AIRLINE PILOT CENTRAL

LeoSV

does a 4 year degree matter much in corporate flying?

GauleyPilot

I know may corporate pilots, even chief pilots without a degree. Some companies may like one, though.

From a pilot standpoint, a degree may come in handy if you can't fly, don't want to fly, etc. at some point.

LeoSV

Yeah, I have some college, but I'm looking at it under a debt point of view. The reason I took out loans to train for flying is because I would rather be in debt and enjoy my job, than be debt free and hate my job. But there is a point where you can be in so much debt that you are to the point of suicide. finishing college would get me very close to that point right now.

kh2gr

I was just wondering what the insurance minimums would be for a first officer in that case (captain is single pilot certified) under part 91? there is a local corporation with a cessna 560 and he has hired contract pilots.. a birdie told me he is looking to fill a long term position and im thinking about sending him my resume. I have 1600 TT but only 10 Multi... how about pay for something like this?

FlyerJosh

kh2gr,

Depends on the relationship between company and insurance underwriter. Some insurance companies are going to require certain total times and experience as well as training requirments (such as approved sim courses). Others might only require a "signoff" from the Chief Pilot.

That said, I would say that unless you have time in type, you're going to be a hard sell for a Chief pilot to bring on board with only 10 ME. I recently looked at bringing somebody with 3500TT and 50ME onboard to fly our same type (560) as SIC and some issues came up regarding insurance. That said, the single pilot certified captain in your case might help your argument since by all rights you're not a required crewmember when flying with him... We don't have the waiver/authorization at my company since the boss/corporate policy dictates two pilots at all times.

Fokkerflyer

In some cases it does, mainly bigger departments. It usually is a tool to weed out resumes, though. It would increase your chances to get pulled from the stack, but your flight experience is more important. I have flown with high school grads that are excellent pilots and also college grads with masters degrees that can't fly worth a crap.

aero550

Agreed.

One nice thing about corporate, if you can get in, is that many corporations have some sort of tuition reimbursement program that extends to flight dept. personnel.

Also, a degree can help give a person credibility when it comes time to upgrade into flight dept. management. Given two guys with the same seniority going for a mgmt. position, the degree could be the tie-breaker. Flight dept. management is where the money is really at in corporate aviation.