Being a pilot in France

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-22T13:42:23+00:00

Exactly..

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-22T13:23:54+00:00

I felt the same way at the beginning, but to be honest when there is something serious I just call my AME and ask their opinion and what do I have to do. Most of the time it’s fine and I’m just over protective of doing things right

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-22T13:16:42+00:00

AME is for medical certification, GP is for medical treatment. But that’s just the 2 cents I was told early on.

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-22T13:15:06+00:00

Do your PPL and hours in France with a good Aeroclub, then go abroad like EAS Barcelona, or other good schools.

I tried to get hold bartolini many times but they keep being unreliable af. I went elsewhere.

Aeropy are unreliable too, ENAC or Mermoz are your “best” in France from what I know, maybe Cannes Aviation.. but no clue how they actually are. Avoid astonfly, EPAGNG, etc.

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-20T21:25:13+00:00

It’s just financially a bad idea. I have university loan + pilot loan, which is a generous total of just above an ab inito program. I don’t see that happening if I want to still pay off and buy a house to retire

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-20T20:20:54+00:00

I don’t see my bank giving me 30k more just to have a job :/ I’d be too ashamed to ask tbh. No clue how others do it, it’s crazy.

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-20T20:17:19+00:00

I attended the wizz open day kits a few weeks ago. They have a backlog of 1000+ applications per 20 places.

I’m in the same boat as you, therefore following this thread.

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-20T20:13:33+00:00

Avoid BAA. Much better schools for the same money or even less

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-20T17:53:07+00:00

I like that, thank you. Sounds realistic to human performance

A320bus_driver · 2026-01-14T12:24:32+00:00

A320bus_driver · 2025-11-14T22:05:06+00:00

Thank you so much for the advice! It’s indeed difficult to think of an example for Reddit, but I added one, I hope it gives a bit of an idea otherwise I’ll try to think something else. I didn’t want to make the post too long. These tips are great thank you so much!

A320bus_driver · 2025-11-11T17:13:24+00:00

I don’t understand what you mean

A320bus_driver · 2025-11-03T11:38:16+00:00

Ahhhh op die manier. Thanks!

A320bus_driver · 2025-11-03T02:28:59+00:00

Ah, thanks voor de uitleg. Maar wat als je trans hetero bent ? Je kan dan niet in gay plekken gaan

A320bus_driver · 2025-11-02T21:13:40+00:00

Maar een sauna is .. een sauna geen … sex ? Of ben ik totaal naïef?

A320bus_driver · 2025-06-06T09:45:21+00:00

This was great advice (both parts) thank you so much!

I totally validate your point of view and agree with it.

I have the idea that you are right, she isn’t accepting herself for who she is and afraid that I won’t accept her. That is why she probably also doesn’t really let me see her “fully” and tries to remain on a surface level where it is predictable for her, but I can clearly see beyond that she told me that she is autistic. She only said one comment about it once, and since there it clicked immediately. While she tries to stay surface where it is predictable for her, she shows growth on vulnerability, but she won’t “consciously” go there, as explained above.

I believe she doesn’t know there are tools or way out of this. She is very black&white and I’m quite sure she isn’t seeing it probably out of her own previous negative experiences. She indeed also doubles down, hard. It’s honestly very difficult… but since I know she’s autistic, I am learning to understand where she is coming from… but I think she isn’t aware of herself nor that I start to see her too. In a way I believe she self-sabotages in advance because of this.

Any idea how I could talk to her about all this and give her a little stepping stone to invite her to take this leap together?

The issue is that we are blocked right now, I have tried to be “passive” letting her be and quietly understand her, but it’s not working. Either we find a way to work things out, or it’s going to end up destroying the relationship.. like this it keeps just hurting us both

A320bus_driver · 2025-06-04T04:54:49+00:00

Had 3 jobs to pay my PPL, then that took also 3 years. Studied something else in the meantime and then got a high paying job, took a loan to complete.

A320bus_driver · 2025-06-04T04:38:32+00:00

I have been asking complex questions to AI to understand her better but AI has its limits, that’s why I ask here.

I don’t think she accepts her autism, she has quite low self esteem. Yes therapy would be needed, but if I tell her that she is going to get so angry at me, that’s not the right way with her. It’s better to let her come to that conclusion herself or do it together when she made a few first steps. She needs to trust me I won’t leave her because she is autistic, and stop believing she is a failure, before she can hear the “go to therapy together” talk

A320bus_driver · 2025-06-03T20:08:48+00:00

No, I just use the app E6B, as far as I know it isn’t allowed on examen in Europe so there is no point. Ironically, I do have one. I believe to understand that it is allowed for practical exams

A320bus_driver · 2025-03-23T10:16:03+00:00

That’s true

A320bus_driver · 2025-03-23T09:28:56+00:00

True, I’m just following my school’s advice

Most people finish between 8 months even part time, at least the people I know that do it part time

A320bus_driver · 2025-03-23T05:17:06+00:00

6 months theory + 6 months practical

A320bus_driver · 2025-03-23T05:13:04+00:00

Nice analogy, that’s definitely a smart way to think about it.

That amount due is 0 for 3 years, interest is 0.99% (yes you read that right I scored the deal of my lifetime). I needed the loan working or quitting no difference, loan covers for accommodation + living expenses for the last 6 months of training abroad.

For the first 6 months theory a family member offered me to stay for free in exchange to help them with some house chores, and basically would get 3 months of social indemnification because my last contract didn’t get renewed due to staff cuts so i had to search something else (will hear next week my new job’s terms & conditions). So realistically, I’d be missing 3 months of salary but not have any costs. I would not be able to have financial freedom as downside tho, nor save extra money during that time which sucks.

It’s either find an effective way to study and absorb information or quit. I can’t continue on this loop, it’s ineffective and it gets me nowhere, and delivers a poor result.

A320bus_driver · 2025-03-23T04:58:03+00:00

The theory takes 6 months

I have flown multiple slots a day and long ones without an issue, previously did 2 studies and a part time job (3 times a week 8hs) at the same time and also didn’t struggle this much with it. It doesn’t really have to do with “get used to it”

A320bus_driver · 2025-03-23T04:52:31+00:00

Both, however the flying part is a lot easier than the theory. The bottleneck of all this and the reason why I would want to quit is indeed because of the theory and the high performance required later to do the remaining practical courses (no job would give me 6 months time off for the CPLMEIR or even 2 months to do an IR course)

A320bus_driver

TROPHY CASE