Linda Jones sent a message to Michael OLeary - CEO, Ryanair - Email Address that said:
Dear Mr OLeary
As a mum of a newly qualified pilot as of a year and a half, I am despondent that my son Callum cannot get a job. He worked so hard to gain the qualification, perhaps harder than most against all the odds.
He started with a training college in Waterford in Ireland, and went out to Florida to train. After 10 months the college, as you may have heard through the grapevine, went into liquidation and students and parents (including ourselves) lost a lot of money. We had sacrificed a lot to give our sons and daughters a chance of pursuing their dream, and for many, it was all lost. Callum was able to carry on in stages, as finances allowed, completed his private pilot licence here locally in North Wales, and for a year purely concentrated on his studies and exams in Cork. He then went out to California to complete his flying hours, returning to do the different components in Cardiff and in Gloucester.
He never gave up and stuck it out because it was his ambition, and every penny of his and ours was used for him to be able to do this. After he gained his qualification in 2015, he became ill due to a severe reaction to protein shakes taken for the gym, recommended to build up muscle. Harmless products, taken by many young people every day. Unfortunately for Callum, being probably one in a million, he was allergic to the ingredients in the products combined with genetic factors. He was very poorly, jaundiced, sickly, lost 4 stone and he was `rotting away due to liver failure. He endured 5 weeks in a local hospital and 3 weeks in the Queens Hospital in Birmingham, and it could have gone one way or the other in that he would recover naturally, or would need a transplant.
It was a harrowing time and thank God his liver eventually returned to normal after a few months, and he was given the all clear. We thought his dreams had been shattered and he would never be able to achieve his ambition of being a pilot.
He has applied to all airlines, and it seems that because of the college going into liquidation and he was left to study independently, he did not have the feed in to, and the links into the airlines, which can be a natural progression after being at a Pilot college. He has spoken to young pilots who trained before and around the time that he did, and they had not done anything different to what he has done, yet he is not invited for interview. He has gone into the system with one or two airlines, but has not been contacted, despite all his efforts.
It is soul destroying, and I would so appreciate any advice you can give on what you look for when taking on First Officers. He is not sure whether he will be able to fund his renewal for his licence this year, and although we will do our best to help him, it is becoming a very expensive venture, without any positive results.
Please help
With very best wishes
Linda Jones
