Starting from scratch, need advice.
 

I am a senior in college and am seriously considering aviation as a career. If I went down this path, I would be starting from the bottom,(private licence) and working my way up. I am fortunate enough to have the financial means to go through with this with little to do debt accumulating. I've read a good bit about airline schools vs. FBO, but still have a few questions.

1) Is going to you local flight school (Birmingham) for training as efficient as going to a career school?

2) once I obtain my commercial licence, is there other options to gain hours for the major airlines besides regionals?

3) For those who do fly for the regionals, are you obligated to live in a domicile city, or can you commute into wherever the hub may be?

any other thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. thanks

Make sure you ask as many questions of people, even those who you think may not know that much...they could end up giving you a job one day. Don't get discouraged by this website...it can be very intimidating. Anyone on here will say the same no matter what point of view they have; educate yourself on all possibilities. Good luck!

ATP is what many call a "pilot factory," but it's a great way to go from bum to airline transport in basically a year, and get hired by the regionals soon thereafter. Visit www.allatps.com for more info. Hopefully, there's an ATP school near your home.

I agree with this statement. There are defintily some negative and pessomistic posters on here, which you just have to take with a grain of salt.

One thing I have gotten from this website is that it's a long way to the top, which I guess is like that in any profession. It seems the bottom line with airlines is hours, hours, and more hour. Seems that is the end all be all of getting a job with an airline. Is that entirely true?

For the airlines generally speaking that is true. There are some wonder stories about getting to a major below the published mins but usually they involve internships, heavy internal recs, or other factors.

It is all about hours but the place where you can really shine and show your merit is corporate. Most have hourly requirements for insurance purposes but I have heard of several people who truly deserved it get awesome corporate jobs when you thought it was impossible. In this industry its all about who you know.

1) A local school is usually more cost effecient (employers could care less where you get your ratings, unless it was in the military). You have to do your homework and make sure that there is a decent school in your area...if not look into schools outside your area. I would consider the big "pilot mills" to be a last-resort...you are going to pays tens of thousands more than you need to.

2) The military is BY FAR the best option. But assuming that you are going the civilian route, regionals are usually the best way to gain experience because:
- You get 121 experience, which shows you can thrive in that environmet. Majors like that.
- You get more flight time faster than most other jobs. Also your captain upgrade to get the vital turbine PIC usually comes sooner.

Other options:
- 135 jobs (night cargo in small airplanes) usually have less QOL, pay, and benefits than regionals, and the work can be dangerous due to old / non-turbine equipment. Also Majors don't hire these guys as readily. You will need 1200 hours to get these jobs due to 135 regulations.
- Fractionals: Pay better than most regionals (but no airline travel bennies), but require more experience to get the job...you would probably need to work at a regional in order to get the experience to apply at a fractional. But majors still prefer regional experience.
- Smaller corporate/charter opportunities are based 100% on who you know. Also since many folks stay here for a career the upgrade to captain can take a long time. Even then, Majors still prefer regional experience.
- There are many other jobs (sky diving, pipeline patrol, traffic watch, ferry pilot, air ambulance) that you MIGHT be able to get with a commercial ticket and no experience, but none of them would pay well or make you attractive to the majors. The only thing some of these jobs have going for them is that you are home every night.

3) American Eagle used to require new-hires to live in San Juan, Peurto Rico but I believe they dropped that requirement. Basically you can live anywhere you want, but there are some common sense limits on commuting (Hawaii to PHL would not be a good idea). If it's 4 hours or less with multiple daily non-stop flights, you should be good.

I'm in Birmingham as well and am in the exact same situation as you except I will be a junior in college next year. This coming monday I am going to talk one-on-one with a current 2nd-3rd year ASA FO about the 121 aviation world. He is basically in the time frame that makes or breaks new airline pilots from what I have read on the forums. I'm hopeful that I will receive some valuable insight from him with regard to the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with the 121 world. I will be sure to share with you what he has to say. I will also say that these boards have given me a lot of valuable information that I will use in trying to decide whether or not aviation is the career for me. I'm trying to learn as much as I can so I can be as close to 100% positive about my career choice. I am also shadowing a doctor this summer to see if medicine might be the career for me. I basically do not have any idea what I want to do, but I have always loved flying, airplanes, the science behind aviation, and anything else to do with aviation. It would be a mistake for me to not at least consider a career in aviation. We'll see where I end up. First things first...I have to finish my degree, that has nothing to do with aviation, before I can do anything.

Your situation is almost identical to mine. Please post how your meeting went with the FO. I have alot of family friends who are pilots at Fedex and Delta who are pushing me to become a pilot, but we'll see.

For those of you that are looking at flight training I have this advice.

If there were one easy answer there would only be one style of flight school out there. Everybody has different learning styles, time/financial constraints, etc. Do TONS of research on your own. Don't just look at glossy ads. Visit schools, talk to the students, talk to the employees. You're going to be spending a lot of money so I would get as much info as possible.

Well put, Pilotpip. This advice it worth it's weight in gold.