My name is Kyle and I’ve taken the first steps in getting the ball rolling in signing up for the ATP Airline Career Pilot Program.
I just recently turned 34 and from what I’ve been reading on this forum, I’m seeing ages from 20’s, 30’s and 40’s. I’ve been in retail since high school and in a senior leadership role and as others have mentioned, it’s a bit scary to course correct (no pun intended) mid way through your career!
I still have some additional steps to work on but before I get too far in the process I had some questions. Apologies if this was covered in another thread.
skipping over the true training period and getting into the flight instructor portion, I know this helps because it provides some income. I have a decent amount of savings in place which I’m sure will help during the period of schooling and the loss of your previous salary but any words of advice and or suggestions on what you did to get through this period? I know this is a long term game plan and not going into this, planning I’ll be making a ton of money in the beginning but also want to be realistic here for day-to-day living expenses, etc
I think if I have this right, from zero time to getting placed with a major regional airline, it can take around 2-2.5 years?
A fellow pilot friend suggested me “getting my single engine instrument license after your private license, before your multi-engine. When you do the multi-engine checkride, you can get the private and instrument knocked out in one go that way”. Any further insight on this! Unsure if this is part of the ATP program that I’m also interested in.
ATP instructors are paid well for instructors but as you point out its not alot. ATP has had over 25,000 grads hired by airlines and suffice to said most of us aren’t/weren’t wealthy. In fact instructors now are paid twice as much as I was paid as a Regional pilot (so forgive me if I’m less than sympathetic). I think what’s most important is to go into this with minimal debt and expenses since you’ll be taking on a considerable amount. You need to be realistic. The average instructor earns about $35-40k a year. If that won’t cover your current expenses, it won’t magically be enough a year from now when you’re done with your training.
As for the timeline of your training, yes ATP follows your PPL training with your Instrument training. With all due respect ATP has been training pilots for 40yrs and they have this down to a science and know considerably more about what goes where then your friend does. If you’re seriously considering investing a $110k in the program you should a) probably read as much as you can on it and b) trust it.
Adam covered everything very thoroughly so I have little to add. When I went through the program I opted to supplement my savings with a stipend through my loan. If it’s still an option, I suggest you strongly consider doing that as well. No plan survives first contact with the enemy, and my budgeting and planning unraveled pretty quickly when COVID hit and my track to be at an airline by the end of year 2 hit a one year delay. While you can plan for 2.5 years with an income hit, there’s certainly no guarantee that it will be the case in the event Boeing loses another cabin door or someone in China “eats bat soup”. Lastly, trust the training footprint that ATP offers. I had my private and instrument done in a bit over 3 months which is shorter than most programs dedicate to private alone. There are some helpful tips on this forum on what has worked well for people in the past that can help you tackle the accelerated pace easier. Best of luck to you!
PS: Adam, you must give some VERY thorough briefings
Let’s be realistic quick and get the age out of the way, 34, average age of training under the FAA’s Statistics right now for 2023 is 35.2 years old. If you started training tomorrow (we’ll assume the next nearest number, 35 years old), you would be in the airlines around 37 years old, making an almost 30-year career; and that’s not bad!
I was about 10 years younger than you when I started flight training (I thought I hit the lottery on timing because covid was just starting and unfortunately for many, some got furloughed which later opened positions for myself when I had the time). I was fresh out of college working a normal 8 - 4/5 job, at a financial institute. What I did was I budgeted some emergency funds, I paid off my car to have a liquid asset and not a depreciating debt. I think I had around $10,000 saved up in case I actually needed to dip into my savings, plus you will not have insurance for the time unless you can get state assistance for something. I factored into the loan the living expenses (at a little more principal balance) that Sallie Mae allowed, you can do a maximum $2,000 a month extra. I would recommend sitting down with a financial expert to figure out the best solution for yourself, everyone’s case is different, my original loan’s interest was over 12% (truthfully). Adam gave the average income of an instructor, which is also a 1099-NEC (you are not going to be a W-2 at most places), so you will have a Schedule C, pretty much.
Since my time of instructing and being hired at a regional airline, I’ve refinanced twice; lowering my interest rate more than half AND also targeting to keep my total finance charges under 50% of what they original were. Many forget that you can refinance and see the price up front. First year First Officers are making nearly $100,000 on their pay. Some regionals (like mine) have Letter of Agreements that you can make captain pay at a specific number of hours which is a huge increase in the paycheck - also beneficial to make extra payments on that loan.
From Zero Time to airlines, is roughly a 2 - 2.5 year timeline. Obviously there are a lot of factors that play into this, from work ethic, training timeline(s), and what you do after you get your required certificates to actually become a commercial pilot (not yet, an airline pilot). Instructing is the most common way to build flight time; however, there are other various ways of building time:
ATP’s program is PPL, IR, CSEL, CFI, CFI-I, CMEL - I believe that is the correct order right now. There was a recent change to the program due to DPE availability and some not wanting to even acquire the MEI since there are far and few MEI spots available (I could be wrong on this one).
The other thing not mentioned is, do you have any flight experience? What makes you want to become a pilot (or further, an airline pilot)?
