Career building struggles

Flyman2297

Filing Flight Plan
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Flyman2297
Hey looking for some advice on colleges to go to that can get me to an airline career level. I’ve been looking at this ATP school. It’s not an actual college but was wondering what you all thought. I’m not a very intelligent person Books wise So schooling in general is rough. I know most airlines require a degree though so what’s an easy degree u might recommend. Merry Christmas thanks.
 

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First of all welcome. For starters this isn't the best board to seek career advice on as we are in large hobby fliers here. Second of all I suggest you at least do a little research on your own. The topics of flight schools has been covered in so much detail and debate that you could miss spell ATP and fall into a well of information. Doing a little research will also help prepare you for college. On that topic, having a 4 year degree isn't required as much as it once was however, there are a ton of pilots applying to the airlines right now and anything you can do to make your self stand out is a positive.

Only other cautionary advice is that in 4 years the market can change drastically! They are hiring like mad right now and come next election season there is likely to be a big dip in the economy and they are going to be over staffed to the gills. I would suggest not going into 70k of debt through ATP. Buy you a cheap airplane and a free lance cfi or find a club to join. Better yet go to a college that has an aviation program and do both concurrently or join the military.
 
I didn’t do ATP myself, but a friend of mine did. They are good at what they do, which is to churn out pilots at a high rate. You said you’re “not a very intelligent person books wise”, which may or may not be true or just a lack of confidence. From what I’ve heard about ATP, they expect you to study hard on your own time, and fly as much as possible. That’s how’s they go zero to hero in just a few months.

If you go local, it will take longer (and potentially have less financing options), but depending on your learning style, it may be a better fit for you. I know it was for me. It will also likely be cheaper in the end.
 
I’ve been trying to find answers as where to go but the list is endless. I know there’s a quite a few different types planes u have to fly to become atp. A lot of colleges have flying as a sort of side thing to get u to private pilot and stops there . But that’s not the hard/expensive part. It’s the getting the 1500 hours with the different crafts As far as I’ve learned. I guess with this forum I’m hoping to weed out those colleges For that atp one tho because I have little college cred Id have to go into it with a private pilot bringing costs down a bit. Correct me if I’m wrong on anything. For tis I just be a simple person
First of all welcome. For starters this isn't the best board to seek career advice on as we are in large hobby fliers here. Second of all I suggest you at least do a little research on your own. The topics of flight schools has been covered in so much detail and debate that you could miss spell ATP and fall into a well of information. Doing a little research will also help prepare you for college. On that topic, having a 4 year degree isn't required as much as it once was however, there are a ton of pilots applying to the airlines right now and anything you can do to make your self stand out is a positive.

Only other cautionary advice is that in 4 years the market can change drastically! They are hiring like mad right now and come next election season there is likely to be a big dip in the economy and they are going to be over staffed to the gills. I would suggest not going into 70k of debt through ATP. Buy you a cheap airplane and a free lance cfi or find a club to join. Better yet go to a college that has an aviation program and do both concurrently or join the military.
 
To be clear, ATP isn't a college. You aren't going to earn a degree there. You are going to pay a premium to knock your ratings out asap. If you go to a real college (which you should) you will have a minimum of 4 years to get your ratings. Schools like Embry Riddle, UND, etc. offer 4 year degrees in aviation as well as flight training to prepare you for a ATP career. You will also get the benefit of reduced ATP requirements to help you land a job quicker.

Better yet, join the airforce, navy, marines and let uncle Sam pay you and teach you.
 
You're asking the wrong question. As you were told in your other thread, if you're going into professional aviation, the best thing you can do is have a solid plan B. Degrees are expensive. Getting a degree you in something you have zero interest in pursuing is a bad investment. If there comes a day when you can't fly or when you decide you no longer want to fly, having a degree in finance doesn't help you much if for you if you have zero interest in working in finance. Figure out what you you'll want to do or what field you'll want to work in if you can't fly and get a degree that helps you with that.

As for you colleges, pretty much any college with a professional aviation program will be able to get you your commercial, instrument and multi tickets. None of them will get you ATP in the program itself. You get commercial instrument and multi tickets and possibly the CFI or CFII certs and then you get a job and build time. Best bet is to find a time building job someplace that will be willing to get you an ATP ride in something once you get the hours.

But the most important thing you can do is figure out your plan B and let that dictate how you do you plan A.
 
From what I gather, flying for the airlines will require constant studying throughout your career. Rules, procedures, prepping for check rides, upgrades, etc. If you don’t like studying then look into another field. It isn’t just bank and yank flying by seat of your pants.
 
Option 1a: Fast / Low Cost Option: Don't Need To Become A CFI, Won't Get You Into The Big Airlines
Get your Private, Instrument and Commerical out of your own pocket and/or with loans via a Part 141 school
The 141 School does not need to be any type of college.
Go fly pipelines for about 1.5yrs and you'll have your 1500hrs.
You'll get paid while flying.
Use that money to get your HP, Complex, Commercial, Multi or putting a dent into the loans.

Option 1b: Similar To 1a
Follow 1a but switch somewhere around 700hrs (perhaps under 1yr) to a small operator
Fly right seat in a smaller plane (King Air???)
Build time via right seat
The pay should be better than the pipeline gig but you might not build as many hours per week
The small operator might pay you a bonus but also lock you in with them for a while

......the options above get you to the hours the soonest while minimizing your out of pocket costs. You probably won't have much of a life with all the flying but you'll be getting to the 1500 magic number faster....BUT....you won't have a 2yr or 4yr degree. Maybe, if college just isn't your thing, you could continue with smaller operators and build up to something corporate vs airlines.
 
Another thing to consider, there are plenty of people living a good life working for the commuter airlines their whole career. You reach seniority very quickly which allows for a great schedule. You can easily make over 100k a year at a regional airline which doesn't require a degree. Everyone wants to fast track it to the majors but if you aren't paycheck chasing there are lots of rewarding well paying flying careers in the 135, part 91, and commuter 121 ops.
 
looking for some advice on colleges to go to that can get me to an airline career level.

RUN AWAY WHILE YOU STILL CAN..!!!

Just yankin' yore chain, bud.

Any degree will open doors. Flight hours open the doors to the airline level.

And there are a lot of other options besides airlines.

I had aspirations to go to an airline, but along the way I came to a fork in the road so I took it. Never regretted it.

I suggest a non-aviation degree as a fall back if for some reason the flying gig fails.
 
ATP is the McDonald's of flight training. Well minus it's McDonalds but at a French bistro price point.

Don't get a BS in BS, if you're going to bother with a degree, though they are becoming less and less important for many jobs, get one that has a good ROI on its own, lots of trade schools with good programs that can lead to a degree for less $$.
 
Another thing to consider, there are plenty of people living a good life working for the commuter airlines their whole career. You reach seniority very quickly which allows for a great schedule. You can easily make over 100k a year at a regional airline which doesn't require a degree. Everyone wants to fast track it to the majors but if you aren't paycheck chasing there are lots of rewarding well paying flying careers in the 135, part 91, and commuter 121 ops.

This will be self limiting here in a couple of years as the economy tanks again. Remember, the regionals go through more churn than the majors due to the hired help nature to their contracts, so being a regional lifer as a non retiree from another career is generally a poor bet if you're merely accepting the paycut for supposedly good schedules. Those get pulled from under you to a much greater degree than major airlines (furloughs notwithstanding).

As to part 135 part 91, ill take your word for it. The opportunities are there but they seem exceedingly scarce.
 
This will be self limiting here in a couple of years as the economy tanks again. Remember, the regionals go through more churn than the majors due to the hired help nature to their contracts, so being a regional lifer as a non retiree from another career is generally a poor bet if you're merely accepting the paycut for supposedly good schedules. Those get pulled from under you to a much greater degree than major airlines (furloughs notwithstanding).

As to part 135 part 91, ill take your word for it. The opportunities are there but they seem exceedingly scarce.

135/91 is scarce? News to me.
 
135/91 is scarce? News to me.

I'm guessing he means ones that pay 6 figures not quantity of jobs available. Just search Indeed for pilot jobs. There are a crap ton of corporate jet jobs out there.
 
I'm guessing he means ones that pay 6 figures not quantity of jobs available. Just search Indeed for pilot jobs. There are a crap ton of corporate jet jobs out there.

Again, news to me

Lots of 135/91 jobs in PJP and the like that pay six figures.
 
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