Hi, all. I have enjoyed reading from many of these topics.
I am Josh, 26, and I have a wife and 2 boys under two. I am the primary breadwinner, but not the sole income of our family - my wife works part-time remote and takes care of our sons. I have a mortgage and bills of course. We live pretty frugally with no debt other than the house and couple of smaller medical bills. I work remote, so I get all day with my family, which I love.
For an airline pilot, how much time do you typically get with family? I know it varies on a lot of things, and there are no guarantees. For the simplest scenario lets say as living in-base as a FO in DFW.
Are there student loan options that can subsidize cost of living expenses? The private loan rate I am seeing for student loans are higher than expected, and programs like the AA Cadet have loan options through their credit union for reasonable rates, but they are not accepting applicants at this time.
Definitely am weighing through a part 61 or 141 school in TX. Deciding if the route best for me and my family would be to continue working full-time and fly when I can on the weekend and some nights. Ultimately, yes I know that means longer time to the airlines, losing some seniority, and peak pay on the back-end of the career. But, that is a risk I may be willing to lose if it means a little more stability and security.
I know it is the best time in history to become a pilot, and that half of the industry is going to be forced to retire over the next 5 years…while demand is still increasing…essentially, the stars have aligned for the pilot workforce, so I know any debt accumulated from training will not have a problem being paid off.
Ultimately you need to do what’s best for you and your family. The biggest issue I have with training part-time isn’t the loss of seniority and pay (though that’s huge), it’s the fact training part-time more times than not simply doesn’t work. I’m far too many cases people end up spending far too much money and not progressing, often to the point of quitting. Most local flight schools just don’t have the resources (planes, instructors, etc) and you won’t have the flexibility to make it work.
Further while yes there definitely a shortage, it’s not getting better, in fact it’s slowing. Alaska, FedEx and a few other carriers (that aren’t coming to mind) have already closed their application windows for 2023 and it’s only Feb. As you point out even the cadet programs are saturated. Things are great now and should be for some time but this is the airlines and things can and do change.
If this is seriously something you want to do I would seriously consider diving in with both feet but again, you’ve got to do what’s best for you.
Josh,
Sallie Mae is who I financed my loan with, as do many others, and with them, you are able to put living expenses into the cost of the loan. $800 for “Monthly Expenses” and $1200 for “Housing” - you are also able to program in costs for Checkrides and DPE Fees. Ultimately, interest rates will be impacted by your current income and credit scores. In a dual income household, with little to no debt, I would expect you could get a decent rate. My rate is 5.25% which is excellent considering some mortgage interest rates are higher than that right now. You could also look into Meritize as an alternate funding source - however for me, their rates were like 13%. Sallie Mae also has different payment options that allow you to pay as little as $25 a month while in training and six months after, or interest only payments, as well as options to defer payments if necessary, but of course all those options will have different impacts on the overall cost of the loan in the long term. Many students who get high interest rates will bite the bullet and then refinance when they’re able, to get a lower, more tolerable, interest rate.
I hope that provides some answers to your questions!
-Steve
Those are both helpful responses - thank you both.
The schools I am looking into are ATP and a smaller mom&pop one that is significantly less expensive at face-value, but also does not parter with Sallie Mae, so I know I would be looking at higher rates for sure. I am unsure if you are able to supplement living expenses with Meritize. but I will look into it more.
When it comes to time with family, everyone’s situation is different but I went through ATP when my wife was staying with our kid, just have to have a good balance of studying and flying with spending time with them. I would go up to the training center to make sure I could stay focused when needed. Once you get through the program i can’t really answer what it’s like being a CFI with ATP because for my family’s circumstances I couldn’t afford to start right as a CFI so I moved home and worked in the oilfield and saved money to be able to be a CFI then eventually pipeline flying.
Once you get to the airlines it probably depends on company but I went to Skywest and I was gone from my family for 2-3 months for training. Right now I commute with plans of moving to my base but with commuting I am only home probably 10 days max out of the month. Hope this helps.
Hitching on the discussion here a few days late. I want to add on that if SallieMae is not the provider of your choice, ATP does have more options like Meritize which you can use merits to get approved and potentially lower rate, and Center Parc Credit Union.
As for what everyone has already mentioned regarding training footprints, interest rates, and the sacrifices… you have to do what’s best for your family. If your partner is onboard and you could work something out, I think you could have great success. While your first few years and low seniority might be a challenge as to how often you get weekends, holidays or special occasions with your young ones, it may pan off well after awhile. Plus living in Texas, there are MANY airlines that have bases and hubs which may keep you close to home if you’re “straddled down.”
Don’t be lured in to the initially “less expensive” option. A lot of mom and pop schools quote their training at the absolute lowest possible price with the minimum hours to be qualified for the rating. The problem is, with less committed CFI staffing, flying is less consistent which leads to more hours being necessary to retain proficiency. Now the “less expensive” option is becoming just as expensive and taking much longer to accomplishment. In this industry, time is money.
