Tpinks

Community College of Beaver County. I was a in-state and in-county resident so tuition was very low. Maybe 2-3 grand total. I had also taken classes at night while still in high school, which was paid for by my school.

$130/hr for a 172R
Arrow was $170ish/hr
Seminole was $300/hr.
Instructor was $32/hr on top of that.

A 172 plus instructor for 190hrs is little under 31K at those rates. Since you won't be flying with an instructor every single hour, that will put you under 30K. That's pt141 bare mins. So yes, 30k is a lowball estimate as I didn't add tuition into that number, but definitely under 40k.

I also forgot to mention because I was an instate student I did have a state sponsored discount on rentals. This allowed me to fly the Seminole during my normal commercial training and essentially double dip and knock out two birds with one stone. I could have taken my commercial ride at 205 hours, but I ended up switching to pt61 because the 141 syllabus didn't call for the multi at that point. I also had access to a Cessna 150 and Mooney in which I paid 15$/hr plus fuel to fly. I used those planes for the difference of hours between 141 mins and 61.

All together though, my loans were under 35K. Now this was in the 2011 time period, so tuition may have gone up, but I know the aircraft rentals are relatively the same.

Either way, there are plenty of ways to train for less than 65K. Looking back if I could do it over again, I would have went out and bought a 150 and flown the crap off of it and then sell it once I was done.

TJBrass

The thing the RJET pilot group should be worried about is the time when the Rev can't find enough kids to make his puppy mill financially self sustaining and the repercussions start to make their way into the next contract period. "Sorry, we'd like to increase to compensation, but the flight school is struggling and, well... you know.."

fortyeight

Bingo.

If Republic was smart (haha) they would have focused their energy on making RAH the best regional of choice. Not by selling out their current pilot group (thanks 357, also) in an effort to sucker prospective pilots in to flying YX metal in 3 years.

Other regional CBA’s are catching up, basing isn’t an outstation nightmare, quicker upgrade times, defined career paths, etc. But hey... at least we’re the largest 170 fleet in the US! BEST

aperfcrcle

everybody take some time and thank a YES voter for this joyous day

sflpilot

Going to community college is a great idea and it does not have to be in aviation. I know in Florida if you graduate from a community college with a minimum GPA you are guaranteed admission to a state university to finish the BS/BA. This saves a lot of money. Absolutely the best way to go these days is get an IFR 152 and find and independent instructor. You would only be renting a handful of single complex and multi engine hours. Do your CFI initial as an instrument in your 152. And then it’s just a handful of hours in a single complex for the CFI single-engine add on. So now you just got your training without paying for flight school overhead and greed. You then sell the aircraft and go get a job at Bedford’s little funny farm and walk in to republic when you hit 1500. You then start applying to LCC’s and mainline with a four year degree in hand.

SoFloFlyer

I second this! A lot of community colleges offer BS/BA degree so with about 15k, you’ll have a bachelors in something. Your CFI initial can be done in a 172 so no need to do your CFII as your initial. I’m getting my licenses and ratings plus a two year degree in aviation and a four year degree in business for just under 50k. Be smart, but if LIFT is the only way to go, go for it.

Cyio

For now. That’s likely to change soon.

Bonanzer

Right.....

takingmessages

I won't argue with this logic, I have (for the most part) trained in my own airplanes.
With that said, I had an engine failure (and subsequent engine rebuilt) within 10 hours of buying my first airplane.


It was a major emergency (right on top of the downtown of a major city) with a happy ending.


Long story short, it ended up being what I call 'the best bad luck I ever had'.
It also was the day (I think) that I used up all my alloted luck, so now I thread *CAREFULLY* ...



Nothing comes without a risk...

sflpilot

For those that wouldn’t have enough money to go all the way to CFI at LIFT and don’t want a loan with Bedford. I have a solution for them to be able to build their time. Bedford could get the authorization letter from the FAA to do sightseeing tours around Indy and the guys with just their commercial would fly them. Then they could be seen taxiing around IND with paintjobs that say LIFT tours the wholly owned general aviation subsidiary of Republic Airline. If he wants to enter the GA market he might as well go all the way.