FullyInvolved

I'm more interested in making flying my career than just working at the FD for 20-something years to collect a retirement and then flying an RJ until I retire. I'm sure like most people out there, I've always dreamed of being a Captain on a wide body.

Is it realistic to teach as a CFI on my 20 off days a month and quickly get to 1500 hours? Is this something that would take maybe a year or two or are we talking several years +?

I think my best bet is doing all my ratings and teaching as a CFI while still working as a FF if possible so I still have steady income plus being able to get my bachelors at nearly no cost.

And I guess most importantly, how realistic are Envoy's numbers of 2 years to be an Envoy Captain and 6 years to flow to American? Will these be reasonable numbers in a couple years by the time I get my 1500 hours?

Broncofan

By time you get your CFI you should have around 300 hours. So you'll have to get around 1200 more. To get that many hours it would probably take a little over a year probably year and a half if you bust your a**. Also that's assuming your at a very busy flight school. I know a few people were the flight school wasn't very busy with students and took home over 4 years.

ItnStln

Not to hijack this thread, but is JetBlue the only US carrier with a program like this? I know they're common in Europe and Asia, but this is the first that I've heard about it in the US.

firemedic

Wow ! Literally almost seems like I wrote your original post . I was in exact same situation at age 23. Became a paramedic and landed a job with a career fire department at 23. I was training for my private at the time, and got my private. A few years in, I was looking to change careers as well to airline pilot. However, being 23, and taking the advice of many many airline pilots, friends, co-workers, family....they told me to pay out of pocket over the years as a firefighter to get ratings, eventually part time CFI to build time, and when I have my 20 years (and secure state pension), THEN career change ! They said at that time the industry should be hiring like crazy, and even at 43 or 44...with the age 65 rule it literally leaves another 20 year career open flying. Long story short, that is what I ended up doing ! Just flew for fun, and actually just finished training for my instrument and am prepping for the checkride. I have 6 years left until I retire from the fire dept. Hoping in the next 2 years to have ratings and CFI done, and start instructing. My plan is to have the 1500 and other requirements done by the DAY I retire....and then flood the regionals with apps. I'll only be 44 at that time, and will have my fire pension. Also will still have my paramedic license and might even do the paramedic to RN program to have as a backup or part time work. So anyways, in a nutshell that's my situation.....very similar as you can see ! Counting down 6 more years....Im tired of having to get up 3 or 4 times in the middle of the night...its been fun but its time to move on lol

FullyInvolved

firemedic, very similar situations. I still love my job, but I don't know if it's something I want to put another 30 years in. I'm 23 with about 5 years on. Like a lot of people, I've got the dream/end goal of being a Captain on a widebody and the 20 years in-and-out idea may not get me there.

I did an intro flight with a flight school the other day and loved it. I think I'm going to stick with my plan:

• Stay at the FD, use my salary (~$80k/yr) to help pay for zero time to CFI.
• Start on bachelor's (have two AAs currently) --- state offer free tuition waiver for firefighters.
• Take flight lessons on my 20 off days a month. Then, hopefully instruct to build time until I get on with a regional.

Question for the folks on here. What's a reasonable amount of time to get from zero to CFI? I know the most extreme end is probably ATP Flight School at ~6 months but that's not an option (not willing to quit my full time career).

I talked to several flight schools and the time frame has ranged from 6 months - 2 years. The flight school that said 6 months was suggesting multiple lessons a day (2 each off day, approximately 40 lessons a month).

I want to find the balance of getting this done quickly so I can start building time and working towards a regional. Is the idea of taking multiple lessons a day a bad idea? It seems like going to a 'fast-track' flight school like ATP would require multiple lessons a day.

Thanks again ladies and gents.

viper548

Don't quit your job.
I did almost all of my instrument rating at night after work. Just because a lesson doesn't say "night" doesn't mean you can't do it at night. Most of the private will need to be done during the day.

viper548

It depends how quickly you process what you learn. 4 weeks is reasonable for private. Depending how quickly you process instruments, your instrument rating- 3 weeks. Commercial is a lot of time building and fine tuning skill. This is a good place to accelerate your training. CFI- 3 weeks. The CFII and MEI should be a couple days a piece.

FullyInvolved

Wow. 4 weeks seems fast. That would have to be doing multiple lessons each day I'm off, correct? The time frame I heard for private was 3-4 months, but that was assuming one lesson each day I'm off (I've got 20 off days a month).

I want to get through this stuff done ASAP. I think the flight school recommends doing one lesson a day to start. If I feel like I can grasp the material, should I start upping it and seeing if I can do multiple lessons a day to reduce the amount of time?

Thanks again.

viper548

It's hard to say with the private. Getting to solo is where most of the learning is done. Some students get the hang of it quickly, some take a long time to solo. I would recommend at least 3 times a week. More than one a day pre solo is probably overdoing it. You need time to process it. Post solo it wouldn't be hard to pick up the pace. The learning curve isn't as steep. Post solo is getting better at what you already learned, a few hours of flying on instruments, night flying and cross country flying. It took me 10 months to get my private because I didn't have the money. I never had a private student try to get their license really quickly, so I'm not certain about the 4 weeks being feasible. I think for someone willing to fly every day and grasps it quickly it is.

FullyInvolved

Got it. My plan is to initially just start with one lesson a day on each day I'm off. I work 24hrs on, 48 off so I can potentially do 2 lessons on my off days and then spend my shift day reviewing what I learned and prepping for the written exam. I have a LOT of free time at the station to study to take advantage of.

But yes, I would like to pick up the pace at some point. Maybe not initially since everything is brand new but definitely after PPL.