Hey fellas, I just turned 22 and have always been interested in flying. Although I already have a career that didn’t require any college experience. It is a busy job as I work 8-12hr/day and a 10 day on 4days off work schedule. In a rural part of Texas. They recently took interest in my youth and are willing to now send me to school to earn a degree. Im now encouraged again to take up on this interest in obtaining a license and possibly having a second career. My long winded question is; can I work on my degree and my PPL, CFI certificates to eventually earn a airline pilot opportunity at the same time as school? Granted I finish my degree of course. What degree should I be looking towards or what field If any? What is a realistic timeline I can expect? Is there anything I’m overlooking or, simply not seeing? Any answers help. Thank y’all.
Jerry,
While you can do your flight training and college at the same time, it’s very inefficient. Airlines and the military train their pilots full-time daily because it works. The nice thing is while the Major airlines want a degree, they really don’t care what the degree is in. For this reason, (and because you have no flight experience and really don’t know if flying is for you) we recommend you get a degree in something you like and might want to do should aviation not work out. After college you should then dive into training full-time, build your time and then get hired at a Regional.
Please take a look at our FAQ section as we cover the process and many other commonly asked questions.
Adam
Jerry,
Hello and welcome to the forum! My first question for you, if your company pays for your degree are they going to want you to sign a contract to remain working for them for x number of years? If so, you should weigh the price of them paying for it vs how long it will put off your goal of being an airline pilot. You didn’t mention your age so not sure how pressing the timeline is for you. Anyway with that being said, college paired with flight training is a bad idea. The quality time you give to both ends up going down simply due to there not being enough hours in the day. We recommend you give college your full attention first, get the best GPA you can (majors want to see a minimum of 3.0 or greater) and then hit flight training afterwards. ATP has an accelerated program that could get you through all your flight training in as little as 7 months.
-Hannah
Jerry,
If you attend ATP, you will either need to focus solely on your flight training, or opt for the Flex Track option: Flex Track Airline Career Pilot Program / ATP Flight School It would be nearly impossible to work, attend school, and have flight training at the same time. Even if you went to a small, local school this would still be a tremendous burden on you and you will likely fall behind in some area.
I personally would focus on flight training first, then get an online degree while you are at the regionals. There is no degree requirement to fly for the regionals, there is for the majors, but the good news is that you will have several years at the regionals to work on this. Any degree subject will be fine, just make sure it is from a reputable school.
Chris
Thank you Adam! Yes I was looking to my PPL first. Great info to have and opinion to look into. Much appreciated
Hi Hannah! I’m 22 years old. , The only requirement for them to pay for my school upfront is maintain a their desired 3.0 standard GPA. After I complete it is completely my degree. I’m glad you shared that information on isolating any flight training from work or college. Thank you it’s much appreciated.
Thank you Chris! The pay gap, between what I do now and becoming an airline pilot isn’t too big so , I’m in no rush to leave where i am or chase my interests but my interest is re-ignited now that free college is on the table. But isolated anything to do with flight training has been very encouraged by experts like you so, I plan to take it up and further my education of yalls industry as much as I can and prepare for that training… anything else I can do to give myself an advantage in school or training. Thank you again.
Jerry,
I have no idea what you are making, but just as a point of reference, Captains at the majors can easily make $300k or more per year. Check out this link: What Do Pilots Really Earn? - #2
Chris