Originally Posted by
d22block
But through a school can't you do an internship at an airport or with an airline in the summer? Which will then let you get to know people which they say is very helpful in the airline industry.
I was also thinking if the pilot thing didn't work out for any reason, minor in airport management so I can become an ATC.
Any thoughts on both of these?
For some reason people always seem to forget that airlines are still businesses....if you look on Delta, Southwest, Northwest or JetBlue's career pages right now you will see that there are co-op opportinuties for people of all majors - in fact, I would guess that there are more non-aviation specifc co-ops (accounting, comm) than there are aviation. A foot in the door at a major is a foot in the door - it doesn't matter if you got it by interning as an accountant or an ops guy.
I find that the problem with aviation degrees is that aviation is not meant to be a major: most of the stuff you learn comes from hands-on flying and learning from the people ahead of you. It is not meant to be taught in a classroom and as a result in order to fill a course cataloge a lot of universities create what I call "filler classes" which really serve no purpose other than to allow the school to become accredited and swindle students' money. I had one called "Turboprop Theory" basically the user manual for a PT-6 read to us over a 12 week span.
If you want to fly, I would suggest getting a four year degree in something else that interests you and flying at an independant FBO on the side. Not only will this save you money, but also allow more flexibilty in your training. At Flight Team nationals last year I talked with some of the other team and I was appalled to hear that they were paying about $200 for a single engine, fixed gear airplane for they primary and instument training (SR22). For $200/hr you should be flying something with no less than two engines on it. The whole goal of your flying should be to get your rating as cheap as possible.
Aviation students are not the people you want to spend the next four years of your life with...unless you enjoy sitting in a dorm room with three other dudes watching Top Gun for the 12th time.
But since it sounds like you already made up your mind, at least compromise with us and do just an aviation minor or even minor in another program.
I am an aviation major who drank the cool-aid and is now going back to finish a business degree, so trust me, there's way better ways to go about getting your ratings. As PilotPip said, you should be making yourself more diverse, not boxing yourself into a very specific field.