I am very exciting to joined this wonderful networking group with professional pilots that giving the best advice for inspire pilots and what are their goals and any other questions. I am very interesting to become a pilot from a very young age, everything about airplane just interest me. The problem is just how to start into a program that would be beneficial and rewarding when finding a job. I recently took a big step by applying for a loan through Sallie Mae, I don’t know what the outcome will be, but if I do get approve for the loan, how likely a pilot job will be after gaining 1500 hours of flight hours to get a job and pay back the loan. It’s a big loan and it can be scary to know if I would get a job to pay it back. Any encouraging advice would help
First and foremost there are zero guarantees in this industry (and life for that matter). The reality is while you may be “very interested to become a pilot from a very young age, everything about airplane just interests” you, you don’t know if you’ll be a good pilot or not. Flying isn’t rocket science but it does require not just a certain level of intelligence, but also a fair amount of coordination (and a tremendous amount of hard work). I’m not saying you don’t have that (or if you’re not willing to do the work), only that you won’t know either till you actually start training. Bust a few too many checkrides and your chances of getting hired goes down considerably.
The good news is if you’re put in the work, do well, and have a clean record, you will get hired. The World is experiencing the worst pilot shortage in history and the airlines are actively recruiting pilots. It’s literally the best time in history to get into this industry, IF, you’ve got what it takes.
First things first, you really need to take an intro flight. Being in a small trainer aircraft is a unique sensation. You want to make sure you have realistic expectations.
If you decide to pursue ATP, think of it as a 7 month job interview. Your performance as a student will determine if you’re offered a CFI job upon completion of the program. If you finish on time, few checkride failures and display the professionalism needed for employment, you shouldn’t have any issues getting a job.
After 1500 hours, again without an accident, incidents or legal trouble you should not have any issues getting hired by a regional. Every day regionals are losing pilots to the majors. The demand is growing larger by the day for qualified pilots.
Adam and Hannah, I really appreciate your feedback. Sure enough I’m willing to put in the work. I just want to be certain that the program would be beneficial.
I have no idea how common failures are but they do happen and frankly one (or even 2) won’t really derail your career. Beyond that things start getting questioned.
Honestly the best way to avoid them is to put in the work. While not everyone can or should be a pilot, what I found when I was instructing was most failures came from laziness or the belief that “good enough” was good enough, it’s not. I hear people say things like “I know the manuever pretty well” or “I can answer most of the questions”. If you’re checkride strategy is hoping the examiner doesn’t ask you certain questions or allows enough of a fudge factor that’s a really bad plan. Know the material well and you’ll do well, don’t and you’re rolling the dice.
Thankyou so much Adam. So, instructor would teach me what to say during training or I will need to study on my own to understand the questions the instructor would ask me?
Also, can somebody tell me about their process of getting into ATP and how was the process of getting a huge loan knowing that it will have to get paid back six months after the training has completed.
At ATP your instructor will provide flight instruction and ground school but there is a significant amount of self-study involved. The program is mirrored after the airlines and is designed to not only provide the training for your licenses and ratings but also prepare you for airline style training.
As for the loans, while making the payments will in many cases requires some sacrifice on your part, you can sometimes defer the payments or make interest only payments to make things more manageable. More important ATP instructors are eligible to participate in various programs offered by ATPs airline partners some of who offer Tuition Reimbursement to cover a good portion of the training cost.
I would like to know if APT provide a meteorologist course to better understand the weather and how to navigate through it. If not how can you learned the weather while flying?
ATP does not provide a meteorologist course as pilots are not meteorologists. Pilots need to know how to read and understand weather, but certainly not to the extent that a meteorologist does. ATP does teach you the fundamentals of aviation weather and how to apply them to your job as a pilot.
A checkride is an event where a representative from the FAA evaluates your skills and knowledge as a pilot to see if you should be granted the FAA license you are applying for. A typical checkride will consist of hour or two of questions being asked to you, followed by a flight of an hour or two in which your skills are evaluated. It is necessary to pass both parts of this event in order to have the FAA license granted to you.