I need some advice from you experienceed pilots out there. Ever since I signed up for this site, my career decesions (and life) have been based on the feed back I have been getting from this site.

Its killing me that Im not flying after I got my PPL. I just can't afford to fly. The only way for me to get back into flying on a daily basis is to go to ATP and take out a loan and get my ratings. My goal is to become an airline pilot. I have about 2 semesters left at University and it seems like it is taking forever. Should I stick it out and get my degree or should I get on the next flight out of HNL to the nearset ATP facility so that I can be happily flying again?

I hope this dosn't sound too confusing ...Thankyou.

 

Finish the degree!!!

Another thing, if your life decicions are based on things you get off this site, you will have mucho problems. Find someone that you trust to help you with that kind of thing. There are people here that give bad advise just to screw with people. Others give advise without knowing about the industry. Others give advise that would be good for them, but not for other people. Be very carefull about taking anything online seriously.

 

It is confusing, why are you even considering leaving College to go to ATP? You Need the Degree to fly too. If you leave College now you will spend the next 10 years trying to finish the remaining 2 semesters while toiling at some Regional with ZERO chance of advancing your career at a better airline without that degree.

 

Finish the year you have left at School, then if you want to go to ATP, or to the mainland to get your certificates you can. At the same time you could be using your degree to use. They are risk, and sacrifices you have to make, everyone has to pay their dues but dont jeopardize a degree, based on others people comments. I read that the avg airline pilot is furloughed or cut twice to three times in his career. What will you do in the meantime?

 

I will agree with what EVERYONE else is saying...
Finish your college degree. It is too important if you want to fly for a living (equally as important as your flying licenses/ratings).

By the way, if you say "I just can't afford to fly," why would you even consider going to ATP??

All ATP is just an expensive brand of flight training. The cost of training at ATP (even once you have your private, 85 hours, and 25 hours PIC XC), you still need to pay $50,000 for the rest of your ratings. That can easily be done at a local FBO for less than $30,000. Why would you choose to spend $20,000+ MORE by going to ATP when you can't even afford to take a Cessna for a short spin around the block!!!

Sorry. I am not trying to call you out or anything. I just can't understand why you want to go to ATP when you admit you don't have that money. If you really want to fly for a living, finish up your four year degree. Then go to the cheapest local FBO you can find and train there. You can get it done in the same amount of time for more than $20,000 less!!! $20,000+ is a lot of money to blow away. That is as much money as you will make your entire first year at a regional. Imagine you could double your salary that year if you don't go to ATP. Imagine what you can buy with $20,000...
-Take a 7 day cruise around the caribean
-Buy yourself a brand new flatscreen plasma TV
-Eat at a fancy restaurant ($20+ a meal) once a week for the rest of the year
-Take a vacation to Europe
-Buy a brand new iPod
-Buy season tickets to your favorite sports team
And still have THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS left over!!!!!!

Don't waste tens of thousands of dollars over normal flight training by going to ATP.

 

hey man i know how you feel, i got my PPL in high school (5 years ago) and havent been able to afford to start flying again till last month. just think about the degree as part of your training, think about it like another rating, whos going to hire you with out it

 

Thankyou all for the very insightful feedback. Im sure you all know where im coming from. We all would rather fly than sit in a class room listening to boring lectures.

 

Get your degree. It's very common for pilots to not start their careers immediately, many have to do some other job for a year or two, or even much longer, so don't sweat a couple of years.

 

Most of us learned to think long term...those boring lectures put me in the right seat on Heavy iron.