JamesNoBrakes

You "can" use the Aviation-whateveritscalled degree, but you have to consider some fairly wide aspects of aviation and it may not get you to the kind of salary that might be necessary to pay back flying loans and the bills, but again, if you are imaginative, it's possible to use it, I know of people who have.

That said, it's a pretty poor degree to get because it's redundant with what you will learn just by flying and achieving your certificates and ratings. There's little real benefit and your time is much better spent on something that is far more marketable, like accounting, business management, safety, and so on.

Flight experience, certificates, type ratings, etc., is what gets you hired as a pilot, not aviation degrees.

kevbo

I'm not trying to marginalize any ones choice in life. Some people really like working on aircraft and that is all that matters to them. As a career, it doesn't make any sense. I did relatively well and got the high paying job at the location that I wanted. It still didn't compare well to the careers of my friends who went into other blue collar trades. I cant imagine what it was like for all the guys that got stuck in the regionals making half of my paltry wages.

bklynbacon

I see this question posted frequently. Maybe it's an aviation industry thing...but in the rest of the world (as I'm in another industry now coming into aviation) NO ONE CARES what your degree is in. It's not even worth the paper it is on, as all it serves is an invitation to the party. Now if you're an engineer, architect, doctor (truly specialized fields) outside of aviation, then yes, the degree matters. How many people flying today truly have aviation degrees. No one in the military has one, I have a BA in History, etc, etc. Do what you want. You don't need a business degree to do business...

ICUROOK

You can look and feel healthy and not have a care in the world but then have something wrong with you that you have no control of and is just a random thing in nature that happens. That's the scary thing about this professions You can live a healthy life, but have something that you have no control of go wrong and it will cause you to lose your medical. You can do most other jobs with it, but not fly.

Bahamasflyer

I get what you guys are saying about losing ones medical and not being able to fly, but.......I thought that almost every major, LCC, and even a lot of regionals have "same occupation" LTD insurance to guard against exactly what so many are talking about.

http://www.aviationcareerspodcast.co...irline-pilots/

If a recall, wasn't sufficient SO LTD to age 65 one of the big wins in the new contract at Spirit?

Don't get me wrong, its still one of my worst nightmares, and it'd be heartbreaking to be faced with such an event and not be able to fly, but you are still getting paid 50-70% of your previous salary, often until age 65.

Of course, you absolutely won't live a cushy life this way, but to over dramatize how destitute you'll be if you lose your medical seems a bit too much.

Furthermore, I really think as one of the previous posters alluded to, that most jobs outside of aviation could care less what your degree is in. As with the airlines, a lot of my non-pilot friends have told me that the degree is mostly a "box to check" in fields other than medicine, engineering, etc, but we knew that.

galaxy flyer

In addition to medical loss, there’s furlough protection, for one thing. LTD maybe time limited or non-existent at your “career” operation. Yes, most careers don’t look at majors IF you have relevant work experience. In today’s world, careers are adventures in evolving work environments. Look back 30 years and nearly every imaginable job is unrecognizable to today.

I went through 4 careers never moving my home. Started corporate in ‘79 because there was an energy crisis and no hiring, then at an airline, it went bust, lost my military medical to fly ejection seat aircraft, went to a C-5 unit. Facing a forced move to headquarters job, left two years before retirement back to a corporate job (OEM), then promoted to Chief Pilot. That’s life.

GF

Subieguy14

and here i am wanting to get a major in aeronautics because I have a year of credits from my certs........


makes me rethink it but i feel like it would be wasted time.