Hi, I’m a high school student currently set to graduate around June. I’m interested in becoming an airline pilot and hopefully fast-tracking my career. I was wondering how viable my plan is. 1rst: Take a post-high school gap year while getting my certificate, ppl, multi-engine, instruments, etc. 2nd: Enroll in community college to get my associate’s while building hours as a CFI (currently have a couple of credit hours from College classes take in high school). Third: eventually get hired by a regional carrier hopefully.
I’m a really hard worker and this is something I’m very passionate about so I would like to start early. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank You!
I know everybody wants to get into the air sooner rather than later, but I would strongly recommend that you go to at least two years of college first, if not four, then go to flight school. Flying takes a certain maturity that often develops with age, students tend to do better with a few more years under their belt.
You will want to have a four year degree at some point anyways, so better to stay in school mode and keep working towards that goal.
it’s doubtful you can complete all your licenses and ratings in a year UNLESS you go to an accelerated program like ATP. Problem is with no degree, work or flight experience it’s doubtful you’ll be admitted into the program.
you’d have to find a flight school that will hire you part-time while you’re in Community College. Even if you do it’ll take forever to build the 1500hrs part-time. Further, the Majors want a 4yr degree, a 2 won’t really help you.
again you don’t mention any flight experience? You can be the hardest worker on the planet, if you don’t have the coordination or get sick or terrified the first time you’re in a small plane this conversation is moot.
You might have seen various articles in the news lately about hiring demand slowing. This makes it even more important to have a strong resume by the time you get to applying. That means a bachelors degree, no checkride failures, a great high school GPA, etc.
Best to get all of your education done first then enroll in an accelerated program to get your ratings.
I’m planning on joining an ATP flight program by August, ignoring the cost for flight school training, which that alone makes me skeptical of applying, how do I know I won’t get the very corporate response of “We have decided to move forward with other candidates” should I graduate.
Unfortunately, there is no “knowing” from us whether you would be accepted or declined at this time without actually applying. I recommend reaching out to Admissions personnel and inquiring about this one. However, skeptical of applying simply because of the cost makes me inquire the most skipped question/answer; Do you have any prior flight experience? If you haven’t, before reaching out to Admissions, I recommend going to your nearest flight school and conducting an introductory flight.
There is no way to know what kind of response you will get when applying to be a CFI until you actually do so. that being said, I would encourage you to treat every day int he program like a job interview. Dress the part, be respectful, and let everybody know that it is your desire toward at ATP once you complete the program.
Nothing corporate about it. Do well in the program and conduct yourself like a serious professional throught out the program and you’ll be offered a slot. Don’t and you won’t (of course then you can blame ATP vs accepting responsibility yourself).
Can you name one school or training program that truly has a guarantee of a job and successful career upon completion? Probably not because it doesn’t exist. You get an opportunity to enter that workforce but you must apply yourself, put in the work and be competitive to secure future employment. If you’re looking for guarantees, you’ll be disappointed in just about every field not just aviation.