I am in the beginning stages of my pilot journey. I’m 21 yrs old. Currently, I am in the military and looking to pursue a career in the majors post military service. I’m enrolled at Embry Riddle studying Aeronautics for my Bachelors. My plan is to finish my degree while I am in and once I get out, begin flight training. I’m still indecisive on which route I would like to take when it comes to completing my flight training. I was made aware that I could only use my GI Bill for a Part 141 school. Any advice or opinions on how I should go about this journey would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Using your GI bennies to pay for flight training is definitely attractive. Here’s the problem, the govt will only give you so much per year which will drag the training out. Airline pilots can earn $350k per year and every year you delay will cost you in earnings and seniority. The question then becomes is it worth saving some money now to sacrifice much more later?
I want to give you a rough breakdown of how 0 time to pilot at Majors works because I want to make sure you have an accurate timeline. From start of training to Majors is 5-7years (under the best circumstances).
Student Pilot to all CFI ratings (9 months - 12 months at ATP)
Instructor and/or Commercial Pilot (12 months - 24 months)
Regional Pilot, FO then CP (2-5 years… at least 3yrs right now).
Majors FO
As for the GI BIll, I do not believe ATP Airline Career Pilot Program is eligible because it is Part 61 flight school.
*edit: Hannah did mention Checkride fees can be reimbursed (I assume you would request signed receipt from examiner).
Only Part 141 flight schools are eligible. If you fly at a University school I believe the yearly cap is lifted some, but at a Part 141 flight school it is capped at $14,000/year. Like Adam said this would lengthen training time significantly.
I would look into the Aviation Career Mentorship page on FB. Use the search function. There are some good posts on there about options for military personnel.
Probably should find a forum with military guys that will show how to do this in the best way. You might have the COOLs program that can help fund training while still in military (if available in your branch). I’m not prior military , this is only from speaking with service members at my flight schools. Almost all of them say the VA is a pain to work with no matter what, so have patience.
You really have to sit down with all your options and then put the puzzle together to see what will work best for you, while taking the least amount of time and within your budget.
You can use your GI Bill benefits with ATP to be reimbursed for the FAA examiner fees ($6,000-7,000), as well as the $3,795 cost of the ATP CTP training for a total reimbursement of over $10,000.
If you decide to enroll in the ACPP to complete your ratings in 9 months, you can apply for a loan to pay for the rest of your program and use the GI bill benefits to deduct 10k from your total loan amount. I know financially it doesn’t sound great, but the 9 month ATP path is over three years faster than the GI Bill route (and that’s not including the fact that you’ll build time faster in your guaranteed flight instructor job here than you will working for other flight schools).
For the reasons mentioned by the other mentors, I would stay away from trying to use GI benefits for flight training, the math just does not work out in your favor. I would put the benefits towards your college degree, which you will need anyways for the major airlines.
Thank you for your response! I would not need to use the GI Bill for my major. It will be already paid for by military tuition assistance by the time I finish, so i would still be eligible for my GI Bill.