Student Profiles: Background

After being an apprentice footballer with Manchester City for three years, Pete went to university in London, studying Music and Education, with the idea of going into teaching. Unsure whether university life was right for him he gave up his course after two years, but felt he had no sense of direction. In 1987, on the advice of a friend, he successfully applied to join the police, working for three years in Manchester before transferring to West Mercia Constabulary, and getting married in the process. It wasn’t long before Pete began to feel frustrated by the lack of challenge the job offered and to hanker for a new direction, preferably one that linked him to his sporting or musical abilities.

However, Pete realised how difficult it would be to get into either the music or the sports industry, and without a clear goal and with a family to support, he found it difficult to make the break from his job. But, a few years later, it was music that would in fact provide the springboard to a completely different career. He offered piano tuition in his spare time and, in conversation with a parent who was an airline pilot, he became interested in the job. After being taken flying by a friend, Pete was hooked, and with the support of his family, decided to go back to college to study for a commercial pilot’s licence.

Pete was lucky in that he was offered a career break from the police force (without pay) and also because his family were so supportive – the cost of acquiring a pilot’s licence is enormous (in Pete’s case tuition fees were in the order of £38,000) on top of the need to budget for up to two years without Pete’s salary every month!

The Programme

In 1998 Pete enrolled at a college in Oxford on a 14-month programme of full-time study in order to attain his Airline Transport Pilots Licence (ATPL), which is a prerequisite qualification for working as an airline pilot. He funded the course through a mixture of student loans, some govt. funding and help from family members.

The programme involved a very intensive mixture of classroom teaching and actual flying. Many of the technical subjects were assessed by exam, such as electrics, instrumentation and theory of flying, and although Pete had no experience of these, he was nevertheless determined to pass them all. Not only did he find the subjects interesting, he was motivated by the fact that, given the cost involved, failure was simply not an option!

After 14 months, some 50 exams in total, including 5 flying assessments, and with 170 flying time under his belt, Pete received his licence. He graduated in October 1999, on the day of his eldest son’s 5th birthday.

Getting a Job

It took several months for Pete to find an airline company that was recruiting pilots, and he was always in competition with people who had more hours of flying experience. Although he had researched carefully his prospects for getting a job, before he went on the course, the recruitment market had taken a downturn by the time he graduated. Nevertheless he refused to give up, and he estimates he must have sent off around 500 copies of his CV, many of which he followed up with phone calls. By chance he heard that a small airline company, GB Airways, were planning to take on some new pilots. After calling them up he persuaded them, through “bare faced cheek” to include him on the shortlist. Despite being the least experienced candidate Pete got the job and has never looked back. He now works for Virgin Airlines and says every trip still excites him. Because it took so much for him and his family to get to this point he is determined never to take the job for granted.

The Challenges

Undoubtedly the sheer volume of work and the financial constraints the course entailed made Pete’s study period particularly hard on the family as well as on himself. What got him through was his determination to succeed and the support of his family, particularly his wife Lorraine.

The Best Bits

Pushing through the tough times, overcoming the doubts, getting through the course and getting a job that he wanted at the end of it!

Pete’s Advice

Stay focused – give 100% to achieve the goal you’ve set out to gain, when your motivation wavers, think about the rewards associated with what you are doing – gaining new skills, meeting new people – and anticipate the doors that might now become open.

Talk to your family. Sit down and work out what your programme of study might mean for everyone, make sure everyone’s expectations are realistic. Most importantly, keep talking and keep listening.

Remember that it’s never too late to do something new.