An Elstree Aerodrome-based flying instructor faces re-mortgaging his house for a fourth time, as his ambitions are hit by redundancies in the aviation industry following the terror attacks on America.

Ian Driscoll, 35, an instructor with Firecrest flying school, has re-mortgaged his Watford home three times, and built up £30,000 training debts, in his quest to become a British Airways Concorde pilot.

Since June last year, when he achieved the last training hurdle by getting his instrument rating, Mr Driscoll has been applying to airlines, to kick-start his career as a commercial pilot.

However, in recent weeks the aviation industry has shed 150,000 jobs, recruitment has been frozen by almost every British airline and, according to the British Airline Pilots Association, up to 1,000 pilots will lose their jobs in the next few months.

Mr Driscoll, who also works as a lifeguard in Watford, said this week: "For the short-term it has not done me any favours".

He added that the long-term effect was uncertain, commenting: "It depends what happens. If the airlines were laying off the younger pilots, who have just started, then these pilots are going to want jobs when things pick up.

"If they are retiring pilots early, who are not going to want to come back, there could be less pilots out there. It could work either way."

But Mr Driscoll, who has worked at Elstree for six years and trains students to fly Cessna aircraft, vows to work hard in the meantime, to make sure he is at the front of the queue for jobs when the industry picks up again. He said Firecrest's business had not been hit because most of the people it trained wanted to get private licences, rather than pursuing ambitions to become commercial pilots.

But he added there were probably other pilots at Elstree in a similar position to him.

October 17, 2001 12:16