NCarlson

I'm looking for really general advice about the directions I should be looking if I want to persue an airline job. Basically, I'm half way through grade 11 (one more year of high school), and haven't started any flight training. My high school courses have been aimed at an Engineering program, but I have also been considering commercial flying. I'm in Toronto ON, and realistically I would have to do my training in Canada, but I am eligable to work in the US, and wouldn't mind doing so.

My biggest question is, what sort of post secondary programs should I be looking at? I know that engineering is good, but it is expensive when combined with flight training, what about urban planning? What sort of degrees look good on an application?

My next question is where should I be looking for training? I have no interest in going into the military, so am looking purly at civilian routes. Any advice in this area would be great, I know of three flight schools in my area that have good reputations, but is there anything specific I should be looking for?

Finally, seeing how most airlines require some significant jet time to look at an application, I have a couple of questions. What is the best way to get this time? What sort of jobs and/or schools would get me some time on jets without previoues experience? Secondly, for the purposes of a job application, is time on a turbo prop considered jet time? Also, how realistic would it be to get a job in Northern Canada to build time once I have a commercial licence?

Finally, in terms of where I want to be headed, I'm interested in a job for one of the majors, but don't really care what country I'm working in, so what is involved in transferring Canadian training to the US or UK? Also, although it's not really a major, does anyone know anything about First Air? They seem like a company I might want to work for, although it is true that they are quite small.