Pilot Training
A career as a Pilot can be varied and interesting but is demanding both physically and academically. There are many different types aircraft that you might decide you wish to fly from 747 airplanes to helicopters. You would need to have some idea of what type of aircraft you would like to fly before you investigate the type of training on offer but this will provide a broad basis on the subject.
There are different ways in which you can train to become a pilot. You may decide (if you are lucky enough to be in a position to do this!) to fund your own training privately and this will cost in the region of £50-60,000 by the time you have finished. You can complete this training at a school approved by the Civil Aviation Authority. Alternatively you may be sponsored to train, usually by an airline. Each airline will set their own requirements for candidates for this type of training but you will have to meet various academic and physical targets and competition is understandably fierce! The other option is to covert a pilots licence gained with the Armed Forces (for example the RAF) into a commercial pilots licence. However, you need to serve a certain amount of time with the armed forces before you can complete pilot training.
The job of a commercial pilot obviously involves a lot of travel! It is not a 9 to 5 job and can mean working public holiday and having to work in challenging circumstances that require a lot of concentration and are mentally demanding e.g. landing a plane in bad weather!. The role of the pilot is to complete pre-flight safety checks, to find the best route to a destination given current weather forecasts, to make sure that all the safety equipment is working correctly and that flight crew are briefed before take off. Also to keep passengers and crew updated about the progress of the flight, to write flight reports after landing and to monitor data during the flight and make adjustments to the flight path etc if this is needed.
In order to work for an airline you would need to hold at least an Airline Transport Pilot's Licence and this is frozen until you have achieved a certain number of flight hours and can then apply for the full licence. You start work initially as a co-pilot or first officer.