Having just passed my PPL checkride yesterday (finally, after 5 months, including 2 full months of weather delays!), I’ve been gathering a small email pile of marketing materials from airlines advertising their various flows and cadet programs. Obviously, with my massive ~85 hours of flight time under my belt, I don’t have a lot of experience to draw on to make any kind of educated decision, so I wanted to reach out and ask for tips on how to parse the information.
Obviously this post will be a big magnet for the “it depends” responses, which I understand, but still I guess I have a few questions:
I see a lot of posts here about people joining programs early on in ACPP, or some even before starting to fly! Is there a disadvantage in waiting until I’ve gotten further in, or do I need to be looking right now?
How do I even start comparing them? They all promise amazing pay, amazing benefits, amazing aircraft to fly, and from where I sit in my ignorance most seem more or less identical barring a few minor differences in pay/location/aircraft type/etc.
I know the answer is “choose what’s right for you”, but how do I know what that is before I have any experience?
Hopefully this wasn’t too rambling, but any advice will be appreciated. I’m fine waiting until I’m a CFI myself if I have to, if that’s what it takes to find the right fit, but I’d also hate to miss out on something just because I waited until I felt more able to make a good decision.
Great question Logan and you’re right, much of the answers will be “it depends” and “do what’s best for you” but let’s see if we can’t give you a little help.
There’s absolutely no harm in waiting. Here’s the deal. Newsflash! There’s a pilot shortage! And EVERY Regional is scrambling to grab bodies which is great for you because it’s always good to have choices. Thing is you’ve got bigger things to worry about right now so focus on your training. The offers will still be there when you’re done and in all likelihood they’ll be even better. Why lock yourself in now?
Of course they all offer AMAZING everything and honestly they’re all offering pretty amazing deals. While the pay might be higher here than there etc etc, what really matters to most people are bases. Commuting sucks and if you can avoid one (or at least have an easier one) it’s worth way more than a few bucks an hour. If that’s not your priority figure out which airline meets it and go there.
With the exception of bases and flows you really don’t which is why you should wait.
First off, congrats on passing your private checkride! For me, it was the most difficult checkride, mentally, because I had no idea what to expect. You should now have a good idea for how to prepare for future checkrides. I just wanted to throw in my thoughts because this was a pretty common topic in my training center when I was an instructor, and I actually think you answered some of your questions in your own post. Fortunately with the current market, there is an abundance of opportunities and programs available to prospective pilots (even before starting training!). However, my opinion has always been that your selection of the program/airline that is right for you should wait until you have a clear path to 1500 hours. You mentioned a couple of times that you don’t have the experience to make an educated decision yet. If you are unsure of what is best for you, why rush the decision? An airline you select now, may not be in the same condition in 2 years time when you get your hours; ExpressJet for example. The airline market and industry is constantly changing and the only reason I would consider making a decision this early would be if you really needed the financial assistance (but even that could be risky, all bonuses and tuition reimbursement have to be paid back if you weren’t to make it fully through).
My best advice is to wait until you have made it through the program successfully and you have began instructing (or building hours another way) and then you can consider which pathway is best for you. Focus on being successful for your remaining checkrides because they will follow you for the rest of your career. If you finish the program having been successful, I am sure the same, or even better, opportunities will be available and you will have much more experience to make a decision. To give you my personal experience, I waited until 750 hours and a clear path to 1500 hours, before I even applied to a program. I wanted to know that whichever airline I signed my name next to, was going to be the same or a better airline when I started training.
Again, this is just my personal opinion. Hopefully the mentors will have some advice for you as well. Your thought process of waiting until you are a CFI is a good plan, there’s no need to rush!
Thanks for your response. One of the only reasons I was thinking was that some of these programs actually give stipends while you’re still a student. Of course in the long run that’s chump change and they’re hoping an extra $500 a month draws in people more so than an extra $50,000 a year will down the line, but it’s still something to consider. Others offer seniority based on the date you join their cadet program, rather than the date you actually start working for them, which is also very enticing.
For me, I am willing to move anywhere in the country (don’t want to commute), so the bases aren’t really an issue for me. I supposed being spoiled for choice is better than having the opposite problem.
Thanks, and yes, I had no idea what to expect going into the checkride, even though I’d been watching Youtube checkride videos, chatting with my fellow students, and all the rest. It turned out to be pretty much like a regular flight with a conversation at the start. Of course I wasn’t expecting to be asked to do something I didn’t know how to do, but there was something really reassuring about being asked to do three or four maneuvers a single time, flying with foggles for 10 minutes, going back for a lap in the pattern, then thinking, “Was that really it?”
I will definitely not rush into anything, and I definitely appreciate your advice. Maybe I’m just seeing all these hundreds of pilots getting picked up and thinking that the shortage can’t possibly last with how booming the training industry is becoming. Probably that’s just an irrational fear, but seeing the people in my TC walking around with their American, Delta, and Spirit lanyards makes me itch to get a move on. I think I just need to focus on the three feet in front of me, and start hitting the instrument training hard.
Congratulations on obtaining your Private Pilot Certificate! Weather delays can definitely feel like a drag, but hopefully now with you going into instrument gives more opportunity to experience actual IMC.
I would wait until you get to the end of the program to worry about applying, don’t put the stress on it at this stage; however, we can’t stop you from doing anything. If you really want to start putting your applications and seeing if you could arrange something, it never hurts.
This is where interviews and informative are great, you need to compare all the available information that is provided and what you can ask. Don’t be hesitant to reach out to recruiting departments, attend webinars and conduct interviews, gather all available information for your comparison. Figure out what the pros/cons are, anywhere you go you will have some sort of pro/con.
As corny as it sounds, you will “choose what’s right for you” when the time is right and you have made the decision, that’s when you will know what’s right. Do you want to fly for an airline for the plane or base? That’s something you’ll need to determine, what do you want for QOL.
I appreciate your input. Seems like waiting is the right choice, as I sort of suspected. As for the IMC, flying in Michigan means that by the time the temperature allows me to fly through a cloud, I may be done with my instrument rating.
That’s right, I forgot you were up in the Michigan area, sorry about that! Well hopefully we get some warmer weather, if not there is plenty of time between now and the airlines that you will encounter real IMC. Train like its real, that’s one piece of advice I can give during simulated conditions.