fullflank

Does that mean that BA, Lufthunsa, Air France, KLM and even Quantas dont require a college education? Im totally clueless about pilot hiring in Europe, but I just assume that the educational requirement would be high at the fore mentioned airlines.

rickair7777

Not necessarily. Europ takes a slightly different view on higher education. But you would probably have to have VERY good scores in high school and vocational tests to get into military or civilian ab-initio flying programs.

3stripes

I don't know about Qantas as they're in Australia, but in Europe very little emphasis is put on a college education or high school grades once you have some work experience in the real world. For example; I know of one guy who is about to start on the BA ab-initio class who left school at 16 and never went to college. He worked his way up in a sheet metal company to become a head of department before applying to BA. The key to getting on with one of these airlines is personality, life experience and the ability to pass the various tests that are set at the interview stage. These include verbal reasoning, psychometric but also a tough maths test and a wide assortment of hand eye coordination and multi tasking tests. In short, it's thorough and only those with the ability to fly make it through.

In my case I trained on an ab-initio course when I was 18, qualified at 19 and got hired on to a turboprop. Did some time on that, got accepted by another airline to fly the A320. Flew there until we all got let go and then headed back to the turboprop before eventually moving over here. In the meantime I did a Masters in Aviation Management as I also ended up doing some work in management at my third airline. I honestly believe that my life experience and Masters far exceeds what I could have done in the same timeframe had I been at college studying for a degree.

In Europe a degree is purely about specialised study, it is not the extension of high school that it seems to be over here. For example, if I study 20th Century English Literature, that is the only class I will take for four years. I would not be taking additional classes in math, science etc.

Flyhayes

Your post illustrates your lack of understanding the JAA ATPL and the University systems in Europe. A Masters in Europe is just the same as a Masters here in the States. If we are to compare education systems, a high school education in many European countries are equivalent to a 2 year degree here in the States. Most countries in the EU regard a JAA ATPL theoretical course high enough to grant students partial, if not full credit, towards a Bachelors degree. This is nothing in comparison to an Aviation Sciences degree over here. Don't be so quick to comment when you seem to know nothing about the European certification process or the higher education system.

fullflank

Yeah, gotta agree with this guy. I started grade school in eastern Europe. When we came here I remember how shocked I was at the simple material being covered in school. I would put money on a high school grad over seas vs our typical college grad in an aptitude exam type chellenge.

Stratosphere

Doesn't surprise me education in the US is abysmal at best and getting worse. Really thought Obama "the education president" would have changed things for the better but if anything I think it is worse. The certification process for both pilots and mechanics are higher in Europe then in the US.

BOGSAT

http://www.wes.org/

3stripes-

Go to the above link - this worked great for my lady who has moved here from Germany. With the help of Wes her Masters degree from Germany has been fully accreted here. Her Masters has not been once questioned by an employer, and today holds an upper level civilian job with the US gov (because she has a Master's degree-as do you)! Good luck!

rickair7777

The problem is that the education system here is driven by the teacher's unions. They tend to steer things towards their best interests, and since most of them are liberal arts types they gravitate towards all kinds of touchy-feely concepts at expense of the three RRRs and STEM.

True story, Norm Augustine, an engineer who lead the skunkworks and went on to become the CEO of LockMart retired and went home to teach high school math or science in his hometown. He was determined to be unqualified because he didn't have a bunch of liberal-arts credentialing crap completed. His consolation prize was to become a dean at Princeton or something like that.

EMB CJ3 flyer

Wow and I thought it was a mess over here. That's harsh. What do the JAA people say about such low time people in the cockpit of a A320? have they had any Issues related to safety? How do they get away with not paying them while flying for an airline? I guess my dual citizenship (British and US) isn't going to help me any!

GoPats

I agree. I had a similar experience when we moved to the US after the 5th grade.
The K-12 school system in most European countries is heavily geared towards what we'd call here "a classical education" and one you'd mostly find in expensive prep. schools.
Their universities are, as some have pointed out, more directly focused on the subject at hand and not so concerned about "the well rounded education".
I was just looking at problems for math from last year's college entrance exams in Greece. It was Calculus I, something I didn't touch until freshman year in college.
In my engineering degree, I didn't have a full engineering subject courseload until my junior year.

I suppose you could make arguments for both sides but as far as the original question is concerned - no, your UK Masters will not be a problem for you.