How to pay for Aviation training?
 

Hi all,

I'm not a pilot but my fiance is. He has been taking classes at BGSU for aviation since early 2016. He currently holds his private pilot license and has the first round of instrument training complete. He is starting this process a little late in life (35) but he is doing great (3.8 GPA) but the momentum is going to slow for a moment though since flight time is so expensive. He does receive some financial aid and scholarships but as many of you know that doesn't necessarily cover everything and we've already paid for so much out of pocket. Is anyone aware of special aviation scholarships he might be able to apply for, sites we can check? Or jobs that will pay to finish this sort of training (we are in Toledo Ohio area)? We are constantly searching for scholarships but there are so many bogus ones or he doesn't meet the criteria (though he applies for everything he can). Any help or direction is greatly appreciated.

The problem with 4 year aviation schools is that they are kind of a rip off.

I have known a couple people who were enrolled in 4 year programs and once they figured out how expensive the school was, they left and went to American Flyers or another accelerated aviation school like Livingston Aviation is Waterloo, IA.

Your husband should go to one of these accelerated schools and do the 7 day Commercial and 7 day CFI.

I think he could still return to the 4 year school for the academic part of the school. The advantage to graduating from a 4 year accredited aviation school is that he can get a Restricted ATP with only 1000 hours. Otherwise a pilot needs 1500 to get a Airline Transport Pilot's license which you need to fly at the regionals and majors.

Four year aviation schools do a good job of educating pilots, but it takes a long time to build your hours if you go to one. The quicker a pilot can get hours, the quicker their paycheck will increase.

These guys have a good scholarship guide, but really, you're unlikely to find anything unless you're young, a minority, or veteran:

Aviation Careers Podcast ? A Podcast about Achieving Your Aviation Career Goals


How do you pay for it?

1- be wealthy and write your own check (or earn a high income and write your own check)

2- have wealthy family/friends who will pay for it for you

3- get a loan

4- join the military

I drove taxi cabs to pay for flight school.
5 years in cabs, part time and full time.
Flew sky-divers in C-206s and instructed in a PA-28-140 on days off
from the cab. First full time flying job felt good.
Drove my last cab in 1982.
No student loans, and pay was ok for a young bachelor without a mortgage.
Not for everybody but it worked for me.

I learned how to fly at a not for profit part 61 flight school and I'm about to take my commercial checkride. I paid $35/hr wet for a c152. PM me for details if you're interested.

That is not possible these days :mad:

Unless/Until a pilot shortage gets severe enough to cause airlines to sponsor ab initio training programs, there are not going to be many "scholarships" available to most folks.

Aviation, being primarily a commercial/industrial endeavor, is not considered worthy of scholarships by most of the non-profit realm, and the government probably thinks it already pays enough to train military pilots, the majority of whom will eventually work for airlines.

It's not particularly easy to break into, but enough people are willing to put up with the hurdles because of the likely high payoff at the end (which really only about 30% of student pilots ever achieve).

It is still "very" possible. I did my training from 2011-2014 while oil prices were at historic highs. I didn't believe in taking on debt for an aviation career. I worked as a Lineman, Fedex Ground, Ebay business, North Dakota oilfields for a year, etc. All of my earnings went into aviation. I spent very little money on anything else.

You have it much easier right now in my opinion. With an Instrument, Commericial and 250 hours you can apply and get hired at Air Choice One in St Louis as a Caravan SIC. With 500 hours you can get hired on as an SIC at numerous different operators. Those opportunities did not exist yet when I was a CFI. You had to have 800 hours before a 135 would hire you.

Don't get me wrong, it is still a big challenge, but if you want it bad enough you can do accomplish a lot.

Yes but the oilfield jobs are not in existence like they were back then. That was a very specific boom that allowed unskilled people to make a lot of money in a short amount of time. Show me where that exists today?

Sure, it's called Harvey. Like the oilfields, only a small percentage of the population will be willing to take a chance and move to Houston to find a reconstruction job or start a small business.

The point of my post was to be inspirational. (Think glass is half full). If you want something bad enough, you will find ways to accomplish it and not give up. If you keep telling yourself that the economic climate is not right, you are too old, you are not smart enough, than the economic climate is never going to be right, you are always going to be too old, you will never be smart enough, etc.

Here is some tough love, but stop looking for some magical solution to your problems and get off your ass and do something about it. I graduated college with a finance degree which turned out to be pretty worthless in 2008. It took me a couple years to realize that I was not entitled to a good job just because I went to college. You always need to have a good back up plan.

Have you ever heard of a term called focal length? Your focal length is how far into the future you can see the roadmap of your life. For example, someone who enters a pre-med curriculum their freshman year in college has a focal length of at least 12 years. Is your focal length long enough to get you to your desired end state as a pilot?

If you are looking for direction, you could always join the military.