Some Questions

Airline Pilot Questions & Answers
1

Hello All

So I have been reading the forums for the past few months and finally decided to sign up.

So alittle about myself. I am 47 years old, married 20 years with a 14 year old son, live on Long Island New York. I am at the point in my life where I am deciding if I should stick out my career that I have or take the plunge and become an airline pilot.

So I do have a bunch of questions that I would like to ask and if your all have time to answer that would be greatly appreciated.

So here we go HAHA

  1. I will be looking into going to the Long Island–Islip school. Has anyone gone through that location?

  2. I have no problem with working for a regional airline for my career. But is trying for Spirit, Frontier or Avelo a decent avenue of approach if I wanted to fly the Airbus. I unfortunately do not have a college degree and probably will not be trying at this point in my life. I noticed all the airlines say they prefer the college degree. Either way I dont think I would be to upset if I didnt make it.

  3. With regards to getting a 1st class medical. I understand I need one but since I am 47 I would need to get it renewed every 6 months. Now would I be better off getting my 2nd class first for the ATP training and then go for the 1st?

I know I have some other questions but my braing is going all over the place so I will leave these up here for now and add on to this thread later.

Thank you all in advance for your answers

Craig

2

Welcome, Craig!

There are a handful of Long Island students that are on the forum. Hopefully some of them reach out. That said the program is the exact same at every location.

Avelo flies 737s, but going after any of the LCCs would be a realistic goal for you. It seems like you’ve done your homework and have good expectations thus far.

You will need to obtain a 1st Class Medical for ATP. It is a requirement. Technically you only need a 3rd, but ATP requires a 1st because there is no sense in spending all that time and money without knowing for sure that you can hold a 1st.

That said, it’s up to you to maintain it until you get to the airlines. If you let 6 months go by it reverts to a 2nd and then a 3rd. If I were you I would maintain a 1st. Each exam is only $130ish. You don’t want any surprises to come up right before it is time to move on to a regional or an LCC. That would be a rude awakening.

Tory

3

Craig,

  1. Some might be on here from LI and may chime in but it really shouldn’t matter. If you’re craving a Big Mac are you thinking about the one you had 10yrs ago in FL? Probably not. ATP works very hard to provide the same program, resources and quality of instruction throughout the network of schools. Further if someone had a very positive (or even negative) experience with a particular instructor, in all likelihood that person is already flying for an airline. In short, if you’ve decided ATP is the right school the location should be based on convenience and really not much else.

  2. I know many pilots who are very happy flying for LCCs. They’re real airlines with solid contracts, work rules and pay. I do have to pick on you a little however regarding your desire to fly an AirBus. You’re not a pilot and you have no experience. I’m curious what makes you think da Bus is better or who you THINK you want to fly one?

  3. As Tory said ATP requires a First Class simply because they don’t want you wasting your time and money. Better to find out if there’s an issue sooner than later.

Adam