I am currently 20 and a junior in college. I plan on finishing the remainder of my degree online and start or get into the ATP career pilot program in January. I have a few concerns planning ahead for a career of an airline pilot.
Concerns:
I have a speeding ticket that was given to me when I was 16 in the year 2016 with 6 points on my license (permit at that time) as of now. I was young and I had a new car and was not being mature about it. After that in July 2019, I received another speeding ticket but this was with other cars going the speed on the interstate and that ticket is currently not on record but in the process of being disputed by an attorney. Does this damage any chances of being hired by an airline in the future?
My gpa is a 3.3 and I am trying to increase it and finish my remaining 2-3 semesters online while being at ATP. Do you recommend taking this path?
Does having a masters in future in any way make you more attractive to the airlines or not?
I only have an answer to question 2. With how fast pace and accelerated ATP is, it’s not recommended you have other commitments besides just flying and learning during the program. Being in college while also in ATP isn’t recommended and idk if you’d be accepted either.
I think that you would struggle with the pace with being in college too. I recommend finishing college then joining.
Thank You Joshua for the answer. I will carefully consider your advice before making the commitment. Although I was finished with all the hardcore major requirement classes I thought of taking some liberal arts online that are required for the 4 year degree with prior experience taking online classes. I was informed by a former student that typically there are 2-3 days off and online degrees are at your own pace and being at ATP it is possible but I agree with you that ATP is very fast paced.
2 speeders isn’t the end of the world but you do need to stop. Call it what you like (youth, keeping pace, etc) but the bottomline is you’re breaking the law and violating the rules. If I was on your interview panel and you told me the “I was keeping pace with the other cars explanation” my next question would be so you believe it’s ok to break the law if everyone is doing it? And your answer would be?
You can do as you like but guaranteed or maybe both will suffer. If it’s your GPA that could affect your career depending how low it goes, if you bust a few checkrides you could get booted from your program or find yourself at the bottom of the hiring pool. Bad idea.
Not at all. Airlines hire skilled experienced pilots who follow the rules, not Drs and professors who don’t.
This won’t be a big deal, but slow down and avoid further tickets.
I do not recommend at all trying to finish your degree while enrolled in ATP, in fact I think it is a really bad idea. ATP is a full time program that will require every bit of your attention. If you try to go to college and ATP, something will suffer. I recommend going to ATP, then finishing your degree when you are working as a first officer for a regional airline.
Negative. The airlines are tiring pilots, as such they want to see flight time and plenty of it. While advanced degrees are nice, they are not really relevant to being an airline pilot.
Thank you for the informative response and I highly appreciate your advice. These two tickets will be my last and I will make sure to drive the best way I can to avoid anymore. I want to get my bachelors out of the way to entirely focus on flying when I do. I was just thinking to do my last semesters online even 1-2 classes online because I want to get to the airlines ASAP as it is in huge demand right now mainly at the regional level as we all know.
One other question I have is the beards. I am a Sikh and turban and beard is part of my religious identity. Although turbans are allowed as there have been turbaned pilots in the Airforce and other airlines I wanted to know if there is any beard policy that can be relaxed because airlines in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe operate similar aircraft and allow beards however in the US we have a clean shave requirement. Please elaborate if you have anything to recommend.
Beards are not allowed at any US airline other than Hawaiian. Turbans are also not allowed at any US airline that I am aware of and there are no exceptions.
The middle eastern carriers have different rules, but in the US there are no exceptions.
I respect and value the rules created however I was doing some research and found that a Turbaned Female Sikh Pilot was hired at Envoy. I posted a link below about it. The beard can be shaved but Turban is a vital part of my identity. Do you see the beard rule being relaxed in a future timeline as the airline pilot shortage seems to be real for now ?
Last time i got any kind of a ticket was probably before yalls time back in 1978. Lol. Dont need to spe2money on expensive tires before their time. He young they dont care yet, and some dont learn when the turn into an adult. But the points jackup your insurance and the rest of the people in your city. Thats why our insurances are high now cause of speeders and people uninsured
Interesting article. Curious to see if others follow suit or not in the future but that was 2 yrs ago and I haven’t seen anything since. As for the beard I think you answered your own question. You said “it can be shaven”. Well if it can there’s zero reason for any airline to offer an accommodation.
Just because Envoy changes their rules, doesn’t mean anybody else has to or will. I would not expect to see this change at other airlines any time soon, if ever.
As for the beard, if it can be shaven, then you will have to shave it.
I respect the uniform rules created by airlines however I also know that no facial hair is a safety reason that many US airlines claim but as far as turbans go I feel like Sikhs are a minority in the USA and turbans do not interfere with safety and there are turbaned pilots all over the world flying for the largest airlines as well as the United States Air Force. In the future I hope this accommodation would be allowed because flying is my passion and I am not gonna let religion interfere with my career or passion.
I feel like this rule or accommodation entirely depends on the airline and you are right it can or cannot be changed it depends on the the situation in the future. However I am gonna join this field and face whatever I have to because Airline Pilot like yourself has been my ultimate dream.