Hi,
I have been doing so much research over the past few years. This website has helped with a lot. I have one really big concern and I need to know how true it is. I have been told by a few flight schools that it is near impossible from now, to the next 8 to 10 years, to find a job to help you get your hours. That includes teaching like atp does. That if any school or academy tells you they are, they are lying. Because of it I have put my plans for school on hold. It clicked for me today to the pilots. So I am here asking how truthful are these schools being?
I am terribly confused why any flight school would tell you that. Yes, during the height of the pandemic, it was hard for pilots to get jobs to build hours, but that time is well over now and only lasted for a very frills period. In the next eight to ten years, tens of thousands of airline pilots will retire and that will drive a corresponding number of flight instructor positions. Plus, the airlines are growing like never before and the industry has shown that it can weather the financial blows of Covid. You being told this makes absolutely no sense to me. I recommend talking to other flight schools and talking to people here. We have several active members on this forum that recently completed their training and have been hired by CFIs at ATP.
Honestly I’ve never heard anything more ridiculous. As Chris said, perhaps during the height of the pandemic things were hard but we’re not even out of it and the airlines have already resumed hiring. Not sure if you’ve seen the news recently but airlines are canceling flights due to a lack of pilots. This industry is one giant food chain. The Majors need pilots they take from the Regionals and the Regionals take from the flight school instructors. All of that again is beginning to fire up as we speak and again we’re still not out of the pandemic.
And I’ll even go one further. Long before there was anything remotely like a pilot shortage there were always jobs. Were flight schools fighting over us? No we both did well and were offered positions with ATP almost immediately.
If you’re waiting for some kind of guarantee I wish you luck. But know the people that want this career and understand that nothing in life is guaranteed but also know they’re willing to do whatever is necessary to succeed will be getting hired and long before you.
ATP has hired and completed “Instructor Indoc” for 47 CFIs in the last 30 days. We have 15 more starting indoc on Monday. 43 instructors have been hired by airlines in the last 30 days.
Early on in flying it can seem hard to find a job, but there are usually always flight schools somewhere hiring. I instructed for a few months, got 600 hours and then found a little airline in Saipan which is 7,500 miles from my home hiring and got the job out here flying Cherokees between the Northern Marianas islands and Guam. Like Adam said there are no guarantees, but if you are willing to move, seek opportunities, and grind it out in the beginning than you should find a job to get you to the magic 1500 hrs. If you are like some people who “need” to have a job near your home then you might have a hard time.