Reckz

Hello guys,

After shadowing a friend of mine who’s in pilot school I feel in love.

I attended a community college right after high school but dropped out after 1 year & a half of semester.

I became a personal trainer & fell in love, but I realized this is not the field I really wanna be in. I wanna become a pilot for a major company...

My question is:

1) what’s my first step?

2) ideally how long will it take me to get a job?

3) am I in the right age to start?

kevbo

Go back to school and start flight training. You are at least three years and $150,000 away from your first low paying flying job.

Sliceback

71 is too old to start.

rickair7777

Do a lot of research. Most of your questions have been answered here on APC, and there are other forums too. Be careful when reading posts more than 2-3 years old... the industry outlook for pilots has improved over the last five years, before that it was pretty gloomy for a decade.

First practical step should be get a PPL, fly around a bit and see how you like it. I would not commit to professional pilot training expenses until you've done that.

Also... you're going to need a 4-year degree. Might want to consider an aviation university with R-ATP authorization.

Approximate...
1 Year Training (less if you hustle)
2 Years CFI
2-3 Years Regional FO
1-4 Years regional CA, then hired at a major airline.

If you do a university program, that's probably four years but you would finish all your training and work as a CFI while still in school so you could probably get a regional job immediately or shortly after college if you hustle.

If you don't do an aviation university, you'll have to do a distance-learning degree while working at a regional.

How old are you? Depending on family and finances, 40-50 might be young enough.

Sliceback

Rickair- he keeps mentioning love. The Summer of Love was 1967 which is why I mentioned 71 is too old to start.

TiredSoul

Stop feeling in Love may be a good start.
Finish your degree and start flight training.

MadmanX2

Step one. Find a good reputable Airman Medical Examiner (AME)

Be sure you can pass a 1st class medical.

Do this before spending time and money trying to start an aviation career.

JetBlueNewb

Upvote! Need more of this wit on here instead of people just complaining...

JetBlueNewb

I'm guessing since you keep falling in love with new things you're moderately young and not old and jaded to the concept like I am. That being the likely case, make sure that your love is a lasting love and that you won't realize World of Warcraft is your next Amore.

Go talk to pilots and go fly a small plane. Ask the pilot to let you stall the plane a few times and do a lot of steep turns around ground reference points. Go fly in some turbulence. Do all of these things to test your eharmony score with flying. A lot of people think the idea of flying is this grand thing but they don't exactly enjoy flying a 1978 Cessna with an engine that is held onto the frame with 4 bolts holding the engine on the plane. You'll likely spend years of your life flying one of these as an instructor... best part is you won't be the one controlling the plane, it'll be some 17 year old who also just fell in love.