Originally Posted by
BillDougy
I am a 32 y/o firefighter/paramedic currently with 18 years before retirement is an option (private pension years prior to current department didn't count) and I am looking at a new career as a commercial pilot due to earning potential and boredom after 14 years fighting fire. Question I have is related to pay and job opportunities as well as training leading up to getting a ticket for a regional. Is starting pay really in the 60k range or is that just including bonuses as a marketing gimmick? What is the time line from start to finish of required training. Is a bachelors degree required for the flow to a legacy? Thanks in advance.
Search for threads I have started because I am in a similar position. 32 y/o FF/PM looking for a second career for similar reasons. I have my PPL checkride in a few weeks, then start instruement
Starting pay at regionals is around 60k is what I have found, and that includes the bonus. I plan on working both jobs at the same time as much as I can so I do not have to take the paycut. No way I could do it otherwise without having to seriously re-do our finances to get through the regional time.
Training- You can do it as fast as you want. Fastest I have seen is 9 months to CFI. with about 250 hours. Once there you need to get to 1500 for ATP, or 1000 for R-ATP in Bachelors program. The certs are PPL, Instrument, Commercial, CFI. Then you will need a muti-engine endorsement, but you can do that when you get to CFI.
You need the CFI to build hours, unless you are made of money and can afford your own plane and at least 1000 hours to get to your time requirements.
The major airline pilots almost all have a bachelors degree from what I have found. The ones that do not have military time. I am sure there are some exceptions, but getting a bachelors is almost a must. If you get into a program like liberty you do your bachelors in aviation while getting a R-ATP so that is one thing to consider.
My department does tuition re-imbursement for certain degrees and airlines could care less what your bachelors is in. So that is how I am doing it.
To make it work you will need to stay at the fire department for the time it will take you to get your certs and hours built up to get the ATP. Working full time and school full time you should be able to get it done in about 2-3 years. To get from nothing to your CFI it is probably going to cost around 70-100k depending on where you go.
I got hired at the FD when I was 27, and I am 32 now. I will promote to engineer this year. My PERS allows me to retire at with 20 years at 50. I can buy up to 5 years of credit so the soonest I can go is age 42 with 15 on plus 5 purchased. I still cannot collect until I am 50, so I might just stay until 50 to continue getting PERS credit and work as a pilot and as a firefighter. It would be a tough schedule especially at first, but with trades and vacation time I think I will be able to swing it until I get get a major and can afford to quit the fire department all together. Many of our guys that max out are dying of cancer or cardiac issues within 5 years of retiring so I would like to change careers sooner rather than later.