My journey to becoming an airline pilot

Most pilot training content I could find online, follows people undertaking training in their late teens or early 20s - but there was very little for people like me, starting later in life.

This site is a document of a real journey of changing careers, leaving nearly 16 years of software development behind, and working towards becoming a commercial airline pilot with a UK based airline.

I’ll be sharing regular updates, training milestones, costs, challenges, and everything I learn along the way.

If you want to know more about my story and why I've decided to make the jump now, head over to the about page.

Where I am now

I've passed all three stages of the easyJet MPL selection process and so have a conditional job offer, subject to successfully completing the training with CAE.

Next step: Starting ground school in January 2027 with CAE, and the ATPL exams

If you want to find out more about the easyJet MPL, and its selection process, head over to the easyJet MPL guide.

  • Aug 2003
    First Flight Plymouth
  • Jun 2006
    PPL Plymouth
  • Mar 2025
    Decision to change career
  • Apr 2026
    Class 1 Medical London
  • Apr 2026
    MPL Stage 1 Online
  • May 2026
    BALPA Course Heathrow
  • May 2026
    MPL Stage 2 Online
  • Jul 2026
    MPL Stage 3 Online
  • Jul 2026
    Place confirmed
  • Dec 2026
    Course intro, meet & greet Online
  • Jan 2027
    ATPL Ground School CAE Gatwick/hybrid
  • Nov 2027
    Core Flying Phase Phoenix, AZ
  • May 2028
    Basic Phase, A320 Milan, Italy
  • Jul 2028
    Intermediate Phase, A320 Milan, Italy
  • Est Oct 2028
    easyJet Induction Gatwick
  • 2028
    Base & line training easyJet
  • 2028
    Qualified easyJet

Latest post

What happens after stage 3

Signing the contract with CAE, conditional offer, & preparations

17 Aug 2026
MPL contract documents

There’s been a slight gap since my last post on passing the stage 3 selection, so, what’s been happening since then?

Well, about a week after getting the notification I’d been successful, I was sent some enrolment documents for the course starting on the 4th January 2027. It contained confirmation of the total fixed course cost at €115,000, which includes the A320 type rating, uniforms, and most of the supplies/equipment needed for the training, but it does not include some required items (like an iPad & a headset) or arguably the biggest one, accommodation, which are all non-trivial costs.

The payments are broken down into stages, aligned with the phases of the course, and so you pay each chunk just before you begin that phase. These details of these payments and when they are due was all broken down too, I will share that in another post dedicated to costs later.

The full list of documents provided were:

  • A training service agreement (or ‘TSA’) which is essentially the contract with CAE
  • The conditional job offer from easyJet
  • A few consent forms
  • A number of other informational documents including details about the training facility in Crawley
  • Some accommodation provider recommendations
  • A guide on how to fill out and return the various forms.

The e-mail also specified a number of steps that also needed to be completed before your place on the course was actually confirmed, despite having provisionally booked onto it, which I’ll go into below.

Read in full