Pilot Careers Live

22 Mar 2025

Having started to seriously consider starting flight training again, I decided the best thing to do was head back to Pilot Careers Live, and get a bit of a feel for what was going on on the world of aviation again. For those who don’t know about this event, it’s a fantastic even where all of the major flight schools across the UK and europe, as well as a number of airlines and other companies relating to flight training all get together in one room to share information about how to become a professional pilot.

It’s held bi-annually in March and November at the Sofitel hotel next to terminal 5 at Heathrow, as well as numerous other locations throughout the year such as Manchester, Dublin, and other venues in Europe too.

There is a big hall where exhibitors all have stands, usually with some swag and glossy brochures, and you are free to wonder around and ask as many questions as you like. There are also numerous presentations on different tracks running throughout the day. One of the tracks is airline seminars, where the airlines which are exhibiting (and therefore usually hiring) talk about the routes into getting a job with them, as well as the reasons why you should. These often contain some insights which aren’t easy to find online, and as such, people who’ve paid extra for priority tickets get preferential access to these talks. There is also the option to ask questions at the end of these talks, however, given the airlines are exhibiting in the hall too, there’s always the option to ask them questions there instead.

I can’t really recommend these events enough if you are considering a career in aviation as it’s really a one stop shop, where you can get all of the information you could possibly need. A word of caution though, most of the flight schools that are there, will of course be trying to sell you on their courses, so take note of which airlines are actually associating themselves with which school, and what the students currently there actually think of it, rather than believing the sales pitches blindly. If a school is pushing very hard to get you to go there, there’s probably a reason - the quality flight schools don’t need to sell themselves hard, letting their reputation and results speak for themselves.

The key takeaways I got from this visit, were that EasyJet are running an MPL scheme with CAE, where you have a job offer before you begin, which sounds like a fantastic, reasonably risk free way to be able to switch careers. I have in the past heard mixed things about CAE though, so I will be doing some more research around them, and will also go and visit them to get a better sense of it.

Additionally it seems like now is a good time to be getting into flight training as there are many other airlines who are rapidly expanding at the moment and it all seems very positive in the industry at the moment. I drove back down to Exeter incredibly enthusiastic and excited about starting to pursue this as a career - possibly because the backdrop is inspiring too, sitting right by the threshold of 27L, seeing aircraft departing heathrow every couple of minutes.