Good Morning! So I’m a 22 year old veteran in pursuit of an airline pilot career. Since the GI Bill covers flight training minus private pilot if attending a college that has flight training tailored to their degree program. That would only leave me in minimal debt as I can apply for fafsa benefits to assist with the private pilot portion and a lower ATP minimum. So the pros with this route is minimal debt with the con being it would take longer.
While at ATP GI bill isn’t covered and thus there would be the need to finance my training and hold on to my GI Bill to acquire a degree once I get to the time building phase. The pro here is I complete all my training quicker with a unique and widely known training program however incur massive debt.
Now I am not asking for which way to go but rather assistance to weigh both options. I am heavily leaning towards the second option (ATP) however I feel as though sometime down the line I would regret not going with the cheaper 1st option. Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Quick and dirty. ATP is going to cost you about $80k. Pilots have a finite amount of years they can fly. If the college route takes you 2 yrs longer that’s approx. $700,000 in lost earnings JUST counting the last 2yrs of your career. Factor in a career’s worth of earnings, retirement and the other benefits of seniority and that $80k gets very insignificant.
Here are my thoughts on this, I dislike aviation universities for a few reasons. The first is that it does not give you any backup should the whole aviation thing fall apart for any reason. I have a business degree, which enables me to work in either aviation, or a management position. If I only had an aviation degree, it would be hard to work in another field. In other words, do not limit yourselves.
I do not like how aviation universities focus on the obscure. They will probably have you take a class or two of Air Traffic Control. While it is great to know more about what the ATC guys do, it is in no way necessary and quite honestly is a waste of your time if you want to be a pilot. Wasted time and wasted money.
Now I can’t say this about every aviation university, but it does seem like many of them are really out of touch with the airline industry. Embry Riddle just did a video with ABC news about the recent Southwest incident with one of the professors, it was so riddles with errors and downright ignorance that ERAU removed what should have been a really good PR piece from their own website. For an aviation university to have an epic fail like that shows how little they really know about the airlines.
Keep in mind that if you go the university route, you will qualify for the lower ATP minimums, but it will take you much longer to do so, thus delaying your entrance into the airlines and adversely affecting your seniority for the rest of your career.
My vote is that you get to the airlines as quickly as possible. Those last several years as a senior captain will definitely outweigh the added costs.
There’s more than one way to get to the airlines. Ultimately, the choice is yours. You just need to decide which path is right for you. Personally, an aviation university is not the path that I would choose, but it is a path that many have taken before you.
No matter which path you take, you’ll need to meet the requirements of FAR 61.159. How you decide to get there is up to you. Good arguments have been made by both Chris and Adam. I have to agree with them, but I always encourage people to consider all of their options because what’s right for one is not always right for another.
Based on your understanding of the two options you’ve mentioned, with the new perspectives you’ve received from Chris and Adam, you just need to decide what is more important to you and trust that the system will take you where you want to go.
Let me start by thanking you all for your time and apologizing for the wall of text to follow.
My name is Brock, I’m a six-year USAF enlisted aviator who is separating next spring. Aviation has been a passion of mine my entire life, and I’m looking for a bit of help deciding on what would be my best path to the cockpit.
I’m really torn right now between taking my GI bill and going to a part 141 school (likely UND) or biting the financial bullet and committing to ATP. It is really tough to turn down having the vast majority of the expenses paid for by a part 141 school, including a monthly housing stipend. That said I’ll be 28 when I separate, and I can’t shake the feeling that because of my age I’m late to the party and my window of opportunity is closing. Taking four years (plus another two time-building) is a difficult pill to swallow when I compare it to ATP’s program. As I understand it life at the regionals is as good as it’s ever been, and I’m worried about that wave crashing by the time I’d get there.
That said, the cost of ATP is frankly a little terrifying to a soon-to-be unemployed staff sergeant with a wife who has minor medical needs. We’ll have her income, but our quality of life will take a pretty drastic hit until I’m a couple years deep in a regional. But the more I read about the quality and intensity of ATP the more I feel like I would thrive in the program. The guaranteed instructor workload and deep partnerships with the airlines is something I’ve yet to find at any other school.
Am I being foolish to favor ATP when I have a -much- cheaper option available? I would love to hear your thoughts, I’ve been absolutely blown away by the mentorship on these forums.
Again thank you very much for your time, and fly safe.
I moved your post to a current thread discussing the same topic (in truth this question gets asked weekly). Take a look above and do some searching for more if you need.
Welcome to the forums and thank you for the introduction.
Seniority is a huge factor in this industry and even a few weeks can make a huge difference. Twenty-eight is definitely on the older side to be beginning flight training, but it isn’t terrible. That being said, there are many 28 year olds that are already at the majors, so you can see where time is of the essence.
I would look at your GI Bill and how you can best use it. You will need a degree for the majors, so you will be using some of it there, you also might be able to use some of it for your children.
Just a side not, I am not sure how the Air Force uses the term “aviator”, but in the civilian world that only applies to pilots. Not a big deal at all, I just wanted to let you know of a terminology difference.
I tried going with ATP but couldn’t secure full financing without a cosigner which I don’t have. So I ended going with an Associate’s Degree Pilot program which will take me 20 more months to get all my licenses which isn’t the pace I prefer. My credit report hasn’t been update to represent my financing for the PPL portion yet. So I might have to gamble on whether or not I would want to switch ATP as soon as I get my PPL in May or just stick it out with the current program. Decisions decisions.