Airline Training..... What routes the best?

[meyers9163]

I am currently thinking about changing my career goals and becoming a commercial airline pilot is what I'd be doing. I have no time and no ratings and have been looking into a variety of options. Such as academys and doing my own training at a local air port while finishing up my college degree since I only have 2 years left on it. What would any of you recommend doing as far as a training and programs you'd recommend going to that you PERSONALLY know about (first hand). Some of my options include Delta Connection, Flight Safety, Regional, and Gulfstream Academy to name a few that I'm looking into. Before I unload the money to one of these is this the best route to get into the industry or is there a better way of doing this? I know for a fact I want to be a pilot and fly the rest of my life but I dont want to be paying the loan off the rest of my life either. Any words of advice would be great.

 

[bender]

Go to jetcareers.com and check out each forum for those flight schools. Then give a hard look at ATP, Ari Ben, or Skymates. You can check out www.airmetsierra.com for my experience with ATP.

 

[hmmurdock]

I am currently thinking about changing my career goals and becoming a commercial airline pilot is what I'd be doing. I have no time and no ratings and have been looking into a variety of options. Such as academys and doing my own training at a local air port while finishing up my college degree since I only have 2 years left on it. What would any of you recommend doing as far as a training and programs you'd recommend going to that you PERSONALLY know about (first hand). Some of my options include Delta Connection, Flight Safety, Regional, and Gulfstream Academy to name a few that I'm looking into. Before I unload the money to one of these is this the best route to get into the industry or is there a better way of doing this? I know for a fact I want to be a pilot and fly the rest of my life but I dont want to be paying the loan off the rest of my life either. Any words of advice would be great.

Greetings..

What route is best? Lets see, how about keeping your current profession or job. Have you looked at a paper recently or watched the news?.. The airline industry is not a good place to be right now and I dont reccommend it to anyone. Your first year pay at a regional will be around 19K or so first year. You will make less than 30K for the next couple of years or so. Anyway, upgrade time to captain will be at least 4 years. Not to mention you said you are starting from scratch. It will take you at least 2 years or so to get the regional job to begin with. If you have to do it, do not go to DCA or GA. Also it would be best not to borrow 50 to 75 K to go to these schools in the first place. You will be in debt FOREVER paying off these f-ing loans. If you have PLENTY of cash then it doesnt matter. Good luck on your decision.

Take care

 

[jaywc7]

Greetings..

What route is best? Lets see, how about keeping your current profession or job. Have you looked at a paper recently or watched the news?.. The airline industry is not a good place to be right now and I dont reccommend it to anyone. Your first year pay at a regional will be around 19K or so first year. You will make less than 30K for the next couple of years or so. Anyway, upgrade time to captain will be at least 4 years. Not to mention you said you are starting from scratch. It will take you at least 2 years or so to get the regional job to begin with. If you have to do it, do not go to DCA or GA. Also it would be best not to borrow 50 to 75 K to go to these schools in the first place. You will be in debt FOREVER paying off these f-ing loans. If you have PLENTY of cash then it doesnt matter. Good luck on your decision.

Take care

I agree with hmmurdock...

If it isn't a childhood dream, you might want to reconsider.

However - in my case - I decided when i was about 3 that I was going to be a pilot. Rain, snow or shine,,, lots of debt or no debt,,, good days, bad days, good pay, bad pay,,, nomatter what comes my way - I will be a pilot. That is what I am...

 

[Biatch5]

Tab Express or Gulfstream International are the VERY BEST places for training. Gulfstream for example, I mean I think its a great IDEA to have to DISH OUT $19,000 + in order to get flight time and then at the end of your flight time (you only get 250 hours) you MAY OR MAY NOT have a job with them. HOW GREAT IS THAT!?!?!?

PCL_128 or The Russian can tell you

They sold their souls to those places. Loooooooooooooosers

 

[Biatch5]

If your really serious, just go to your local airport and go to a FBO (Fixed Base Operator) ask questions to the flight instrtuctors, they will give you honest answers and if you are still interested, I say concentrate 110% on your flight training. If you drag your traiing out, you will be spending more money becasue you will not be remembering everything that you do.


Good Luck and stay away from those STUPID PFT schools. I look back at flying magazines and every ad in there is asking for YOUR money to build up flight time and get your ratings...its a joke man. The cheapest route is just going to your local airport and research flightschools in your area. Good Luck

 

[Yank McCobb]

However - in my case - I decided when i was about 3 that I was going to be a pilot. Rain, snow or shine,,, lots of debt or no debt,,, good days, bad days, good pay, bad pay,,, nomatter what comes my way - I will be a pilot. That is what I am...

The DORKY PILOT thread is a couple of pages over....

(Or it's personafied here... http://www.swissperpetual.com/arizona.html )

 

[NTXPilot]

Well, obviously not Tab Express...

Should be a lesson learned here about PFT.

 

[jaywc7]

The DORKY PILOT thread is a couple of pages over....

Hey... You can call me a dork all you want. Atleast it won't ever be a "job" to me though, and you won't ever find me here bitchin' and complaining my life!

 

[DAS at 10/250]

Atleast it won't ever be a "job" to me though

See if you can repeat that a couple of thousand hours and several hundred four am wakeups from now.

 

[jaywc7]

I realize that there will be times I don't care for. I know there will be early days, long flights, time away from home, and all the rest of the crap that goes with the lifestyle. I'm sure I'll have mood swings. I'm sure there will be days that I don't much care for. I understand all this... Regardless though - I'll never badmouth the lifestyle nomatter where it takes me. I'll never regret my decisions. I'll make each day count. I'll do the best I can. If at some point I snap! - then I can be called hippocritical. Until that moment though, I'll continue on with a smile, guns in the air, lovin' it all the way! I may be a fool. But I've got something to believe in, and I won't doubt it until it lets me down.

ok, maybe not guns in the air...

 

[nosehair]

I have no time and no ratings and have been looking into a variety of options. Such as academys and doing my own training at a local air port while finishing up my college degree since I only have 2 years left on it. What would any of you recommend doing as far as a training and programs .

Don't make any decisions about any major programs until you have done some flight training at your local airport. Go get about 10-15 hours and solo before you decide you really wanna do this. In the process of training, you can learn about different programs to advance to a career, but everybody has to start out at learning to solo. Go do it.

 

[jaywc7]

Don't make any decisions about any major programs until you have done some flight training at your local airport. Go get about 10-15 hours and solo before you decide you really wanna do this. In the process of training, you can learn about different programs to advance to a career, but everybody has to start out at learning to solo. Go do it.

I totally agree... When I started flying, it turned out to be nothing like what I always thought it would be. I still loved it, and enjoy it, but it's definately not what I expected. nosehair nailed it!

 

[whaleroast]

Greetings..

What route is best? Lets see, how about keeping your current profession or job. Have you looked at a paper recently or watched the news?.. The airline industry is not a good place to be right now and I dont reccommend it to anyone. Your first year pay at a regional will be around 19K or so first year. You will make less than 30K for the next couple of years or so. Anyway, upgrade time to captain will be at least 4 years. Not to mention you said you are starting from scratch. It will take you at least 2 years or so to get the regional job to begin with. If you have to do it, do not go to DCA or GA. Also it would be best not to borrow 50 to 75 K to go to these schools in the first place. You will be in debt FOREVER paying off these f-ing loans. If you have PLENTY of cash then it doesnt matter. Good luck on your decision.

Take care

This is the truth. My current job is dropping millions of sterile fruit flies out of converted airplanes over Southern California. When it gets hot, the flies get active and sometimes they start swarming into the cockpit, get in your eyes, or your hair. When I dreamed of becoming a pilot, I didn't dream I would ever being doing this. Now, I like my job and all, but this industry is all about "paying your dues" and "networking". If you can stand the low pay and don't saddle yourself with a ton of loans (which you will do if you go to anyone of those schools you mentioned above), then you might be able to gut it out. But you're certainly going to want to have friends in the industry who can help your career along by walking in a resume to a Chief Pilot at some point in the future. And God help you if you're married and/or have children. Especially little ones. You'll never see them.

 

[tataki]

Well why don't you try Tab express

 

[aeronautic1]

Airline Pilots

Since 9/11, ov er 20,000 pilots have been furoughed from the airlines. And the bloodletting is far from over. Add to that lost pension funds, lost benefits and the high alcoholism/divorce percentage, this is a bad choice on your part.

Do not bad mouth PFT. Professional Flight Training at KFXE (954-938-3043) is an outstanding flight school.

Before you take out that $40,000 loan to get most of your ratings (remember you need 1200 hours for ATP), look at the starting salaries at the regionals (the only place you may get an "airline interview," usually in the high teens to low 20s to start.

 

[polysciguy9]

Also get your medical certificate before getting too serious ... I've been working on my private for 9 years now (including a 7 year break in the middle for college and grad school) because the FAA$%holes have take my med twice ... and I'm 24 and perfectly healthy. **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** red tape.