I wanted to know what the life of a commercial pilot is like. I have a passion for aviation and I’m considering doing a career change. I do not have any aviation experience and wasn’t exactly sure how to start or even finance training.
I come from a maritime background. I’ve served as a navigation officer onboard large cruise ships and US Navy supply ships. Is it a difficult transition from sea to air?
Matthew,
Welcome to the forum. First and foremost I recommend you visit our FAQ section as we answer most common questions as well as explain the process. Now when you say the “life of a commercial pilot” I’m going to assume you mean airline pilot as commercial pilot refers to anyone who gets paid to fly. That could mean someone who flight instructs on weekends, someone who tows banners over the beach, an airline pilot or even someone who flies celebrities in their private jets. Even if we limit the conversation to airline pilot there’s a huge difference between someone starting out as a Regional First Officer who gets paid $40k and works 18 days a month flying around the country vs a senior Captain who earns $400k and only works 8 days a month. For me I’m somewhere in the middle and life is good but I’m not really sure exactly what you’re asking when you ask “what life is like?”. Again I suggest you visit the FAQ section or perhaps be more specific.
As for how you start that’s pretty simple. You need to select a flight school. As for how you finance it, flight training is not cheap (approx $85k for all the required licenses and ratings) and most people take out loans to pay for it. The good news is the Regionals need pilots and many will pay reimburse you for some of your training. You do say you have no aviation experience so before you do anything you really need to take an intro or training flight. While many people feel they have a “passion for aviation”, frankly until you actually sit up front in a small training aircraft you really won’t know for sure.
Finally I have no idea what kind of transition it would be from sea to air as I’ve never worked on a ship. That said if you’re a Navigation Officer I’d suspect there’s some similarities as the nav portion of training should be pretty easy for you.
Again please visit our FAQ section and ATPs website for much more information www.ATPFlightSchool.com
Adam
Matthew,
Welcome to the forum! Adam answered a lot of your questions. I just wanted to add, the first thing you should do is take an intro flight. Get up in a small trainer aircraft like a Cessna or Archer and see how it feels. Flight training is a big commitment, you’ll want to be sure of the career your headed into before taking the financial risk.
-Hannah
Matthew,
Please check out our “Flying the Line” section as there are many articles there of the life of a pilot.
Chris
Adam,
Thank you very much for the information. I’ll be sure to check those things out.