Hi, my apologies if this topic has been brought up before. I ask because I’m one of those people who are considering a major career change late in life (turning 47 this month) and weighing whether I can pay off the loans before the mandatory retirement.
On the ATP website, it says the following about airline hiring partnerships, this one is for United:
" After gaining 2,000 hours and 24 months of experience flying at your United Express airline, you can then transition directly to United Airlines with no additional evaluation or interviews required. You’ll be at the top of the priority list, and once a first officer position at United is open, you’ll receive a job offer."
link
So this makes it seem as if you are almost guaranteed a job at United after only 2 years at a regional.
This seems to conflict with most of what I have been reading in all the ‘am I too old to become a pilot’ posts, where the experienced people all say it takes a good 6 years and for those starting later, flying in a major and/or “flying into ____ (some overseas airport)” is not going to happen.
I really appreciate all the honest answers given here, it’s just that if what the pros are saying is true, the ATP website is being misleading by giving people unrealistic expectations as can be seen by the attitude of some of the people posting questions who more or less expect to fly in a major immediately.
Also on the ATP website, there is a testimony of a Ms. Kane who was placed with United in under 3 years (35 months) from when she began training.
link
That means that she got into a major less than a year after finishing the program. Now it seems like her story omits a lot of details, it doesn’t even seem like she took a CFI job as most people seem to do. As I recall, being a CFI seems to be a required part of some of these partnership programs like Aviate.
Again, perhaps she is a one-off fluke, but this kind of information will only continue to breed unrealistic expectations. Suffice it say that there are other testimonials where it took much longer.
So I guess my question would be, if it realistically takes 6-8 years (no guarantees) to get into a major, why does the United partnership program tout essentially 2 years? Again, for someone who is staring late, time is a factor.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!