Hello, I'm Derick and I'm new to the forum. I've always been interested in industries where operation/control is either close to or IS the highest priority (obviously with safety of course). I'll be 21 this coming February and after having an unpleasant experience with an art school my parents wanted me to go to, I looked back into my interest of having a solid real career since the whole art school thing was filled with pretentious and annoying people to be completely honest.

I originally looked into becoming a locomotive engineer in NJ (for commuter lines) since I'm based in NJ and also because my family is a railroad family but the problem with that was to even get in the company. Unlike open flight training for the public, there is no public locomotive engineering school/training. You need to be in the company first which is sort of a catch 22 considering you need to have several years of certain mechanical experiences and work in a place prior to even applying that pertains to that which doesn't really make sense because even if you were academically inclined, you couldn't just learn the content and get the job. I'm guessing that has to do with the fact that NJ has the strictest engineering training in the country but that's a bit silly.

So after a few months of waiting for a call back from a commuter railroad for their "open locomotive engineer trainee positions hiring now!" I decided it was time to reconsider my options. Training for engineering takes around the same amount of time that getting all your certifications for flight takes which surprised me because in my head, flying an aircraft was more prestigious (not that locomotive engineering was substantially less but you get the point). I was always interested in aviation but this training time frame made me a lot more interested in the sense that this could become a viable career for me because I somehow always thought it would take like 10 years to even become a pilot.

So now that I'm sold on the whole pilot life thing, I've been doing a lot of research on flight schools in my area. I happened to find a cadet program for Piedmont Airlines which is an airline I've never heard of but they're a subsidiary for American Airlines (which is a good thing right? lol) which seemed pretty cool to me. If anyone has experience or knows what its like to work with Piedmont Airlines, please feel free to let me know about things because I want to get into this full time. Anyways, the school that I found that is hosting all of this is called Infinity Flight and they're located at the Trenton Mercer airport in NJ of course. Their website seems clean and modern and everything seems legit. I just want to know if I'm taking a step in the right direction because the cadet program offers some perks as quoted from their site:

• Once qualified as an Infinity CFI with 500 hours, you are eligible for the Piedmont Cadet Program.

• As a Cadet instructor, you will receive partial tuition reimbursement each month, as well as numerous opportunities, including mentorship with airline industry experts.

• At Restricted ATP/ATP minimums, you will be enrolled in an ATP-CTP course, including transportation and accommodations, at no cost to you.

• After completing the ATP-CTP course and ATP Knowledge Exam, you will be placed into the next First Officer new hire class at Piedmont.

• Flow to American Airlines is based on seniority with no additional interview required.

The last thing I'd like to know is how long it would take me to become a captain. For age and timeline reference, I'm 20 now, I'll be 21 in February and I plan on going everything with this school within a year of this post or sooner.

I apologize if this post was too long, I'm just another person seduced by the excitement of aviation and I really want to make it my lifetime career. Thanks in advance to those who reply or simply read.