You can get loans for pilots courses. But if you don't want to go down that route, you work your bits off, save carefully, and potentially get equity in your home. Unfortunately, few would have it magically appear when only 25. It's taken me 20+ years (and a lot of hard work) to get what I've wanted. You'd make £80k on most properties in a few years if you get on the property ladder, possibly more. It will happen if you aim for it and save hard enough. Or why not look at joining the RAF? If your aim is to become a pilot, that seems the obvious choice to me. Have you been in the Air Cadets since a teen?
Last edited by christmasoompa; Jul 5th 2019 at 1:08 pm.
#24
BE user by choice
Joined: Oct 2010
Location: A Briton, married to a Canadian, now in Fredericton.
Posts: 4,854
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
There are lots of different ways to become a pilot and you don’t have to do it all together over night at a terrible cost. My husband, who is a pilot, needs pilots constantly but is getting sick of employing young pilots with few hours, training them hard and then they build up their flight hours quickly - because there is a lot of work - and then off they go to the airlines. It’s a tiring rinse and repeat cycle. He’s now getting applications from people in their mid thirties who have had good solid careers whilst pursuing and paying for their aviation dreams and then making the move later, as that’s what they’ve always wanted to do. If you have a will there is a way.
Sounds to me like you’ve just got to a point when you want to push your reset button...we all do from time to time. You are young, sounds like you have a supportive family which is always a blessing, you’ve the chance to come to Canada, and I would echo Novo...just do it. You really don’t have anything to lose. You’ll experience a different culture, get something different to put on your resume...and you might be in danger of having a bit of fun
Canada is a great country, the people are friendly, it’s relatively safe and you don’t have to stay here. If I were your age I’d do it like a shot. Good luck...I wish you fun!
Sounds to me like you’ve just got to a point when you want to push your reset button...we all do from time to time. You are young, sounds like you have a supportive family which is always a blessing, you’ve the chance to come to Canada, and I would echo Novo...just do it. You really don’t have anything to lose. You’ll experience a different culture, get something different to put on your resume...and you might be in danger of having a bit of fun
Canada is a great country, the people are friendly, it’s relatively safe and you don’t have to stay here. If I were your age I’d do it like a shot. Good luck...I wish you fun!
#25
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
Is it defiantly fixed wing you want to fly. A know a lot of helicopter pilots who started their careers as the base help, moved up to mechanic and did their training with the more experienced base pilots as time allowed.
Could be be an option especially if you want to get out of the big cities. Northern BC has too many helicopter companies to count and you stay pretty busy with forest fires and government work in summer and heliskiing in winter.
Could be be an option especially if you want to get out of the big cities. Northern BC has too many helicopter companies to count and you stay pretty busy with forest fires and government work in summer and heliskiing in winter.
#26
Banned
Joined: Apr 2009
Location: SW Ontario
Posts: 19,879
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
Here's some options for you for pilot training..
Ground training - online / remote! https://www.pilottraining.ca/index.p...ategory_id=274
You can get your private pilots license (which is a pre-requisite for moving onto commercial pilot) for around $13k at the Waterloo Flight Centre - https://www.wwfc.ca/wp-content/uploads/PPL-2019.pdf (don't have to download, opens in separate tab). Baby steps - don't think of it in one huge chunk, do it in attainable stages! There's a suggested 'modular' way of attaining a commercial pilot license here: https://www.wwfc.ca/modular-approach/
Or you could... hmm thinking outside of the box! Come on your IEC, decide if you like Canada enough to stay... apply for Permanent Residence.. then as a PR apply to somewhere like this for a course - as a PR you might qualify for student loans/grants http://www.flybfc.com/copy-of-rental-info-1 and then you could see if you can get on one of the Airline courses https://www.airgeorgian.ca/soar/recruitment/ and https://flyjazz.ca/en/careers/pilots/pathwaysprogram/ or.. loads of links on google
Ground training - online / remote! https://www.pilottraining.ca/index.p...ategory_id=274
You can get your private pilots license (which is a pre-requisite for moving onto commercial pilot) for around $13k at the Waterloo Flight Centre - https://www.wwfc.ca/wp-content/uploads/PPL-2019.pdf (don't have to download, opens in separate tab). Baby steps - don't think of it in one huge chunk, do it in attainable stages! There's a suggested 'modular' way of attaining a commercial pilot license here: https://www.wwfc.ca/modular-approach/
Or you could... hmm thinking outside of the box! Come on your IEC, decide if you like Canada enough to stay... apply for Permanent Residence.. then as a PR apply to somewhere like this for a course - as a PR you might qualify for student loans/grants http://www.flybfc.com/copy-of-rental-info-1 and then you could see if you can get on one of the Airline courses https://www.airgeorgian.ca/soar/recruitment/ and https://flyjazz.ca/en/careers/pilots/pathwaysprogram/ or.. loads of links on google
Last edited by Siouxie; Jul 5th 2019 at 3:09 pm.
#27
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2017
Location: Halifax, NS
Posts: 345
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
I'm usually great at helping others but I can't seem to help myself. Long story short, I feel lost.
- I'm 25, living at home in London, working as an IT/business consultant (NOC 2171).
- In less than 6 weeks I will have my IEC open work permit which I can activate in the next year. I'm in the EE pool but only with 438 CRS points.
Lifetime ambition was to become a commercial pilot, and live/work in the US. Couldn't become a pilot due to £££, tried to move to the US with my last company (see my threads from 2017), didn't work out. I don't want to work in an office anymore. It feels like I'm wasting my life away doing something meaningless/minute. The thing is I don't know what else to do, and if moving to Canada is even going to help. I'm looking at it as a solution to my problems.. a way to start a fresh, but also a potential way to make a big mess of my life.
London is too polluted, small, congested. It doesn't feel good spending an hour commuting into central to work every day, while the queen sits in Buckingham Palace doing squat. If I move out of the family home I'll be wasting a lot of money on rent/not saving. If I buy a home (which I'm not too far from being able to), I'll be locked in my current job paying for the mortgage for a long time. That scares me. I definitely want out of the UK. I'm thinking moving to Canada gets me closer to moving to the US.
I don't have a lot of savings, and I'm worried that once I get to Toronto I'm going to run out of money within months/end up in a low-paid job/be unable to travel due to little paid annual leave in Canada. But it would also give me a better chance at a love life, since I struggle in that department in London, mostly due to living at home.
If only there was a way to magically get £80k so I can pay for pilot training and fulfil my lifelong dream... that would make me the happiest person alive.
I could do with some advice from someone older and wiser.
- I'm 25, living at home in London, working as an IT/business consultant (NOC 2171).
- In less than 6 weeks I will have my IEC open work permit which I can activate in the next year. I'm in the EE pool but only with 438 CRS points.
Lifetime ambition was to become a commercial pilot, and live/work in the US. Couldn't become a pilot due to £££, tried to move to the US with my last company (see my threads from 2017), didn't work out. I don't want to work in an office anymore. It feels like I'm wasting my life away doing something meaningless/minute. The thing is I don't know what else to do, and if moving to Canada is even going to help. I'm looking at it as a solution to my problems.. a way to start a fresh, but also a potential way to make a big mess of my life.
London is too polluted, small, congested. It doesn't feel good spending an hour commuting into central to work every day, while the queen sits in Buckingham Palace doing squat. If I move out of the family home I'll be wasting a lot of money on rent/not saving. If I buy a home (which I'm not too far from being able to), I'll be locked in my current job paying for the mortgage for a long time. That scares me. I definitely want out of the UK. I'm thinking moving to Canada gets me closer to moving to the US.
I don't have a lot of savings, and I'm worried that once I get to Toronto I'm going to run out of money within months/end up in a low-paid job/be unable to travel due to little paid annual leave in Canada. But it would also give me a better chance at a love life, since I struggle in that department in London, mostly due to living at home.
If only there was a way to magically get £80k so I can pay for pilot training and fulfil my lifelong dream... that would make me the happiest person alive.
I could do with some advice from someone older and wiser.
In your shoes, I would be trying everything I could to fulfill at least one of those (the pilot one), even if it takes years. Love lives and houses can wait. You mention are are near to being able to buy a home - I assume in the London area - so you must have a decent deposit and must be a decent saver. Have you sat down and worked out how long it would take to get cash for the pilots courses, whether there are other means of funding available that would cut that short etc? I guess I am saying that you need to delve into this is sufficient detail so that you know for a fact that it is not going to happen before you discard it. Imagine later on finding that you could have made it happen.
The other thing I would point out is quantifying why you want to move from the UK and why Canada. Do you know the differences in things and will you be able to cope with that? Is Canada a bandaid for needing to really sit down and have some honest conversations with yourself? Is it a proxy for a change you want and for which you have to merely settle? Do you want to "waste" (I use the term advisedly) a few years of your life, and those hard earned savings, on an unidentified goal or a hoping that somehow you will get moved to the States?
Those are questions I would ponder. If you have no answers, they are still worth pondering at length, and you could do this whilst also having a great experience of living in and seeing a different country. Think about wat you want from Canada, and think about the impact it may have on your other goals. Definitely think about it if considering Toronto. Brilliant city, but I can't see how it will be much different, at a basic level, than London for you.
Good luck with the deliberations - this is an exciting time in life and you should not be afraid to try things or confront things, but do temper it with some deeper consideration. Thus endeth the lesson.
#28
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Feb 2013
Location: BC, Canada
Posts: 3,874
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
Tumbling Dice ..................
the OP said that moving to Canada would bring him closer to moving to the US. So that seems the only reason Canada has entered the picture
But moving from here to there ain't going to happen easily!
the OP said that moving to Canada would bring him closer to moving to the US. So that seems the only reason Canada has entered the picture
But moving from here to there ain't going to happen easily!
#29
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
I'm usually great at helping others but I can't seem to help myself. Long story short, I feel lost.
- I'm 25, living at home in London, working as an IT/business consultant (NOC 2171).
- In less than 6 weeks I will have my IEC open work permit which I can activate in the next year. I'm in the EE pool but only with 438 CRS points.
Lifetime ambition was to become a commercial pilot, and live/work in the US. Couldn't become a pilot due to £££,
I don't have a lot of savings, and I'm worried that once I get to Toronto I'm going to run out of money within months/end up in a low-paid job/be unable to travel due to little paid annual leave in Canada.
I could do with some advice from someone older and wiser.
- I'm 25, living at home in London, working as an IT/business consultant (NOC 2171).
- In less than 6 weeks I will have my IEC open work permit which I can activate in the next year. I'm in the EE pool but only with 438 CRS points.
Lifetime ambition was to become a commercial pilot, and live/work in the US. Couldn't become a pilot due to £££,
I don't have a lot of savings, and I'm worried that once I get to Toronto I'm going to run out of money within months/end up in a low-paid job/be unable to travel due to little paid annual leave in Canada.
I could do with some advice from someone older and wiser.
have you been to Canada previously?
do you have enough money to carry you - for how long in Canada without a job, do you know the cost of living for the place that you are planning on being in Canada?
rent & cost of living is expensive even on minimum wage being employed full time
on a IEC, what are your chances of getting IT work (how quickly) competing against unemployed IT people in Canada?
on the private pilots license in Canada it will cost you approx $10k - $14k
this is what you have to deal with in your 1-2 years in Canada,
on your life ambition, I wish you all the best (luck) on your journey.
#30
Re: Major life advice needed from wise people
Depends on the fashionability of the skills on offer; with the right skills work is there tomorrow (with or without a visa).