My question is about flight schools and what airline is willing to pay for pilot training.
I was in CAP (Civil Air patrol) in high school and have have completed a few discovery type flights on small single engine aircraft. I LOVE flying and I love aircraft of all kinds. Flying has always been a passion of mine and I am ready to make it a career. In my limited searching I have found ATP, Envoy, and Aviate. My question is what school is best if my plan is to move to cargo or corporate/charter. And full disclosure I do not know enough about the industry as a whole to know if cargo or corporate is the right choice. I am looking for a program that will allow me to go from PPL to Jet rated in 2 years and I have read many airlines are paying for training so which airlines would you all recommend to someone who still needs to complete the PPL and what airline if any, is willing to fully fund the training process?
The first answer is pretty much none of them. Although United is offering a handful of scholarships to their Aviate program, they’re only giving a few and they’ve received literally hundreds of thousands of applicants.
The fact is not everyone can or should be a pilot and no one is going to risk the considerable investment until they know you’ll be successful. That’s why the Regionals are offering reimbursements and bonuses AFTER you’ve completed the training.
As for which school is best, full disclosure, this is ATPs website and all the mentors on here are former ATP grads and now successful airline pilots. We’re not sales people. We were all where you are now at some point and after doing our research decided ATP was the best route and still feel that way. Some of the reasons are:
Timeline: 7mos to complete ALL your training
Availability of Instructor jobs for time building: with over 70 locations there’s always a need
Reputation: ATP has been training pilots for the airlines for over 35yrs. Pioneered the airline relationships and have places over 1200 grads with the airlines in the last 12mos alone. ATP is actually a partner school for but the Envoy and Aviate programs as well as many others including Spirit and Frontier’s Direct Entry which bypasses the Regionals and is unprecedented in the industry.
As for flying corporate, cargo or passenger airlines, the path is the same. You need to get trained then build your time.
I suggest you visit our FAQ section and the ATP website for more answers.
First off, ATP is a flight school and they participate in programs like Aviate in the Envoy cadet program. Envoy is a regional airline. And Aviate is another cadet program created by United.
None of the airlines will pay for training. The only program that covers a portion of training is the Aviate program. The Aviate program only pays for the private pilot training.
The only “financial assistance” in aviation comes in the form of bonuses and/or tuition reimbursement.
Most students finance their training with a co-signer through personal loans.
Just to add to what the guys said already, if you’re thinking about Charter/Corporate or Cargo you should consider the ATP 100 hr Multi program. You will finish the program with all the same ratings but with 100 hours of multi engine time instead of 25. This goes a long way to making you competitive for those part 135 jobs.
The program is quite a bit more expensive so if that’s a limiting factor you would still be fine with the standard program. You might have to find a job time building in a multi engine aircraft later on.
If the regionals are where your sights are set on, you only need the 25 hours multi. The rest will be taken care of in a simulator.
A college degree is not a requirement to be an airline pilot. That said it is still preferred at the Legacy carriers and most Majors which means those with a degree will ALWAYS get hired first. If you choose not to you, need to accept the fact you may be flying for a Regional or LCC for longer than your peers with degrees, or even never get the nod.
Hi Adam, I was responding to Shane’s comment about there being additional options to finance training if you are a disabled veteran. I was curious if he knew of any that did not require going back to college. As I am a disabled veteran, everything I have available to me requires me to go back to college.
As far as someone with a degree will ALWAYS get hired first, I respectfully disagree. I know a few pilots and they were hired without a degree BEFORE others with a degree with similar experience. It has to do with who ya know and your networking ability
We say that because for the mass majority of applicants, those without a degree tend to have more difficulty than anyone else. Could it be overcome with aggressive networking and checking other boxes? In some cases, yes. But generally getting hired without a degree is the exception to the rule.
As Hannah said, EVERYBODY knows a guy who knows a guy bla bla bla. The advice we offer of based on what works best for the majority of applicants. I know a guy who won the lottery and retired the next day. Should I make buying a lottery ticket my retire plan? I’m thinking not.
With all due respect, you have no idea what happened behind the scenes, the other applicants qualifications etc unless you were actually on the panel. I’ve been on panels and like it or not the reality is there’s a reason the Major airlines ALL ask the question “do you have a 4yr degree”. If you don’t want to get one or don’t believe having one will be advantageous, that’s your decision. Doesn’t mean you’re right just because you know a guy. Reach out to the Major of your choice and ask them what percent of their pilots have 4yr degrees. You’ll be very unpleasantly surprised.
