Originally Posted by ctd57

There are 2 ways to get all of your certificates and build time. Either fly for the military, or do it the civilian way. In the civilian route, there are many ways to go about building enough time to go to the airlines. There are many flight schools out there to go to. Some universities have their own flight departments, so you can earn a degree while you earn your certificates. Some like, ATP, where I went, are just flight schools. After earning all of the required certificates and ratings, a majority of the people become flight instructors to build time. There are the lucky few who know people out there who don't ever have to instruct. But for most of us, you instruct to build your time. The biggest thing is earning multi-engine time. Flying doesn't pay very well until you have put your time in. Most jobs at the regionals start out at $19-23/hour. But it does get better with time. Many people make a full career out of it. As with any job, some guys get tired and do change jobs.