Well that all works well if you have been planning on flight training since you were a fetus. Myself, I started training at age 26 after I stopped pursuing my other passion (golf). Didn't have the luxury (I thought) of saving up and paying as I went. No help from the parents. No military. No rich spouse. I took out alot of student loans, and finished all my certs and hours plus a 4 year degree in 3.5 years. Worked super hard to get here, now Im a little dissapointed it's not paying off at all financially.
Explain to me how anyone can get through all your certs (in under a decade) without any student loan debt.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nigelcobalt
Well that all works well if you have been planning on flight training since you were a fetus. Myself, I started training at age 26 after I stopped pursuing my other passion (golf). Didn't have the luxury (I thought) of saving up and paying as I went. No help from the parents. No military. No rich spouse. I took out alot of student loans, and finished all my certs and hours plus a 4 year degree in 3.5 years. Worked super hard to get here, now Im a little dissapointed it's not paying off at all financially.
I suggest you get comfortable with disappointment. Unlike little kids' sports, real life keeps score and nobody gets a "participation" award.
Had you gone into the military, your degree would have been 75-90% paid by Uncle Sam. All branches have a tuition assistance program for active duty member, and after separation, the GI Bill kicks in. Unfortunately you already have spent the money.....
But WAIT! You could still join up and have the military pay off a substantial part of your loans.
Well that all works well if you have been planning on flight training since you were a fetus. Myself, I started training at age 26 after I stopped pursuing my other passion (golf). Didn't have the luxury (I thought) of saving up and paying as I went. No help from the parents. No military. No rich spouse. I took out alot of student loans, and finished all my certs and hours plus a 4 year degree in 3.5 years. Worked super hard to get here, now Im a little dissapointed it's not paying off at all financially.
Its a pretty bad recession and age 65 made the whole situation worse. I doubt there's any field that paying off financially right now in this recession. Just hang on, keep tight and dont worry, it'll be alright in a couple years.
Explain to me how anyone can get through all your certs (in under a decade) without any student loan debt.
I went from student pilot to the right seat of a major in 6 years. I paid for my own training and had no student debt. I did this by having no life for a few years while I hung out at the local flight school and and flew anything I could and picked up as many students as I could. I also had 2100 hours and 200 multi with an ATP when I got hired at Skywest in 1993.
Obviously times have changed and it would have sucked to get stuck as an FO at a commuter for a long period of time. But it would be a lot easier with no debt.
That being said, at XJT for instance I made over 30K my first year (worked a lot), year two was around 45K. Now back in the right seat close to 50K. It depends on how much you work, your seniority, whether you're a line holder or reserve, do you live in base or commute, your contract (this one is very important), overall there are a number of factors. I know a couple of senior F/O's that pull around 60K a year, but they work the contract, and still manage to have 13-14 days off a month. I hold about 16 days off a month, and as I mentioned, this year should be a little over 50K.
Please explain how you are doing this. Is this including perdiem? Do you you live in base?
This was posted somewhere on this site in another thread... topic was similar so I wont repost the whole discussion but seems like these rates are what folks would like to work towards in the airlines... Jet blue pretty much got the 190 rates, expressJet got the rates on the E145 in thier charter operation, these can happen.... if there has ever been a perfect storm for fighting for better wages in the small narrowbody part of this business.
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