I want to become a pilot for united airlines. Will they care what flight school I got my certificates and licences from? I only have one choice locally, and I want to be working for a regional airline shortly after I turn 21 (one of the united express carriers). Thanks!
Follow up question: Im 14 and cant become a pilot for 6.5 years and I want to become a pilot as soon as possible (like I said before). I have worked out 2 path to doing that. 1. get through high school with lots of AP credits and start working on my licences and ratings in my last 2 years of high school, then go to embry riddle and flight instruct while working on my degree and getting it as fast as possible, then applying for one of the united express carriers. 2. getting through high school then going to united aviate and then get my bachelors online while flying for a regional, and possibly while in aviate.
Will,
ALL pilot licenses are issued by the FAA and United doesn’t really care where you trained. What they do care about is that you’re successful in their training when they hire you.
Getting hired at a Regional is easy these days, passing training is not. This is one of the reasons ATP graduates have such a high success rate. They’ve demonstrated their ability to learn at a pace comparable to the airlines.
You also don’t mention college? While United doesn’t require a degree, they still prefer one and you’ll need to have one to be competitive.
Adam
Will,
I am still a fan of college first, although that is not the fastest way to the airlines, I do feel that the maturity that college brings is a good thing. I will tell you that I am not a fan of Embry Riddle. They are very expensive and do not offer any more of an education than any other school does. I would encourage you to take a look at our FAQ section as there is a detailed post there that explains the various paths to the airlines.
Chris
Thank you so much!