uscgflightmech

Good Morning APC Community,


Just want to quickly introduce myself prior to getting into the nitty gritty of this thread. I am currently a 29 year old Aviation Maintenance Technician in the U.S. Coast Guard about to round year six of my career. I am a qualified flight mechanic with three years of hanger deck experience. I'm unmarried with no children and no debt and about to turn 30 this May. With that being said for the past year I have toyed with idea of something bigger in my life, hence seeking the best advice to start this journey into becoming a pilot. So far I have acquired enough hours doing maintenance on CG aircraft to get my FAA tickets to take my A&P exam. My idea was to test and get my A&P prior to signing my 4491 and also having that in my bag of tricks to hopefully make me stick out a little more on top of being a veteran. Having the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill in my back pocket to cover flight training seems to be one of the best things I could do for myself going forward if I decide to part ways with the Coast Guard this upcoming October (as long as i have all my ducks are in a row). I am currently stationed in Humboldt County, CA and have been researching Leading Edge Aviation in Bend, OR.


Hopefully this is the correct thread topic to post this seeing as I'm looking for multiple pieces of advice to propel my career in the right path.


From what I've gathered about Leading Edge it seems to be the best fit. From what I have heard the wait list to get into the school is anywhere from six months to a year. They hold themselves to what sounds like a very high training standard and coming from the military I of course want the best training I can get. Originally from Western Massachusetts but I absolutely love central Oregon!


I guess what this really boils down to is where do I begin? I have some prior college credits prior to joining the military. However, while I'm in now do I take advantage of tuition assistance and do online courses at Central Oregon Community College (college affiliated with Leading Edge) to alleviate the course burden? Another option is do I get my private pilot license locally while I'm serving?


I'm sure I'll have more questions going forward in this thread, but I'm hoping this is a good starting point seeing as this forum I'm sure is packed with knowledgeable pilots who have seen and done it all.


Clear skies and smooth tail winds!


Cheers,

Matt

rickair7777

1. The A&P is of essentially no use for airline purposes. If you're already pretty much there and just need to take some tests by all means go for it but don't expect it to have any real weight in your airline prospects (different story some some aviation segments, specifically bush flying). Always nice to have an employment backup in case of medical issues, etc. But if you're going to do airlines, get on with it and focus your time and money on that... seniority is everything.

2. Plan on getting a degree. Consider an aviation university with a 141 program and R-ATP eligibility. Your airline prospects will be severely limited without the degree. No need to debate the merits here, but the reality is that if you don't have one you will watch people with less aviation skill and experience make a lot more money than you. That said you can always get a regional job without one, or many other aviation jobs. Caveat: American Airlines owned regionals will let you flow to mainline AA without a degree, so that's an option but the price will be serving in the AA regional salt mines longer than if you typically applied to najors off the street. Also some risk if the flow program were to be delayed or cancelled (it's happened in the past).

3. Your military background will be a nice resume bullet, but will not really affect your competitiveness for major airlines by much without military pilot wings. They like mil because they know you don't smoke dope, and will show up on time with a clean shave and pressed shirt. But that's not a substitute for pilot experience, you'll have to compete based on total time, TPIC, type ratings, aviation leadership (turbine check airman/chief pilot), masters degree, whole person factors (volunteer, etc).

Keep a clean record (criminal, civil, try to avoid even speeding tickets), and try to avoid any training failures. That sounds like a no-brainer but there are some nuances to it... do your homework before you subject yourself to jeopardy training events at any organization (flight school or employer).

And yes get your PPL while you still have a job. That's important to make sure you enjoy flying and have some aptitude for it (you probably will but some people just don't for reasons which are hard to predict).

sourdough44

Yes to the above. I would get started on what you can right now, while still active duty. The logical place to start is Private Pilot flight training. You could sniff out a ground school of sorts, not essential though.

There are some free downloads on the FAA site. Go to a local FBO or flight school & set up a ‘discovery flight’ or similar.