looking to go to school

M

mrpilot

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Messages
3
Display Name
Display name:
mrpilot
Can someone please recommend a good flight school that will train me to become a commercial pilot? Or does anyone know of airline that will train to become a pilot? Any advise will be greatly appreciated?
 
Unless you consider the USAF's Air Mobility Command an "airline" (and that's sort of a special case anyway), no US airlines will train you from scratch -- that's primarily a European thing, and it's highly competitive. As for US schools that will train you at your own expense, there are a myriad of choices. Where are you? How old are you? What's your educational background? Full-time or part-time training?
 
I am 36 and in NJ but willing to relocate. I never finished college but did attend a IT tech school graduated at the top of my class. I would consider going either depending on how long and where the training is.. Thank you for the information...
 
Last edited:
Adding to Ron's questions: Do you have 100% of the funds required for training already saved up? Have you done the full research into what the total cost might be by the time you are hired by a regional? Have you done the full research that the glamour idea of flying for the airlines is larger than the actual starting pay you will get from the first airline jobs?
 
Get your private at a local field and then decide if its really for you.
 
I'm curious. Say 100% of the training and living expense funding was there, how much calendar time is needed to go from zero hours to eligible for hire by the regionals? 2 years?
 
mrpilot said:
I am 36 and in NJ but willing to relocate. I never finished college but did attend a IT tech school graduated at the top of my class. I would consider going either depending on how long and where the training is.. Thank you for the information...
Click to expand...

What are your goals? Sorry for being blunt, but considering your age, time to positive economic returns would be my most important consideration. I don't think commercial aviation fulfills that in any meaningful capacity in less than 10 years. You're not 21 anymore.

Now if you're independently wealthy and just want a neat-o job to play with for a couple of years and get the 'I was an airline pilot... for a bit' experience T-shirt, there's plenty of part 141 schools in the country that can get you zero-to-CFI for the low low price of $50K and 6-9 months of your time. Then about 3 more years of making circa 30-40K as a CFI, then on to your dream job making 20K as a regional FO, most likely commuting to reserve. Do you have a family? They might want to know these particulars as well...
 
AggieMike88 said:
I'm curious. Say 100% of the training and living expense funding was there, how much calendar time is needed to go from zero hours to eligible for hire by the regionals? 2 years?
Click to expand...
I think that's about right, maybe a bit more to get the necessary 500 hours.
 
mrpilot said:
I am 36 and in NJ but willing to relocate. I never finished college but did attend a IT tech school graduated at the top of my class. I would consider going either depending on how long and where the training is.. Thank you for the information...
Click to expand...
I guess you're not looking for one of the collegiate programs. There are several full-time, in residence flight schools specializing in preparing folks for the airlines. These include Flight Safety, Aerosim (formerly Delta Connection), PanAm (not part of the old Pan American Airways), ATP, and others you can find on the internet. These schools have various financing options available.

Note that while these folks can get you to the regionals, if you want to advance to the major air carriers, you should probably complete your bachelor's degree at an accredited university while you're doing your flight training or flying for a regional.
 
And if you're hoping to go to the Majors you're going to need a college degree as a requirement, and I believe most regionals have it as a qualification as well but not positive about that. I've heard of a few programs that airlines offer that hire you as a CFI at certain FBOs and when you have enough hours you'll be hired. American Airlines just started one called their "Pipeline Program" but you have to get to be a CFI first and into the program second.
 
The university here (Purdue) offers a flight degree, where you get the ratings and a college degree on top of that. The only issue is that you will need to be doing something flight related for the degree to be marketable to employers--there's no fallback option. So choose wisely. One downside is that at your age, you would be in such a program with a bunch of people 15 years younger than you.

I'd relocate out of NJ to a cheaper part of the country before making such a fiscally deleterious move. Pursuing ratings will deplete your financial resources.
 
mrpilot said:
I am 36 and in NJ but willing to relocate. I never finished college but did attend a IT tech school graduated at the top of my class. I would consider going either depending on how long and where the training is.. Thank you for the information...
Click to expand...

Do you have something in the neighborhood of $50k to plunk down for training? That is about what ab initio flight training (Google it) goes for. That and about two years to train and build hours. Is that what you want recommendations on?
 
Not very popular on this board, but Embry Riddle in Daytona Beach is one of the best. But it is expensive.

I agree that you should first get your PPL at a private field and see if it is really for you. It might not be as glamorous or as lucrative as you believe. But if it is your passion then you have to try. Good luck. And welcome to POA.
 
The problem with the collegiate programs for the OP is that he apparently has a lot of college done but no flying. Since it takes four years to go through the full flying course in the collegiate programs, that seems suboptimal to me. One of the full-time flight schools combined with an accredited on-line degree program in his spare time seems a better solution for his situation, especially at age 36.
 
Headspace said:
The university here (Purdue) offers a flight degree, where you get the ratings and a college degree on top of that. The only issue is that you will need to be doing something flight related for the degree to be marketable to employers--there's no fallback option. So choose wisely. One downside is that at your age, you would be in such a program with a bunch of people 15 years younger than you.

I'd relocate out of NJ to a cheaper part of the country before making such a fiscally deleterious move. Pursuing ratings will deplete your financial resources.
Click to expand...

I guess that might be a factor for some folks. I am in A&P school with adults over 40 years younger than me. No problemo.
 
alfadog said:
I guess that might be a factor for some folks. I am in A&P school with adults over 40 years younger than me. No problemo.
Click to expand...


I take you are going for fun? I had a couple older students in my class back then. It was refreshing to have their point of view instead of the usual "where are we getting drunk Friday night" mindset that hovers around the younger crowd.
 
bnt83 said:
I take you are going for fun? I had a couple older students in my class back then. It was refreshing to have their point of view instead of the usual "where are we getting drunk Friday night" mindset that hovers around the younger crowd.
Click to expand...

I retired from civil/environmental engineering and am rebooting as a CFI. Not sure where the A&P will come in, minimally to work on my own stuff. George T Baker in Miami has such a fantastic and cheap program that it would be a crime for me not to take advantage of it.
 
Ron Levy said:
I guess you're not looking for one of the collegiate programs. There are several full-time, in residence flight schools specializing in preparing folks for the airlines. These include Flight Safety, Aerosim (formerly Delta Connection), PanAm (not part of the old Pan American Airways), ATP, and others you can find on the internet. These schools have various financing options available.
Click to expand...

Add US Aviation Group at my local field (KDTO) to your list. While they have a heavy focus on Asian students, there are a few round eyes in the mix. And they do offer student housing.
 
Thank you for all the information, it's a great help and lots to think about.
 
I got my commercial-multi-instrument done for about $45k at Skywalk inc in sac. and you can pay as you go there without penalty. some places will charge more for that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top