Hello, what do you guys think about Liberty University’s online aviation degree? The only reason I’m picking this school and program is: one, because they qualify you for an R-ATP; two, you can finish in 3 years; and finally, they partner with a flight school at my local airport so I can fly and do my online degree at the same time. What do you guys think?
Alan,
To be perfectly honest I’m not a fan for a number of reasons.
First and foremost I’m not a fan of any aviation degree (not just Liberty). The airlines neither require nor desire one (they just want a degree) and more important they offer little to no backup should flying not work out either by circumstance or choice. Further, the reason you like the program is to get your R-ATP with reduced hours which I’m also not a fan of. Everyone is in a hurry and the pilot shortage accelerated pilots POTENTIAL career trajectory greatly. The key word is potential. While you could get hired with reduced mins I think a better question is should you? The fact is going from a piston single or twin to a jet is a HUGE leap and while we’ve seen record hiring the last few years, we’ve also seen record failure rates. Many pilots simply lack the experience to transition to this kind of flying and reducing your experience by 500hrs will do you no favors. Finally if your goal is to get to an airline asap, why would you take 4yrs (3yrs of school plus at least a year to build the required time) when you could get there in 2.5 (or less) with an accelerated program like ATP?
As for Liberty themselves, I’ve been an airline pilot and instructor for 20yrs (and know ALOT of pilots) and have yet to meet a successful grad of Liberty’s at any airline. I’m not saying they’re aren’t any, just not many.
Adam
Thanks for the detailed response, Adam. I agree with you. After doing some more research, God forbid I lost my medical, I would be out of a job and have a degree that I can’t use. I definitely think I’m going to go the ATP route after more thought.
Alan,
When I see “they quality you for a R-ATP” license, it makes me inquiry; you do realize you still have to build the flight time… right? The ways of building this flight time can be done however you wish, I’ll share a copied thread I’ve posted in originally about ways of building time. I’ve met a former Liberty University graduate who was working on their CFI outside of Liberty University… why? The amount of competition I was informed and how it is extremely selective in the process is why this individual had to finish their certificates at a “mom-and-pop” school.
Granted the airlines do not care what your degree is in, you should find something you would love to do or partake in if something in aviation fell through. Most of those I run into have business degrees, I have a business degree in marketing, here I am flying for an airline. While the airlines are slowing down hiring, this could be a new approach to what was required years ago and selective process to picking and choosing their pilots. Majors changed their requirement to preferred, but out of sight here doesn’t mean out of mind - they would still rather see you have a degree and from a credible school; and it doesn’t just have to be an aviation degree.
Do you have any college experience already? ATP does have partnerships with schools (such as Liberty) that you can complete your degree if you would like to get into training, finish your certs, then use the certs as college credits:
Brady