23 years old, looking for a fulfilling carrier in aviation

Airline Pilot Questions & Answers
1

Hello everyone, My name is Kyle and I am 23 years old and graduated from college last year with a business degree. Since graduation I have worked a 9-5 in sales. I have found myself desiring a certain fulfillment in my career that I have not been finding within what I am currently doing. I honestly did not think of other options outside of sales at the time of graduation and for the past few months I have done some hard thinking on it that I should of earlier.

I have always considered a career in aviation as a pilot in the back of my mind, but never new where to start. I am a navigation geek and can look at maps and routes all day. I just always just figured this was the kind of occupation you were born into or grew up learning over time until of recent. I have been doing research around where to start and what exactly will be required overtime the last couple of months. I recently had the opportunity to see my Uncle for the first time in several years this past weekend, who was a long time pilot at a major airline, and just hearing him talk about his career and how much he loved it pushed me to start looking into this seriously. One of those kind of events I don’t think was by chance.

I created an account on ATP this week and am looking now to schedule an admissions flight. I saw that ATP had a school location at Lunken Field in Cincinnati. I know becoming a pilot is difficult and requires a lot of work, so I am taking this one step at a time before I commit myself 110% as I like to do everything I put my mind to.

So given my circumstance I do have a few questions:

Just to clarify my admissions flight is the first step? Will I need to do anything outside of this to get to this step? Medical tests? Prescreening? Also, I submitted my name online and am waiting for an email response, is there anything else I should be doing to get this booked?

If I decide to get my private pilot’s license will I be able to commit myself to achieving this and still working at my full time job? Or will it require my full attention all day? I am 23 so I have some money saved up for rent and expenses, but I am far from a millionaire lol. I am assuming if I decide to go further than private pilot’s license I will need to commit all my time to just that?

Any other general advice, tips, or stories would be greatly appreciated. I am a sponge for information right now.

Thank you!

2

Kyle,

You will need to complete the online Admissions Flight Learning module prior to your Admissions Flight. Preview Student Online Modules / ATP Flight School / ATP Flight School…
After your flight, if you decide to proceed with the program, you’ll then need to secure financing and get a First Class Medical.

If you decide to get your PPL on your own, you can work. Keep in mind training locally part-time is often very expensive and frustrating. Successful flight training depends heavily on consistency which can be very difficult to achieve training at your local flight school. The only time we recommend getting your PPL outside of ATP is if you’re not certain flying is what you really want to do or aren’t ready to commit 100% to the training. If you decide to continue with ATP (starting with or without your PPL), you will not be able to work.

The only advice I have at this point is to take the Admissions Flight. While many people believe they want to fly, until you actually go up in a small training airplane you really won’t know if it’s really for you.

Adam

3

Thanks for the advice. Very appreciative! I will look at getting my admissions flight booked and give an update.

4

Kyle,

The best and only thing you should be doing right now is figuring out if you enjoy flying enough to make it a career. You might not feel strongly enough to commit after one 60 min intro flight and thats okay! I flew 17 hours before I felt like I had a realistic picture of how much work it would take, what my days would be like and how much I really enjoyed it.

Once you decide you’re ready to jump in head first then you can get going on the first steps like Adam mentioned, getting your medical and financing approved. Once you complete all the enrollment steps you can secure a start date.

One thing I have to double back on, please do not try and work while doing ATP’s program. It is HIGHLY discouraged. It is a full time, accelerated, airline career pilot program. It needs to be your one and only priority for the 7 months you’re in training.

Hannah

5

Thanks for the advice Hannah. That’s my mindset right now is just to take it on step at a time. I will keep you posted on how my admissions flight goes. Thanks again!