So, now, an aviation degree, along with women's studies, is not a "real" degree?? Baloney, Yip. Any degree, as long as it comes from an accredited college, is a "real" degree. I'll bet your house is always freshly-pained and your lawn freshly-mowed. The point being is there is no shortage of aspirees trying this strategy. There are only so many houses to be painted and lawns to be mowed in exchange for flight time. I'd be careful about giving/receiving this kind of advice. The time may not be legally loggable. Insurance requirements may preclude "riders." Moreover, these opportunities, in reality, are few and far between.You don't know that for sure, because dozens of others try the same strategy. What about the other jobs in which more education than high school is being sought? Without that education, those folks are SOL. Moreover, how many companies will hire some 19-year-old with a thousand hours to drive around its turbine airplane. Not many.That is the key.
Nothing is guaranteed. Aviation has turned out to be a dead-end for so many people. Better to have
credentials, so as to improve one's chances.
I had numerous colleagues at ERAU who earned their
Aeronautical Science degree there, were hired as instructors after they graduated, only instructed, and were hired by the regionals almost as soon as they hit 1500-2000 hours with the appropriate amount of multi. By the way, Yip, they were hired with instructing time only and not "TJPIC." Did I not mention that the four-year degree came in the package. Substitute Purdue, U.N.D., Southeast Oklahoma State U., etc., for ERAU and the story is the same.
Or else,
MAPD. I don't care especially for Mesa as a company, but the program works and you don't have to stay there forever. It potentially gets one into the right seat of
TJ equipment at 300 hours. An A.S.
degree is part of that program. You can move on as soon as you build enough Part 121 "TJPIC" appropriate to your next job.