Hi, I’m turning 34 this year, and have something of an opportunity to finally pursue my dream. I’m a little lost on all the information on the ATP website. I think I misread how much flight school costs earlier, and now I’m seeing it’s almost 100k, when I thought I saw something earlier that was closer to 10k, and now I’m somewhat overwhelmed and not sure what the best options are to actually pursue flight school. The Sallie Mae loan is obviously an option, but I’m really intimidated by student loans.
Did I read something wrong? Is there something less expensive? I’m not entirely sure I want to even fly an airline craft, I’d rather fly something smaller, yet still commercially. Any advice would be welcome. I’ve not yet taken an introductory flight, but I intend to schedule one soon, as previously advised above.
Samuel,
As for the cost… it varies if you want to get lodging at your training location then it will be more. I think the base price for the career pilot program is about $80,000 then there are the add-ons like lodging and 100 hr multi-engine add-ons, so that will be more. I don’t know where you get the 10k from unless it’s an add-on, or a specific license like a ppl. I think a lot of flight schools price the place at 10k but it’s usually more. I wouldn’t be too intimidated by the price because as long as you are disciplined it won’t take long to pay the loan off.
While there are other flight schools that are cheaper
ATP is the best that I have found and plan on attending in a few years after college. As for wanting to fly commercially but stick to smaller planes you may want to look into part 135 flying which is regional flying but at a local scale so you can be home almost every night. (Correct me if im wrong)
You should definitely do a discovery flight, worst case scenario you lose $150 or you will absolutely love it and want to do nothing else, nothing bad can come of it.
Good luck
Gabe
Welcome to the forums. Yes, flight training is about $100k, this is very much in line with what any professional training costs. The vast majority of people finance their training with loans, I did. There might be a few other schools out there that could get you through for a bit less money, maybe, but maybe not. The thing is that ATP has been training pilots for decades, they know what they are doing and they know how to train a pilot. Other schools might claim to, but ask them how many actual airline pilots they have produced.
Whether you want to fly airliners, or corporate aircraft, the process and certifications are exactly the same.
Please check out the FAQ section on this website, I think it will help clear up many things for you. Of course, feel free to ask us questions as well.
Sadly $10,000 won’t even get your your Private pilot license which only allows you to fly small airplanes recreationally when the weather is good. If you aspire to fly commercially (ie, get paid) you’ll need your Commercial license, Instrument rating (so you can fly safely in less than fair weather), your multi-engine rating (so you can at least fly light twin engine planes) and your flight instructor rating (which is the most common low time job to build time and experience for better jobs). Flight instruction isn’t cheap and as you can see from the above you’ll need quite a bit so yes you’re going to be alot closer to $100k than $10k.
Before you even consider investing that amount of money you need to take that intro flight. If you hate it your decision becomes a very simple one. If you don’t then you’ve got some things to consider. Yes it’s expensive but the rewards can be great and the lifestyle is one many people can only dream of. Again however first things first, you need to take that intro flight and see if it’s really a dream worth pursuing.