JayMahon

You sound like my doc. =)

When you get to the hotel around midnight, do you just do a military PT workout? Push-ups, burpees and run for a mile or two?

How short is a min rest overnight? How much time do you get with that hotel pillow before it's time to get up and grind again?

dera

8 hours of "uninterrupted sleep opportunity".

Cheese7

Couldn't agree more. I'm 29, make $85k in a non aviation job and have been flight training part time for the last 2 years. By keeping my day job, I've been able to not only cash flow all my ratings, but also save up money on the side to tide me over in the low income pilot time-building period. I'm about 2 months away from quitting my current job and going to work full time as a flight instructor.

I agree that part time flight training allows it to sink in better. Some would say you have to "re-learn" some things, and I have found this to be true about a few things in aviation, but I have also seen that if I learn something twice, it hits the long term memory banks better, so there are pro's to "re-learning" things.



To the OP: You are in an almost identical situation to what I was in 2 years ago. With your current income and earning potential, I wouldn't quit your job and go into a bunch of debt for your ratings. I would cash flow every penny of them. I don't know the time commitment of your job, but what I found is that with a 40-50 hour/week job, no spouse, and no kids that I have enough time to work on my ratings on the side. I even took little breaks between each rating which was nice. Yes, you will have to give up nights and weekends, but its very do-able depending on how much you want it.

If you're in Georgia, you should have plenty of local part 61 schools. Are you out in the boonies or close to a city? Being that you work for a Fortune 500 company, I would imagine close to a city. I would go fly with a few different instructors and find the best instructor you can within driving distance from you. When you're local part 61, a good instructor makes all the difference in the world.

Also, I'm 6'-5". You'll fit just fine in a 172 (this was my favorite trainer plane partly because of my size and the more upright cockpit/seating of the 172). The piper products will be a little tight (Cherokee or Archer), but you should fit okay in an Arrow or Cherokee 180. I would look for a 172. Don't even think about a 150/152. I sat in one one time and couldn't move the flight controls without opening the door. My knees and thighs were all wrapped up in the yoke.

Good luck to you and feel free to come back with questions along the way. There are a few negative personalities on this forum, but most of the people here are helpful, remember what it's like to be where you are, and are willing to help people like us out.

You should check out Carl Valeri's Aviation Careers Podcast. That podcast was instrumental in my decision to make a career change. I'm pretty sure I went back to the beginning and listened to every episode since 2012.

Cheese7

Another cool thing about local part 61 over a big-box school is your freedom to do your own thing. For my time building between Instrument and Commercial, I rented a 172 and flew across the country twice. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done.

rickair7777

No, I go to bed.

If it's a long overnight I work out the next morning. If it's min rest, I don't work out. Usually.

At the regional it was usually military functional workout, plus running. I'd do 5-7 miles if there was a nice outdoor trail and nice weather. About all I can stand on a treadmill is three miles, although sometimes I'd gut it out longer if there was nothing else to do.

The major hotels are more likely to have more cardio equipment plus weights.


Min rest is ten hours. That must include opportunity for eight hours at the hotel. So accounting for hygiene and biology, you should have at least 6-7 hours in bed at a minimum.

Ecotone

Buddy, your story is almost identical to mine. Very cool!

This podcast was also a huge motivation booster for me all throughout last year while training. It really helped me stay sane and not lose focus on the end goal.

I am also about 1 to 2 months away from transitioning to full time CFI-ing. Good luck to you!

glover130

OP here-Why does Aero Atlanta seem to be so much less expensive than ATP? AA looks to be around $50,000 max but ATP is around $80,000. Does anybody know if the airline sponsorship ATP boasts is for real or just a sales pitch?

VegasChris

The private and instrument amounts at aeroatlanta seem to be correct.

Commercial seems very low to me for them, you are going to need practice with commercial maneuvers in addition to the complex time as well as some long cross country time.

Also the practical test (checkride) is way more than 400 (at least it was for me)

ATP will also get you a commercial multi and lots of multi time so that is probably a lot of the cost. AeroAtlanta looks like it just gets you to commercial single and you are on your own to do the multi add on later (not that expensive)

glover130

Can CFI time be completed part-time as well, just like the licensing part? I've been privileged enough to never have to live on just 25k and I'm not sure I have what it takes. I would love to be able to keep working in my current field not only through schooling, but through CFI as well even if that pushes back the timeline.

Ecotone

Getting the CFI is mostly about self-study. To get you an idea of what's involved for the practical test, go take a look at the CFI PTS. It can certainly be done at your own pace for fairly cheap at a local 61 school. The tricky part might be to find a 2-year CFI who is available since a lot of them are leaving for the airlines.