Military back-seater with PPL looking to find a way to airlines/professional flying

Airline Pilot Questions & Answers
1

Okay, thank you for taking the time to read this because I’m super confused about what I need to do going forward. My goal is to become an airline pilot. Here is some background, because my situation is very unique:

I am a 27 year old NFO, so a Navy backseater. Due to a medical situation I’ve ended my flying career with the Navy pretty early, and am transitioning to the Naval Reserves for the rest of my commitment. I am still totally fine health wise to fly civilian, and am just now finishing up my Private Pilot Certificate on my own dime.

So, my question is what is the best path forward for me right now? I’m 28 soon, and I don’t want to waste much time in training. Even though I have to earn my ratings like any civilian, I’m practically instrument trained and know I can fly through any syllabus. I already have a 4 year degree so going to a full school program is a waste of time for me, unless it involved getting a masters degree.

Now, on top of this I want to use the GI bill to help fund my training, but as far as I know it only covers $13k a year of vocational training, which is nowhere near enough money to get all my certs and ratings in a short period of time.

I really like the idea of a program like ATP, but since it’s not supported by the GI bill I don’t really think it is an option for me. I saw the thread with another NFO asking about the switch and got some good gouge from that, but my situation is a lot different and I just don’t know what I should do to get going.

I’m off Active Duty at the end of September, and will be in the reserves at that point. I may have to take a break from flight training for my reserve job training, but other than that I’ll have all the time I need to make this dream happen.

tl;dr… So this is kinda jumbled, but I’m looking for advice on these things:

  • For a non-pilot military veteran, what is the best way to use the GI bill for flying in a vocational setting?
  • Has anyone heard of tuition for a masters degree being used for flying too?
  • Any general advice is useful. I’ve wanted to be a pilot my entire life and the military has been a bit of a side-step, and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get flying professionally as a civilian.

Thank you for your time!

2

Mitchell,

Welcome to the forums and thank you for the introduction. I understand the desire to want to use y9our GI benefits for flight training, but there is a reason that many (dare I say most) former vets do not do so. To use your GI benefits the military requires you to go to a FAA part 141 flight school (ATP is part 61). These schools follow a very specific syllabus and as a result can take much longer to complete. That combined with only being able to use a limited amount of your GI bill per year makes for a very slow training process and one that could end up costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars in the long run.

Think about it for a moment, person A finances their training and gets to the airlines within two years. Person B does not incur any debt, but takes five years to get to the airlines. Both pilots spend the same amount of time at the regionals and both spend the same amount of time as First Officers before upgrading to Captain at the majors. Now a senior Captain at the majors can easily make $300k per year, if not more, while an FO will be around $180k. So person A had three more years of making $120k per year more than person B, meaning an extra $360k in income. Of course this is a rather abstract example, but it shows the importance of seniority and how taking the long route to the airlines can really impact pilot earnings, not to mention quality of life, scheduling, aircraft choice, etc.

Chris

3

Mitchell,

You do have to earn your ratings like any other civilian and “practically” having your instrument rating is not having it. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest Chris is 100% correct. Seniority is EVERYTHING in the airlines. Right now the industry is doing incredibly well but things can and do change. Furthermore pilots can only fly a very finite amount of years. Every year you delay will cost you a year of the top salary not to mention all the pay bumps, 401K contributions etc throughout your career.

While I appreciate the desire to not spend the money on training you’ll be costing yourself many times that amount in the long run.

That said totally your call.

Adam