adams2098

Is this a good idea, should I peruse a career as an Airline pilot when I retire, of just give up hope? I am about 3 years from retirement from the Military, when I retire from the military I will be 40. I have 3 more class till my bachelors degree with Embry Riddle is complete so I will have that under my belt when I retire. I have no PPL or anything to date, looking at a school like ATP since my bachelors degree will be complete to get my certs and hours. What are the real chances of getting hired as a pilot with my background?

willflyforcash

Well, first I would double check that I put the correct spelling of Embry Riddle on my resume.

Haha, Im just giving you heck (expect that on this site!)

Once you get your certificates and build up 1500 hours somehow (instructing for 2 years, pipe line patrol, fire watch etc...) your chances are pretty good. BUT, dont expect it to be a cash cow. You will spend the first 5+ years making between 15K and 40K while instructing and possibly being hired by a regional airline and waiting to upgrade to CA. Once you upgrade to CA, you might make 70K a year but thats many years down the road.

My main point is; Don't do it for the $$$ because its just is not there.

adams2098

Definitely not doing it for the cash, heck I don’t do what I do now for the cash. Great catch on the spelling, not sure how I missed that. Thanks for the advice.

EvilMonkey

I would use your GI bill to get a Master's degree in something far removed from Aviation...

Luv2Rotate

Finish your Degree through ERAU then like said before, use your GI Bill towards your masters in something FAR from aviation.

I love what I do but keep this in mind... If you finish your ratings at ATP you would have in instruct until you have 1500hrs minimum. There's a new bill thats going to require all pilots to have their ATP in order to be hired with any airline.

Also, as a first year FO, your pay isnt the best and you're gonna be commuting, living in a crashpad, eating top ramen and being away from home much of the time. Keep in mind, furlough is always right around the corner.

However, its always a sunny day at work unless you're sitting reserve.

lakehouse

Adams, sounds like a good background for the airline game, age like most careers is against you. If you have any DUIs, arrests, or many speeding tickets, then maybe not. As well as any drug run ins.

Major airlines typically require 3000 to 5000 total time, and usually/currently want 1000 hours of turbine time. However the economic market, and amount of qualified pilots can change this. In the perfect market the major airlines could hire someone with a fresh commercial (till 2012 when a new law comes into effect, talked about below). In a bad economy/conditions, you could see 10 years of no hiring.

You need to read about the airline industry, you will have to work as a regional pilot, typically this is for some time, before going to a major. Many people never make it to a major for various reasons. Right now you need about 1000ttl/100me to get interviewed at a regional. In 2012 it will be 1500ttl due to a change in federal law. When you finish flight school you will have about 250 hours and a commercial license.

To get the flight time needed for a regional you can take the most popular route, which is flight instructing. Otherwise you can try to find a job flying skydivers, towing banners, patroling pipeline, doing traffic watch, and a few misc. other jobs. Most these pay 10-20k/yr. The largest headache with this, is that most jobs like this require you have experience doing it. IE flight instructor jobs usually require 100 hours giving instruction. Or flying skydivers in a single engine piston airplane, usually requires you have time flying skydivers. So it can be a NASTY C22 for many people, and can require some serious effort to track down a job that does not require previous experience. The next problem is that most of these first time jobs provide no chance to get multi engine time, so when you want to get multi engine time, you yet again only find jobs that require you have a bunch of multi engine time. You could go out and fly for fun in a twin engine plane, but that is usually over $200/hr, and at $15,000/year and is not a great option.

All info from your first regional job till major airlines can be found online, and this forums. There is a good synopsis written somewhere about the airline indurstry by a captain, its somewhat old, however it goes pay pay pay, fly fly fly, study study study study, test. If you can find that, it is good.

Any other questions just ask, now is expected to be a good time to be in the industry, because very few people are becoming pilots, and a TON of mainline airline pilots are going to retire over the next 2-10 years, over 50% of them.

One last thing to think about is are you OK with being gone 15days/month for the rest of your life. I am already dealing with this with my girlfriend who is having some difficulty adjusting to the fact that I am interviewing at Regional Airlines, and most likely (fingers crossed) be working at one. She has enjoyed me home every night since she met me, since I have been flying skydivers 10 min down the road.

Good luck.

Rick

ERJF15

If you want it, go get it. I got off of AD after 13 (3 years ago) and for me, the grass has been a little greener. Granted a different shade, but greener. If you want to invest to get stuff done, do it. Knowone can tell you if it's worth it or not, but yourself. However comma it's still not something you can just wake up and decide to do.

If you haven't done so already, sit down and draw up a plan. Remember, it's gonna be expensive.

While on AD turning wrenches, I got everything through commercial out of my own pocket, bachelors, and worked part time flying pipeline. So it took me 7 years to get 1200+.

Good luck!

FlyJSH

Let's do the math:

Three classes for the BS 10,000 (which I would absolutely do... too close not to)

Flight training from 0 hours at ATP 60,000

Let's say to get a part time job to cover food and rent for the year it will take you

So, all up around $70,000.

I am not sure which GI Bill you would be under, but I enlisted about the same time you did. If I recall correctly, I got around $18,000. So, let's subtract that: new total $52,000 (note the rules for flight training different than regular school).

After you finish, you will spend the next year living paycheck to paycheck working as an instructor, or other "time building" job.

Now you are 43ish.

Your first regional job will pay $18-25k, will require you to fly out of the worst base in the system, and will keep you away from home 20 days per month (maybe 25 depending on how bad your commute is).

You will NOT get to a mainline without PIC time (unless you know where the skeletons are). So, IF the 65 retirement really kicks in and IF there have been no items to cripple the industry, you MIGHT be able to upgrade in 3-4 years if you are LUCKY (if unlucky, it could be several more years, but we'll be optimistic).

Now you are 47ish finally making $50-60k. A couple years later, you are competitive for the majors.

Now, you are about 50.


Back to the original cost. You spent 52,000 CASH ten years ago, basically lived hand to mouth for seven years, and have only really been making a decent living the last three years.

On the other hand, let's say you took that 52,000 and invested it making a very modest 7%. In the yen years you worked and just started to have a nest egg, the 52k would have DOUBLED to over 100l! at 10% it is close to 140k. Also, if you took a job today that started at 30k per year (TSA starts at 31) and had a few raises to say 50k, you would have earned around $400,000. In the same period, flying would have maybe earned you $200-300,000.

The net is flying will cost you $200-250,000 in the first ten years. Invest that quarter million at until you are 65 and you would retire with nearly one MILLION dollars more.

(if you take out a loan for the original 52k, the cost MUCH more than doubles. at retirement, the difference is 2.5-3 million)

jgdeleon09

Lets also not forget the 9-11 gi bill, as long as you get your pvt and then go to a college flight training like riddle, or broward college in florida, the 9/11 will pay 100% of training, that's how I got mine, so your only debt might be 7k or 10k insted of 80k.

FlyJSH

yeah, as I understand it that is IF one goes through a whole Bachelors degree AND the flight instruction.


Again, YOU need to look at what YOUR GI billl offers