matt112r

Hello all,
After doing some research and taking advice from you wise pilots, I enrolled in a major unrelated to aviation. Next semester I will be a junior in college majoring in finance. The positive side of this is that I will graduate debt free and have something to fall back on, if for whatever reason I would be unable to continue a piloting career. The negative is that my school offers zero aviation related courses. Every time I walk into one of my finance classes I wish I could be working on my PPL or learning about the nitty gritty that make an airplane fly. Don't get me wrong, I do find finance interesting, but I much rather be working towards something that I am truly passionate about. Unfortunately, I will not be able to start flight training straight out of college. The majority of my funds are going towards tuition. I've bombarded my school's career counselors with questions about how I can merge the two paths of finance and commercial pilot, to little avail since they deal with business/finance cases (almost exclusively). Do you have any advice on where I can go from here? I have looked into positions such as one in the finance division of an airline (I am located near JBU HQ), aircraft leasing/financing, aerospace & defense focused investment banking, "above wing" airport crew, and flight attendant. I hope that I won't miss out on this "best time to become an airline pilot" by delaying my flight training for a few years.

Thank you all in advance for taking the time to read and respond. I hope this will help anyone else in a similar situation.

galaxy flyer

Find a Guard/Reserve unit that will send you to UPT flying a mission that interests you.

GF

bedrock

Start cold calling aircraft leasing, fractional, and charter operations. Tell them you are a finance major and aspiring to work in aviation mgmt. Pick their brains. Get an internship lined up approved by your dept. Working in that field will give you a good exposure to aviation, a possible job opportunity in the future and the chance to talk to pilots. The NBAA is a good resource.

https://www.nbaa.org/portals/students/

Also, you can get a list of jet centers in your area and go see them. for example, I pulled this up for Eagle CO,

Eagle County Regional Airport-KEGE-AOPA Airports

matt112r

Thanks for your posts! I've been mulling over the ANG for some time now. It seems like the best option. I appreciate any future posts.

sourdough44

'Junior in college'?? You have all kinds of options, you just need to ACT upon them. The Guard/Reserves is a nice option, with or without the flight training guarantee. Just be sure you know what you'd be signing up for.

I had a close relative who was in a 1st year medical program at a university, just one year ago. After some serious considerations late last Winter he now has his private, is working on his commercial/instrument and transferred to a school offering an aviation program. He got his private last Summer at the home-drome.

Just saying, if it's something you REALLY want, explore what's available.

PRS Guitars

I second the Guard option.

Knock out the degree first. Stick with finance and get the highest paying job that you can. Don't bother trying to get a finance job in aviation. Just pile up as much cash as you can to pay for your training (should you go the civilian route). Keep your day job while you work your way up to CFI, then consider flying full time from there. You don't need aviation classes in college. You'll get all of the ground training that you need when you work on your ratings. Above all be patient.