I’m currently in the Air Force and have roughly two years left. My original plan was to use my go bill and enroll at a local university that offers an Aerospace degree and all of the ratings required to go to the Airlines. But now I’m torn because ATP should be able to get me there faster but will be more expensive. Is it worth it to get to the Airlines a year or two early with the debt or save a ton but get there later?
Sean,
Senior airline captain at the major airlines can easily make $300k per year, so do the math based on that. Beyond just the money, everything in the airlines is based on seniority. Days off, schedules, flight routes, vacation, everything. A year or two can make a huge difference.
A further example is when Continental furloughed (laid off) pilots back in 2008. I was not laid off, but those that were hired just a few months behind me were and were out for several years before the airline called them back.
Chris
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Sean,
Bottom line up front - it’s all depending on a hundred variables.
However, I would recommend that, if you have not done so already, use your remaining time in the USAF to kill off a basic A.A. or A.S. I believe the moderators are pretty firmly on the side of getting into the right seat ASAP with an almost “Damn the expense” logic since you will have exponential growth in income due to the seniority that you’d be building. Speaking from experience, funding any kind of schooling looks like a mountain of debt and is scary. I’d recommend looking at the downstream income potential you get from the training…and that $85K, which looks massive now will look like money VERY well spent in about 10 years time. You’d use your GI Bill to pay for a bachelor completion program (online or mix of in-class/online) later so you can get hired at the large “legacy” airlines where the big money is.
Of course what has not been discussed is your age, if you LOVE flying or if this is just a cool-looking job that will hopefully get you rich, your likely ability to get and keep a Class 1 Physical, how much debt you’d be carrying with you (credit cards, car loans) into training, if you have a family to support or if its just you…etc. I’m a spreadsheet/budgeting nerd and have worked it over and over plugging in various things like “What if my wife gets fired, can we still make ends meet?” and “What if the airline industry has a downturn and my income is only 60% of what I’m projecting?” etc.
The title of you post is University or ATP…I can find very few University programs that have the track record of getting people into jobs rapidly. I’d also like to use my GI Bill to pay for flight training, but if I do this it’ll be with ATP. I’ve been in the military a long time and if there is one thing we do well it’s condense a ton of training into well-organized courses and then make people focus on that training almost exclusively to just get it done quick and make it stick (think of boot camp, tech school, SERE etc.). Why spread a year of pilot training (watering it down) over three or four years? ATP uses a military-like approach and feeds you the essential training with a firehose so you get repetition, immersion, to develop reflexive muscle memory. I like that and it will be my choice most likely when the time comes for me to start.
GOOD LUCK!
Thank you so much for the response! I came into the Air Force with my bachelors degree already. I do like that atp is very fast and repetitious like the training in the military has been.
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Chris, thank you so much for the response. I see a lot of your posts on here and they are incredibly valuable to all of us young aviators!
Nice to hear the bachelors degree is “in the can”. You’re all set. If 1989 is your birth year, I’m jealous…your path to a long career in the skies is right before you, the door is open - walk on through it. Save that GI Bill money for a masters some day or if you ever are “downed” medically or due to a airline industry downturn you can have it as a cushion to get some additional skills - or start a new stage in your career. One last thing, if your base has an Aero Club, maybe you can get your PPL there for cheap and start building some hours and keep your fire for aviation lit while you are waiting to do your advance formal training (whether that’s at ATP or elsewhere).
Again, good luck.
Sean,
Glad it helped. Keep your questions coming.
Chris