I’ve read quite some comments on here, and I was wondering…I’m an experienced full time manufacturing engineer, 32 of age and always loved aircraft and the dream of flying never went away! But like we all know life sometimes takes you different ways! However is summary my question is, is it possible to start now and become a pilot in the future, without leaving my current job? Even if it takes longer time? And if so how would that look like and how long would it take?
It is not possible to train with ATP if you cannot commit to the program full time. There are course other school that will work around your schedule, but these will obviously take significantly longer. How long depends on you and how much time you can devote to flight training. I would expect it to be several years, especially if you are working full time.
It is of course possible to train part time. The thing to keep in mind is there’s a reason the military and the airlines (and yes ATP) all train full-time. It’s because it works! Pilot skills are built each on the next and to be successful there must be consistency. The reality is many have tried and while some do well, most do not. Things like weather, airplane/instructor availability and life gets in the way and many end up making no progress but spending a ton of money only for frustration.
If this is something you really want to do it might be best to wait till you have the resources to train full time and do it then.
Welcome to the forum. As the others said, training at a flight school like ATP requires a full-time commitment. There is a reason ATP stands behind: providing students with the most efficient path to a successful airline pilot career. If your dream is to fly and one day get to the corporate/airline world, you will do what it takes to make it. There are sacrifices that each and every student and graduate have taken to get where they are. I would recommend figuring out the pros/cons of the scenario to attend flight school, if it’s something you want to do, there is always a way.
It is highly discouraged to work or do any part-time activities that could ‘get in the way’ of flight training.
I worked at ATP, Wayman Aviation & as a contract CFI. Best advice I can give you is don’t start training unless you have the funds to complete it; you need to fly at least 3days/week on avg and have time to study.
If you can’t commit to that then you are setting up for an expensive and frustrating failure.
The part-time track can take a year to 2 years if you have the funding and commitment above.
Not only is part time not recommended for a successful training environment but it’s also financially risky. You’ll find many stories on the forum here about people who got strung along for months or years flying once a week, hardly making any forward progress in their ratings and burning through significant amounts of money. Not to mention it’s all cash up front. Your best route is to take a chance on yourself, get approved for a loan and have a little savings to help you get by for 7 months. This way, you have a fixed cost training program.