I’m 15 years old right now, looking to go to flight school and become in airline pilot. My hope is to eventually fly for Envoy and the flow through to American Airlines. Envoy, Horizon, and many other regionals do not require you to have a college degree, but I know that most pilots do have one. Is it unlikely that I’ll get a job at any airline if I don’t have any college experience?
Nathan,
Check out the FAQ section. A lot of your questions will be answered there.
The regionals do not require a degree. The majors do.
If you are planning on attending ATP you will need at least 2 years of college experience or equivalent work experience.
Tory
Thanks Tory. So since American Airlines requires a college degree but Envoy doesn’t, but all Envoy pilots are guaranteed to go to American Airlines, I could eventually end up at American without going to college?
Nathan,
Right now due to the pilot shortage the airlines are setting up some very attractive deals and there’s no reason to believe the trend won’t continue. But as someone who’s been doing this for a while I think there are a few things you should know most important NOTHING in aviation is guaranteed. First flow-thru’s have lots of fine print. First off they can be cancelled, if you ever have an issue at the Regional (accident, incident, discipline, training issues, etc) AA does not have to take you. More important even if everything goes fine the flow agreements basically state that AA will take X% of their newhires from Envoy, not all. If AA needs 1,000 pilots this year they will not all come from Envoy. They can’t. Why? Because Envoy can’t afford to spare 1,000 pilots so only a certain percent will come from there. That means pilots from other Regionals may actually get hired before the Envoy flows. Now here’s the problem, let’s say for some reason hiring at AA slows down or you’re just seniority # 2,000 at Envoy and since the flow goes in seniority order they’re only up to # 1,000 and at the current rate it’ll be 5-6 yrs before you flow. Now let’s also say things are going great at United and they’re hiring up a storm. No flow so they’re hiring whoever applies and meets their requirements. Problem is you put all your eggs in the flow-thru basket and never got a degree so guess what? While all your Envoy buddies WITH degrees are going to United, Delta, UPS, FedEx and SouthWest, you’re stuck waiting for your flow-thru seniority number to kick in. The longer you spend at a Regional the less marketable you are, the better chance the shortage will ease or the economy tanks. Bottomline if you want to invest your time and money into a career and then cross your fingers and have a single option for the future then no, you’re right, don’t need a degree.
Adam
That’s a very good point. Would you recommend trying to go to a decent college or just going to the cheapest college possible so that I can get a degree required by major airlines and possibly have something to fall back on if I don’t make it to the airlines? I also feel a little bit trapped because I want to become an airline pilot and I don’t want to settle for something I don’t want to do (especially considering how good the industry is looking for aspiring pilots) but I also realise it’s foolish to not have a backup plan since nothing is an absolute guarantee.
Nathan,
You don’t need to go to Harvard but you also don’t want to go Joe’s College of Basket Weaving and Air Conditioning Repair. Nothing wrong with a good community college for 2yrs and than finish off with a state or even a quality online degree. Also keep in mind ATP requires either your Private license or a 2yr degree so you’ll need that at a minimum. Honestly the best thing you can do at your age is work hard, do well in HS and continue on to college. As a said, save your money, complete your core req’s at community and finish off your 4year. A good education doesn’t have to cost you a fortune but it is important.
Adam
I probably won’t go to ATP but do other flight schools require you to have gone to college? If not, should I still go to college before flight school or after?
Nathan,
You’d have to check with the specific flight school you are interested in attending. I doubt they require college experience, though. ATP requires it because the majority of recent HS grads were not successful in ATP’s fast-pace program.
It’s up to you to decide if you should go to college first. You should be able to make that decision on your own.
Tory
Nathan,
As Tory said it’s your call but I believe I was clear on my advice.
Adam