Temporary_User

Well Im 19 just got done w/ my year off since HS and am getting ready to start college here soon.
Im going to start w/ just the basic classes and then see exactly where I want to go from there.
Im pretty sure they dont teach flight classes at college... ??
But that seems like a profession I would like to enter.
Is anyone here a pilot or knows one where I could get some info on becoming one?
what is required, pay, likes/dislikes....
thanks

choskins

One of my pilots is a college student. We talk about it over drinks a lot. He says the best thing to do is hang out at your local airport. While taking flight classes, do lowpaying jobs like pump jockey, etc., to get your break. Just hang around and get to know everyone. One day that call will come and some corporate pilot (like mine) will ask the FBO operator for a co-pilot for the day. The rest is history.

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Averett

The college I went to had a really good flight school. There are plenty out there.

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

yournamehere

There are plenty of schools like that - way back when I did my first college stint, I majored in aeronautical technology - by graduation, I'd have had my ATR.
It never panned out, though.

If you seriously want to fly for a living, there are two main paths you can take:

1. Get a degree in whatever interests you that will get you out of school in 4 years (or if you're not in a hurry, go for aerospace engineering) - join ROTC and then go into the Air Force after graduation. Volunteer to fly the transports and cargo jets - they're not as glamourous as F-18s, but they'll prepare you for 737s much better.

2. Stay a civilian and climb the ladder in flight school - get your private pilot license, then get instrument rated and get your commercial and multi-engine ratings. As soon as you qualify, get your Flight Instructor's rating - then you'll finally be able to get paid to be in the air. When you finally feel you've got the minimum hours, get your ATR and start applying to the airlines, or look into business flying (corporate planes).

If you go the civilian route, be prepared to spend a lot of money - it'll cost you at least $3,500 for just your PPL; another $1,500 for commercial, $5,000 for instrument, etc . . . Plus - even if you're not taking lessons, plane rentals are about $50-100/hr - and you must stay current (you really need to fly at least 3-4 hours per month)

Good luck - that was my dream right out of H.S., too. I wanted to start a charter/sightseeing service in the Caribbean or Hawaii.

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shakran

North Dakota has a REALLY good flight school complete with their own fleet of airplanes.

dirtyrascal7

purdue also has a very distinguished flight school. their webpage can be found here.

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Jackebear

If I was 19 again, I would definately want to be a pilot. Great job, great pay, travel around the world, hot chicks etc, etc.

I saw on MSN once a few weeks ago that this is going to be one of the huge growth jobs in the next few years. I say go for it.

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Journeyman

I do remember that airline pilots got tagged with one of the most overpayed jobs. So even if you don't feel like joining the airforce, the numbers that yournamehere quoted for the civilian path seem like a very, very good investment.

cj22009

Temp im am a pilot I have a private multi engine rating with insturment rating. I also have a rotory wing privates but im in the proccess of making that a commercial ticket. I done all this in the civilan world. Being a pilot is very rewarding like every one has said before there alot of great schools out there just research them well. Any more questions about stuff feel free to ask in the forum or pm me.

ratbastid

Can't... restrain... inner.... smartass......

I'm sure that impresses the ladies!

Sorry. I really tried not to say that.

la petite moi

To become a pilot, you have to go to a special flight school. You're right about college not having aviation courses. Good luck.

Averett

Not true at all. As I said, the college I went to had aviation courses.

Maybe his college doesn't offere them, but there are plenty that do.


Averett University's Aeronautics Program

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Absence is to love what wind is to fire. It extinguishes the small, it enkindles the great.

maleficent

A lot of the older commercial pilots, including a former pilot that I work with have come out of the military (air force or navy)

That's great experience if you want to work for the airlines. But from what I understand it's a long process (I was looking for somethine one night, and found, and can't find it again) a airline employees forum, that had a lot of interesting information on it. Do some googling.

In addition to the major carriers, the father of a friend has a great job as a private pilot working for a company that leases planes, so you aren't at the whims of just one client, you could fly anywhere, and he loves it

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Temporary_User

thanks for all the replies guys....
I was thinking to become a pilot for a commercial airline like Alaska or something like that...
CJ as you can tell I dont know too much about this subject, what exactly are you doing as a pilot right now? private goind towards commercial?
Would it be smart for me to goto college, or should I put that on hold and try to get into a flight school?
How hard is it to get a job w/ a airline as a pilot?

Temporary_User

Wow! stupid me....
I just did some reading on my future schools website and there is an aviation degree offered.
Im going to have to look into how I can get into those courses.

yournamehere

One thing that hasn't been touched upon in this post yet - if you go the civilian route, your fees are split between the instructor and the aircraft. If you really intend to fly a lot, you might look into buying a plane. It'll save you a bunch in the long run as opposed to hourly rentals. They're not cheap, though - you're looking at around $25K as the absolute minimum, for a 1970s-80s vintage two-seater, like a Cessna 152, Piper Tomahawk, or Beech Skipper.

Don't even think about a new one.

But if you go to a school with a lot of other student pilots, maybe 3 or 4 of you could swing a loan and share the plane's time - then, when you graduate, sell it (you'll get your money back, if not more, minus maintenance costs)

Edit: It just ocurred to me that you might be headed to a school that specializes in flight training and has their own planes - the cost of which are included in your tuition. In my case, I went to a state university that had a discounted contract with a local airport and flight insruction school - we paid by the hour.

__________________
If you want to avoid 95% of internet spelling errors:
"If your ridiculous pants are too loose, you're definitely going to lose them. Tell your two loser friends over there that they're going to lose theirs, too."
It won't hurt your fashion sense, either.

Peetster

Retired Navy pilot, 4000 hours, combat decorated seven times.

PM me, I'll give you 45 minutes or so on the phone.

Peet

amonkie

Arizona State University has a pilot program set up and administered through Mesa Airlines, out at a former air force base. I have several friends in the program, and the biggest perk was that if you graduated and had completed your hours, you were garaunteed a job interview with Mesa. Flying is NOT cheap however. I was thinking of getting my private from a friend who had his instructor rating, so he could get more hours, and it's not something that I could easily whip out and afford.

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Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

cj22009

Temp sorry it took me so long to reply long weekend right now im still working my regular job IT tech but when I get my commercial rotoary wing im going to try to get a job working for a friend of mine he owns a company flies for a couple of the local news stations and they also do cooperate leases to

cheezhead

I have been around aviation my whole life. I think its a tough road to get a good job. It takes alot of money to get all your ratings. The best jobs with the airlines are highly competive. Most hiring with military experience, college degree, and a shit load of flying time. Except to go thru lay offs, spend time on overnite trips away from your family. At 19 your already behind. Your up against guys that started flying at 14 and got their private at 16 and have been building hours.
Take a good look at going into Air Traffic! Its a great job with great pay! Severe shortage coming up too.
Just my two cents! Good luck to you!!!

Temporary_User

Well, once I get into school Im definately going to look more into their program they offer.
I see that this isnt cheap, but I guess neither is any kind of career schooling.
cheez, you say that Im behind because of my hours...
I know that once I get out of school the airlines are not going to be calling me 24/7 seeing if I need a job, but there is definately other good paying jobs that I will be able to get right out of school right?
Or will this be a carreer that I get done w/ school and continue doing Mcjobs for years until I get to where I want to be?

iflyadash8

Current active airline pilot for Horizon Air. I used to be flight instructor for 2 years before I got hooked up with my current gig. I'll help you out.


And for the record: we all aren't overpaid like the media says we are. Some of us make <$20K to start. It takes a LONG LONG time until you're VERY senior before you start making the big money.

Temporary_User

Two years...
not bad

So to summarize you got you pilots liscense as high as you could get, and trained others then got an offer to fly for horizon...

So if i went ahead w/ aviation in school. When I graduated I could get a job as a trainer decently easy, and then it would just take time and maybe a few resume's to eventually get on board w/ a airline like horizon?
Horizon and similiar airline, is this the hightest paying thing you can get into w/ your pilot liscense, correct?
You say some of us make around $20k to start, that means you arent getting the same amount of flights as others right?

amonkie

Just one caution to throw out there-

From what my pilots in training friends have told me, there's a large sacrifice you're going to be making when you get up to the bigger bucks in terms of lifestyle and compatibility with a family life. If that is a goal of yours, MAKE SURE your SO is aware and willing to make that adjustment.

__________________
Calling from deep in the heart, from where the eyes can't see and the ears can't hear, from where the mountain trails end and only love can go... ~~~ Three Rivers Hare Krishna

iflyadash8

amonkie is right, there's a huge sacrifice involved with this profession. Don't have time to write a big response as I am sitting in a hotel room as I type this getting ready for the day's flying before I go home for 3 days off. I'll lay it down for you later today after I get home.

Temporary_User

???
I think I get it...
traveling can go into the pro's and the con's section right?
How often am I working...?
Is it like a 5 days on 2 off, 4n4 or how often are you home?

iflyadash8

It depends on whom you ask. Some people are single and it doesn't matter to them. Others are married with kids and they try and bid the schedule every month that will have the least impact of their lives.

It depends on whom you work for and what their labor contract says about how often you work. You have to remember; seniority controls absolutely EVERYTHING in this career. It controls how fast you upgrade to Captain, how many days you get off, how good of a schedule you can get you can have holidays off, etc.

I'm DAMM lucky that my wife supports my career. Or else we'd probably be divorced. Make damn sure she understands everything that this career entails.




Again, this depends on whom you work for and what their labor contract says at the time you’re hired (assuming the company has a union and a collective bargaining agreement.) There’s no way to answer that question since you don't know which airline you'll end up at and even then their contract will change as far as the work rules are concerned about every 5 years or so.

No, that means that their company treats them like shit and the pilots at that company put up with it. One example is Great Lakes Aviation and Continental Express or Expressjet. (Yes I named them, fuck it they brought it on themselves) Pilots at those airlines currently start out making $18,000 per year or less. That's PER YEAR. You can literally make more working at McDonalds. Seriously. You have to understand, management at airlines know that there are thousands of pilots wanting to fly for their companies. Those applicants have this attitude that "I just want to fly so I'll do anything to get there." As you progress through your flight training, you will hear people talking about this sort of thing. Right off the bat, I would like to encourage you NOT to whore yourself out to fly for any shitty company that doesn't pay you enough to live on just so you can say, "I fly for an airline and I wear a uniform!" Upper management at airlines, especially regional airlines know that applicants have this attitude, and they totally exploit it by paying shit wages knowing that people will line up for the job just so they can wear a uniform. Please don't do this. Everytime somebody takes a shitty job for such a low wage, you're telling management that it's ok to pay professional pilots, people who have so much responsibility in their jobs, $18K per year. I know you have a burning desire to fly for an airline, I had that same feeling myself. But I want to let you know now, that if people would stop whoring themselves out, management would get a clue and start raising the starting wage. Unions have fought tooth and nail to get management to pay a livable wage, and when people take such low paying jobs, you undermine their efforts.

I know that you probably don't care about union issues but if you're going to be an airline pilot, you'd better start listening now because when you get here, I GUARENTEE you, you will not be concerned about building flight time anymore, you will be concerned about management doing everything they can to pay you less than they already are.

Now that I'm off my soapbox, I can tell you about training. There are a lot of requirements to getting each license and rating. I'm not going to go into serious detail about each and every requirements, your instructor will go through that with you when you start training. Always remember to ask your instructor LOTS of questions. And if he/she doesn't want to answer your questions or they give you bullshit answers, switch instructors. Remember it's your money.

First off, you will start with the Private Pilots license. 40 hours minimum training required by the FAA but the average completing time is 50-60 hours. This license allows you to fly for fun basically. You can't get paid as a pilot with just a private license. And you can't fly in the clouds either. After that, you will get the Instrument rating. Notice that this is a RATING and not a license. A rating is a separate addition of a privilege added to a license. (Commonly called a certificate) The privilege being that it allows you to fly in the clouds. You still can't get paid as a pilot. Next, you’ll' get the Commercial certificate. (License) This allows you to get paid as a pilot. Since you got a new certificate, you don't have to go through instrument training all over again because you got the instrument rating at the lower private pilot level. When you're tested to get your commercial certificate, you're tested for flying on instrument at the same time, so in the end you end up with a Commercial certificate with an instrument rating. Notice I haven't said anything about twin-engine aircraft yet. Everything up to this point will be flown in single engine aircraft. (You can start from the very beginning in a twin if you want to but unless you're filthy rich or daddy owns an airplane he willing to let you train on, I wouldn't recommend it.) Next with your Commercial certificate and instrument rating in hand, it all depends on what you want to do. Now, you can get paid to fly but you have to be realistic, who's going to hire you to fly their airplane with only 250 hours or so in your logbook? Because that's all the flight time you will have when you finish training. You have to build time somehow. So some people get their certified flight instructors certificate. Others get the multi-engine rating then get the certified flight instructor certificate. This allows you to teach people how to fly. You get paid working (not much, you've been warned) and you build flight time. There are also different ratings you can get put on a CFI certificate, the CFII (I stands for instrument, allows you to teach in the clouds) and the MEI (multiengine instructor rating, allows you to teach in multiengine aircraft.)

In the end, you need to build flight time. Most people if not all who went the civilian route were instructors at one point in time. Like I said, I did it for about 2 years. You can't get on with any airline until you meet their flight time requirements. The regionals like Horizon only a certain amount of flight time. It's 1200 hours of total flight time and 200 hours of multiengine time. How do you get that time? It's the old catch 22. When you get out of training you only have 250 hours. You can't get a job with such low time. But how will you build hours if no one will hire you? For most people the only job you can get with such low time is being a flight instructor. Teach for so long in single and multiengine airplanes and get to the minimums at the particular airline you want to apply for and when you reach that time, apply. Also in this business it's who you know more than what you know. If you have good enough contacts, you might get a big break. It’s happened more than once in this business. If you're in the right place at the right time, doors will swing open for you.

This ought to get you started. Just remember, when you start, ask your CFI lots of questions. Good luck, maybe I'll talk to you on the radio one day. Or maybe you'll be my first officer. Hopefully I will have upgraded to captain by then Any more questions, just shoot.

Temporary_User

An instructor could be a fun job.
I dont know if you guys read any of my other posts in here, but I was also curious on trying to become a HS teacher or something like that. So this could lead me in a similiar job category for a little while.
On a more personnal note about me. I was talking w/ my brother, telling him my ideas on becoming a pilot. He kind of shattered my dream....
In the past I tested out drugs. I wasnt a druggie, I did smoke pot quite a bit, but I also did try coke before and some painkillers.
Of course I dont do anything like that any more. That was when I was back in HS (2 years ago) and now all I do is drink on the weekends (legal here in canada)
Is this a problem? Would I receive a drug test that will show what all I have done before they even let me fly?

iflyadash8

That stuff doesn't stay in your system for the rest of your life. Now, if you got arrested becuase of some drug that you were doing, thats different. As long as you don't have a record you're fine.

cj22009

Temp dont sweat the drug thing that was 2 years ago there looking iff your testing positive now just stay clean now and you dont have any thing to worry about

mrbill700

Hey guys,
I was very delighted to browse through this forum tonight. I am also looking into this field as a career. There are three community colleges that offer aviation assosiate degrees, and all can transfer to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for a masters or bachelors. Any how, what I read here isnt anything new to me. It seems everybody has the same thing to say about this career path. But one thing I havent really read into was going about this through the military. If anyone could enlighten me more about this i would much appreciate it.

crfpilot

I once read somewhere, "the best way to ruin a hobby is to make it a career."

If you just want to fly, you could go to college for something else that will give you a good wage and just fly for fun. I'm sure others have covered it but you don't just start out at a major airline making 6 figures. You will have to struggle, on hotdogs and mac-n-cheese for quite awhile. You will need to build hours and that's expensive!!

iflyadash8

No way could I work a desk job and be a "weekend warrior" just to have a little more stability. My life is in the sky and if I was sitting at a desk I would be home more, but I would be a miserable son of a bitch every day from dealing with some prick boss, office politics and staring at the sky every day wondering "what if." Flying a slow ass putt putt cessna on the weekend will so not satisfy my flying bug. You should have known the work involved with this career before you got into it. I can't stand and I'm tired of people bitching that they hate their jobs and that they wouldn't recommend this career to others. This career is very hard work and the only people who will succeed in it are the people who are dedicated to it and have a passion for it. If you hate it so much GET OUT!!! No one's making you stay.

(Who knows, mabye you're on my seniority list )

mrbill700

iflyadash8

well put

joens1

Check out jetcareers.com The site is ran by a Delta F.O. Excellent source for the aspiring aviator.