Flight school more worth it than college?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1
Best way to best jobs is starting as a military flier. And definitely get a degree first regardless.

Military will pay for both and you'll be a better pilot. I worked in aviation and I will always choose to fly with ex-military. Better training and they're selected for temperament and intelligence. That's why they make up the bulk of the higher paying commercial jobs and will always be preferred in those positions. Civilian flight school can get you a job flying the dirty bird from Trenton to Morgantown, but it's not a direct path to the bigger jobs.

They most assuredly are not. I'm a former Navy pilot, and that is not how the selection process works. But the Navy does have the best flight training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What, no? Pilots get paid nothing and burn out very quickly.

Median pilot salaries is closer to $200k.

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/Transportation-and-Material-Moving/Airline-and-commercial-pilots.htm

It depends too..there are other things you can get into where pilots can easily crack $300, 400, even 500k+.

Name them.

--spouse of a pilot

If you are willing to live internationally, long-haul captains can pull in $300-500k from Asian airlines. Asia pays top primo dollars.

No it isn't. It's much less than half. There just aren't enough military pilots, and not everyone wants to go from military to airline. Defense industry is full of ex pilots, and lots of the military pilots who flew helos don't transition to fixed wing.

Long haul is mostly former Navy and Air Force. The places hiring out of flight school are regional carriers who don't pay very much

[Anonymous]

The military will train him for free.

There are a lot of private schools where he can get flight training in lieu of the military.

Pilots that work for the commuter airlines have fairly low pay.

There is an extreme shortage of pilots right now. I believe Netjets is in the process of hiring several hundred more pilots.

[Anonymous]

Go to the Air Force academy.

Does he have time to bolster his grades, sports, and leadership? And get a Cessna pilots license?

[Anonymous]

I believe United has set up their own flight school allowing for direct entry, if your child isn't planning on spending four years and a hundred thousand dollars for a degree whose average recipient has an IQ of 103.

https://unitedaviate.com/

[Anonymous]

How much should you spend at average for a flight education?

[Anonymous]

Might've been too late to ask since this was a year later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1
Best way to best jobs is starting as a military flier. And definitely get a degree first regardless.

Military will pay for both and you'll be a better pilot. I worked in aviation and I will always choose to fly with ex-military. Better training and they're selected for temperament and intelligence. That's why they make up the bulk of the higher paying commercial jobs and will always be preferred in those positions. Civilian flight school can get you a job flying the dirty bird from Trenton to Morgantown, but it's not a direct path to the bigger jobs.

They most assuredly are not. I'm a former Navy pilot, and that is not how the selection process works. But the Navy does have the best flight training.

Agree military gives the best flight training. But you need a degree (preferably in aviation) and that have to select you to be a pilot. They have some pretty exacting criteria in regards to medical examination. Something as seemly benign as not having the right arm length range can disqualify you from passing flight physical. If not military, he needs to attend a college with a 4 yr aviation degree

[Anonymous]

I was at the JetBlue training facility on Monday. One of the instructors told me they just had a new pilot come on with 1800 hours of mostly single engine flight instruction. No college degree and no turbine time. The only dual engine time was for his certification

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The military will train him for free.

There are a lot of private schools where he can get flight training in lieu of the military.

Pilots that work for the commuter airlines have fairly low pay.

There is an extreme shortage of pilots right now. I believe Netjets is in the process of hiring several hundred more pilots.

Actually, pilots who work for commuter airlines are making quite good money now. A relative makes $175k working the minimal flight hours at a commuter. She had a huge pay increase a couple of years ago, and she plans to move to the majors once her youngest is in school, which will result in a meaningful pay increase. In the case of my relative, she got a BA at a state school in an unrelated field while she got her license, mostly as a backup in case someday she can't fly. Her parents paid for both.

[Anonymous]

An American Airlines recruiter came to our high school aviation program last week. He has people under age 30 making close to $300k a year at the moment. There is huge money in aviation at the moment. However there can always be ups and downs. Medical issues, black swan events, economic problems can bring a career to a halt very quickly. Best to get a college degree from an aviation college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was at the JetBlue training facility on Monday. One of the instructors told me they just had a new pilot come on with 1800 hours of mostly single engine flight instruction. No college degree and no turbine time. The only dual engine time was for his certification

That is frightening. Yikes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1
Best way to best jobs is starting as a military flier. And definitely get a degree first regardless.

Military will pay for both and you'll be a better pilot. I worked in aviation and I will always choose to fly with ex-military. Better training and they're selected for temperament and intelligence. That's why they make up the bulk of the higher paying commercial jobs and will always be preferred in those positions. Civilian flight school can get you a job flying the dirty bird from Trenton to Morgantown, but it's not a direct path to the bigger jobs.

They most assuredly are not. I'm a former Navy pilot, and that is not how the selection process works. But the Navy does have the best flight training.

Agree military gives the best flight training. But you need a degree (preferably in aviation) and that have to select you to be a pilot. They have some pretty exacting criteria in regards to medical examination. Something as seemly benign as not having the right arm length range can disqualify you from passing flight physical. If not military, he needs to attend a college with a 4 yr aviation degree

What? Lol. No. None of this is true.

- former airline pilot and military officer, current CFI

[Anonymous]

If all your son wants to do is fly and doesn’t care about the type of aircraft, I’d suggest Army Warrant Officer, “high school to flight school” program OP.

[Anonymous]

NP and haven't read all the replies but I recall that Frontier Airlines offers a program where they train you to fly--train you to be a pilot, and then you work for them.