Airline FA to FO

Airline Pilot Questions & Answers
1

Hi,

I’m currently a flight attendant for a mainline airline that is offering pilot training. I’m currently 30 years old. I don’t have a husband or kids. I do have a bachelors degree not related to aviation. I wanted to know would it be best to go through my airline or through a private agency like this one. Their training would take about 3-4 years of completion and over $100K, whereas here and others is a few months and <90K. My airline is providing FO status and flying the Airbus and guaranteed rehiring upon completion of training where as here id have to still finish the required hours after training and apply for regional which is 3-6years.

Does the timeframe eventually equal to about the same as far as income/status is concerned?

2

Ivori,

While your airline’s proposal doesn’t sound bad, 3-4yrs is a long time and a lot of seniority lost. Further ATP now has direct entry programs to both Spirit and Frontier which would not only bypass the Regionals, it would get you to a Major in under 3yrs.

Additionally, while you may want to return to your current airlines, by going with ATP you’re not tied to anyone and are free to explore other (better?) options.

Adam

3

Hi Adam,

Is the training still under 1yr and financially does it make sense to do all of it at once (outside of flight attending) or doing it part time with flight attending?

4

Ivori,

The training is 7mos and its full-time. There’s a reason the airlines and the military train full-time. It’s because it’s effective.

You can of course train part-time (not with ATP) but many find it more expensive and frustrating.

There’s a reason ATP had over 1200 grads hired by airlines in the last 12 mos alone.

Adam

5

Last question, is the apprenticeship/flight instructor role paid? How did others support themselves when doing the training full time?

6

Ivori,

Flight instructing is not an internship, it’s an entry level job.

During training most people either tap into savings or take out additional funds in their loan for living expenses.

Adam

7

Hi Adam,

Thank you so much for your time and responses I truly appreciate it! I’m going to ask more thorough questions with the CIP from my company to see what their technicalities are. So far I like ATP. I’ll keep you updated.

8

Ivori,

I have known many flight attendants to make the switch from the back of the airplane to the front. The one thing that I almost always notice is a desire to hold onto the flight attendant position for as ling as possible in the thought that it will somehow help them gain employment as a pilot. This is false thinking. While I am sure JetBlue will appreciate you years of service as a FA, at the end of the day, they are hiring pilots and that means flight time and experience as a pilot. At some point one has to take that leap of faith, quit the FA job and work to become a pilot.

On another note, I would not be concerned with the guaranteed rehiring provision of the training they are offering. Please do not take this the wrong way, but JetBlue is not considered a top tier airline, they are struggling to hire qualified pilots and are frequently losing pilots to the likes of American, Delta, United, etc. If you did well in training, regardless of where you do it at, and build the necessary flight time, they should be eager to look at you for employment.

Chris