Aspiring pilot needs some career guidance
 

Greetings

Since a very young age, I have always wanted to be a pilot. I had to abandon my dream of flying for a living many times due to financial and various other constraints. I think that now I am financially stable to take up flight training and would like suggestions and advice from seasoned veterans of aviation.

A little background on myself:
Age: 28
Marital Status: Married/no kids (wife flexible to move)
Housing status: Renting apartment / no mortgages
Education: Bachelor of Science (non – aviation) with high honors
Student loan status: debt-free (no loans)
Employment: Information Technology / $ 60,000 per year

My job is financially rewarding but not self- satisfying so I have come up with a plan that will help finance my flight lessons. My plan is to work in my current field of employment for the next 5-6 years and save as much money as I can. Having said that, I can set aside $ 70k for flight training when I will be 34 and that’s when I can start taking flying lessons. I will try to get my PPL by that time.

After my PPL, I plan on taking aviation classes head on and leave my current job. I am thinking of taking accelerated course where one can finish to CFI-ME in 90 days. I am sure you guys already know what school that is. I even though about taking flight lessons on weekends and finish to CFI-ME in 5 years but that will be very difficult since my job is stressful and I work as a consultant on contract. What are your thoughts on PPL to CFI-ME in 90 days? Is it a good idea or would you suggest spanning this over 5 years of time? I have a feeling that I would forget some stuff in this long span of 5 years. One of the good things about that accelerated program is that, graduates are guaranteed instructor job upon completion of program. This will help me build time too. Thoughts, suggestions, advice?

My final destination is Asia and I would like to bypass regionals in the US if I could. I am a US citizen originally from Nepal so I would like to be based pretty much anywhere in Asia but India or China would be close and great for me regarding commute. For the first couple of years of my aviation career I will be able to survive on $2k to 3k per month salary. I have some inheritance, other nominal source of income and savings from my current job will provide some cushion for the starting years. Would you suggest building some time at regionals in the US and taking shot at Asian airlines or jumping to any Asian gig after my training here in the US?

I have read plenty of threads here on the forum and have done my homework; and my desire to fly for a living does not come from Shiny Jet Syndrome but rather a calculated risk. I am a hard-working person and got through college without any loan and a degree with honors. I was able to come out of college debt-free because I worked a full time job while going to college full time and worked 70 hours a week in the summer to stay afloat despite paying international rate of tuition (3 times the rate of instate tuition). With due respect, I am trying to say that I can work hard and I will work hard to fulfill my dream of flying .For some reasons, if I can’t fulfill my dream of a professional aviator I will have lost 70k of my money but I would have no loans to pay and with some education and training I could go back to my desk job. It’s better to have loved and lost than not loved at all! At least I will not have to look up in the sky every time I see a plane flying over me and live with this guilt that maybe I could have become that person if I ever tried! The cure to aviation bug-bite is very hard to overcome!

The guys here on this forum are doing a great job. I did my homework and read plenty from this forum and pprune. In my honest opinion, guys here are very helpful and supportive compared to the other forum where most questions are mocked upon. Also this forum is clutter-free and organized. Kudos to the moderators and contributors for doing a great job.

Thank you for taking time to read and shed light

Stay safe and happy flying!

"After my PPL, I plan on taking aviation classes head on and leave my current job. I am thinking of taking accelerated course where one can finish to CFI-ME in 90 days. I am sure you guys already know what school that is. I even though about taking flight lessons on weekends and finish to CFI-ME in 5 years but that will be very difficult since my job is stressful and I work as a consultant on contract. What are your thoughts on PPL to CFI-ME in 90 days? Is it a good idea or would you suggest spanning this over 5 years of time? I have a feeling that I would forget some stuff in this long span of 5 years. One of the good things about that accelerated program is that, graduates are guaranteed instructor job upon completion of program. This will help me build time too. Thoughts, suggestions, advice?"

This is what I did and I would recommend against it. A lot of these schools are basically ratings mills. The education quality is minimal as well as their fiscal integrity. You could lose a lot of money literally overnight (plenty of horror stories online - believe them).
Be careful of these employment guarantees. You could end up getting a handful of hours per month being employed by a school you may not like very much. Get details.

I would suggest that you stick with your current job, train on the side locally, pay-as-you-go and start instructing there when the time comes. By that time, you'll know if this school is a place you'd like to work at and possibly scan the rest of the region for other school possibilities.

Good luck.

"I would suggest that you stick with your current job, train on the side locally, pay-as-you-go and start instructing there when the time comes. By that time, you'll know if this school is a place you'd like to work at and possibly scan the rest of the region for other school possibilities."

+1

I was looking at the 90 day accelerated program by ATP

+1

I agree with the last post. I took the same route and in fact I did it all from zero in a 150 days right before the prices went up another 10k. It wasn't easy but I was prepared. I was a professional flight student that switched to aviation management because I didn't want my college degree and flight training to cost me 150k. I think I took all of the aviation classes the school offered and some weather (earth and science) classes. Having taken PPL, Instrument and commercial ground classes I was able to easily pass the written and already knew most of the material. I suggest you do the same if you are seriously going to take that route. Small flight schools usually offer the classes but i'm not sure how good they are compared to college classes. The good thing is that they are really cheap. I worked at a school that had the class for less than $300 with some books included. Most will advise you to keep your current job and take flight lessons on the side at a local flight school till you're finished. It's the cheapest route and also at a very low risk since you won't have to quit your job. The fast track route is not for everyone. I started with guys that never saw the end of it. The chances of you failing check rides are also high because you're on a time line and may feel the pressure of taking an exam that you're not ready for. You are already taking the right steps to go about it. Once you decide on what to do, stick to your plan and don't let SJS get to you. Good Luck!

thank you for sharing your thoughts....hope to hear more thoughts on this by other seasoned aviators :)

good suggestion. thank you sir

With my work as a contractor, i work on projects and move on to a different location (city, state) when the project is done and whatever project i find. so in a way, i am moving constantly which would make it difficult to take flight lessons from a particular location. thats why i was proposing the idea of 90 day course.

To fly as a contract pilot in Asia, you will need a type rating in a current airliner, probably a 1,000 hours of command time before any of those carriers will look at you. The low time FO positions are for locals. Gettin a wet ATP and heading to Asia is a pipedream.

GF

so there is no bypassing US regional airlines?

would you recommend building >1000 PIC and then applying with Asian airlines? Like I said, I am a US citizen but was born and raised in Nepal and lived there for 20 years.

This may not be what you want to hear, but it needs to be said.

I understand the concept of not wanting to get stuck at a regional, but regionals serve a good purpose. That purpose is to teach you how to work in an airliner as a crew member. They provide structure and discipline to your flying. It is valuable experience that will serve you well as your career moves forward.

Some regionals have higher standards than others (others on the board can chime in who they think is best, in my day it was WestAir/Atlantic Coast). Those would be the ones to target as a first choice to get hired by. Spend a year or two there and learn how to be an airline pilot. Then go in the direction you want.

The flipside is that you get extremely lucky, or spend a lot of money, and start at an Asian carrier as a 737NG/A320 F.O. with zero time. Depending which one they might be terribly unsafe operators. Without any experience you won't know whether it is safe or not, you just go with the flow. Basically this becomes your baseline for airline operations. You get experience there then try to move on, but you keep failing interviews. You have no idea why, but all the people who are interviewing you clearly see that you never learned how to be a safe and competent airline pilot.

By going to a U.S regional with high standards your baseline for being an airline pilot is set very high. When you go to the Asian carrier you can plainly see how dangerous they operate ( and some still do, believe me ). You still go with the flow to a certain extent, but you know enough to keep the captain from killing you as you gain your experience for the next step. When you interview for that next step you are successful because you know how to show an interviewer that you are a safe and competent pilot.

It's not impossible to get hired by Asian carriers with low time, but it is difficult. Then you need to think about upgrade. There are not many Asian carriers that upgrade expat F.O.s Realistically only the Japanese contract jobs, Cathay/Dragonair, and the Middle East carriers will do upgrades. They can occur at other places, but take a long time. The Singapore LCCs might do upgrades.

You'll need to use some Asian carriers as stepping stones to others. Take the one that hires you as a 0 time F.O., but doesn't upgrade. Build time there then move to the one that hires experienced F.O.s and does upgrade.

Forget about commuting to Nepal. There is no way that is going to happen in the first part of your career. Only when you are a captain, and only if you are willing to make sacrifices, will commuting be an option.

.....The more I think about it, the more the Japanese jobs seem like they might fit your desires. Talk to The Dominican, he's got the scoop there. Oh, and to be successful at the Japanese jobs you need to be extremely disciplined.



Typhoonpilot

I am open to any suggestion, opinion and advice. I would consider this a privilege to be mentored by experienced aviators like you and others. It takes years of experience and hard work to get to the situation like you are in; to be able to give career guidance. I admire the thoughts and efforts you and other aviators put in this forum to guide aspiring aviators like me.

Probably, this will be the best course of action to do - spend a couple of years at regional and build time and head to other opportunities. The only reason I wanted to bypass regionals was that, I do not aspire to be a legacy captain of any US airline.

Thank you for providing me with the inside scoop of the regional airline world and showing me the right path.

What would you say that commuting would be a problem? is it because of the schedule? Would it be not possible to commute FROM nepal if I get a decent schedule like 7-10 days off in a row. Could I not go home once a month, even if I have to pay for my own ticket? Being home for a week out of the month would be fine with me.

I do have some very good suggestions in other thread from the D. I think I could handle the Japanese way of discipline as I finished my High School from Nepal in a pretty strict environment.

Thank you a lot! I mean....A LOT!!

The first thing you need to do is to find a real tough FAA doctor and get a through first class physical. Explain to the doc what your goal is. There is no sense pursuing an aviation career until you are certain that you can pass the physical exams.

It is theoretically possible to commute from anywhere. I have known several regional pilots and FAs who commuted from Europe, and there's a pilot at my current regional who commutes from SW Asia.

That kind of commuting is less commuting and more frequent vists home. You would need an apartment (or crashpad) in your domicile and would need to bid trips back-to-back with the minimum legal one-day break so as to load all your days off together. At a regional you could reasonably get 5-6 days off in a row, but more than that would require seniority and creativity. This assumes PBS is in use, otherwise it might be impossible to get more than 4-5 days off on a regular basis.

With jumpseating agreements and other provisions, commuting could be doable. i am not saying it will be easy but should be manageable. spending a week back home out of a month is fine with me.

not to get confused, i am thinking of commuting as a contract pilot AFTER i build some hours at the regionals in the US (thanks Typhoonpilot for the suggestion about regionals).

That the safe way to do it, and it's good advice.

Thank god you find it satisfactory.