How to get someone else to pay for your type rating...

[Jack C-137]

So I don't have any intention of becoming a professional pilot but as I research places to do my instrument rating I do see the "projected" or "estimate" costs for going commercial and higher... astronomical.

My question is- how do people get type ratings? Those seem to be ludicrously expensive. Like ruin your future expensive. Do professional pilots go out and get type rated in a gulfstream and then go looking for someone to pay them to fly it? That seems incredibly risky. Do professional pilots just fly a ton of quality hours in smaller aircraft that don't need type ratings and then they get trained by their next employer on whatever type of big plane they have there?

Is it a bit of both? What's the split then?

Again, just curious.

 

[MauleSkinner]

Most of the time for pro pilots it’s paid for by the employer. A small percentage pay for their own for various reasons.

 

[RyanB]

Majority of the time, the employer will pay for the type. Pilots don’t make enough to justify getting a type without first having a job in it.

 

[James331]

The employer pays for it.

Think the employer paying for OJT is pretty standard across industries.

 

[Plano Pilot]

All 4 of mine were paid for by the employer. Some pilots, I have flown with, got theirs in the right seat program with CAE. In that program you are paid little or nothing. After ground school, some sim training, and a lot of sitting right seat in the sim, you get a PIC type. Most pilots then need 25 hours with a PIC qualified pilot to fly that airplane PIC.