Patience good people..
 

There's a simple way to eliminate those $ 150K flight training debts.

Stop the "I must have what I want Now, syndrome."

Finish high school, get a part-time job, go to an affordable college, keep the part-time job during school.

Graduate, get a full time desk job. Keep expenses low, pay off student loans.

Network, find a new friend that wants to fly for a living too.

Then, while banking $5k, grab every possible Gleim book/cd and study for your written tests. Take the FOI, basic, advanced and instrument ground instructor tests, pass, go to your nearest FSDO, voila - you have your first FAA certificates.

Keep the full time desk job (you may have moved up the ranks and while keeping your expenses low, you may be banking much more than $5K), go to the nearest FBO that needs instructional help.

Offer your help to run ground school classes, do office work and wash airplanes during nights and weekends in exchange for $ towards flying.

Start your PVT training and complete it in the minimum time, use your $ when/where necessary.

When your friend completes their ticket, share expenses and safety pilot for oneanother. Perfectly legal for you to log the total flight time. Remember to take the written tests prior to starting instruments and commercial training.

Keep the full-time desk job, keep on banking the $.

Build your hours up towards commercial mins. When you get within about 50 hours, you both hire an instrument instructor. Each of you share the preflight ground prep instruction and sit in the backseat with headset/intercomm on while the other receives inflight instruction.

This helps your learning process, and you are another set of eyes for watching traffic.

Complete your instrument rating and continue to save $ for the commercial training. Those written tests should be done and you should take the CFI-Airplane and Instrument Airplane written tests. Network.

Save-up, train and take your commercial, flight instructor and instrument flight instructor practical tests.

Keep the desk job. Find a job flight instructing. Save about $ 1,700. Take a 3 day multi-engine rating. After your friend completes their multi ticket, you can rent and share the expenses while each of you log your multi-engine pilot flying and multi-engine safety pilot time. Network.

Keep the desk job, keep instructing single and multi and examine the entry level airline pilot pay structures and upgrades. Network.

Save up $, plan on being a First Officer for twice the advertised amount of time and keep your expenses down so that upgrade pay can go into the bank.

Build your PIC turbine, save $8k, grab a type rating and work for WN.

It's not that easy, but if you are patient, you don't have to carry all that debt around....

Sounds like a good plan to me.

Possible; but not probable. By the time you get ready to apply....you're my age...40-50ish.:D

But seriously though, how long would something like that take?



atp

Good advice. I am kind of doing that. I hold a fulltime job (2pm-10pm), fly 3-5times a week. Finishing my commercial, should he done in June and have my CFI by the end of June. I am paying all my debts off so that I have only my car note, insurance and gas to worry about when I get on with a regional one day. My Mrs. know what to expect, so she is prepared for the financial burden for the next several years. However, I won't have paid off all my school loans any time soon, but plan on putting as much as possible toward then once I can.

Work for $ and fly for fun.

There are fewer and fewer airlines that are well run and enjoyable to work for. The company that looks good today can be taken over by bean counters and trashed tomorrow. Your hard won seniority and retirement savings may end up in the hands of thieves and bunglers.

A better plan is to get a good job or start a business. Control your own destiny and when you make some $, buy an airplane or an ultra light. Then you can work for money and fly for fun.

My two cents on the matter;

I joined the Air Guard not just to pay for my education and flying, BUT I have certainly utilized the benefits. So I have my four year degree, SE/ME Comm, Instrument, CFI, CFII, and probably MEI within the year but almost no debt. And that's coming from a family where my parents gave me zero dollars since high school.

The trade-off is taking longer than I planned to get all that done. Why? Deployments (that's plural for a reason) and training. So for anyone considering the military route, it can be a shot in the arm, but have patience my friends.

If you'll allow me, I do have a question.. Does being in the Guard hurt employment opportunities in this day of high deployment tempo? I have spoken to several folks and it seems to be a 50/50 split on whether Guard membership scares potential employers. I just re-upped for another six, so I have six years to test the waters. Regards to all.

If you were to come to me back when i was the director of HR for TDS corp. I would snapped you up in a heart beat because of your guard experiance. I know this has no bearing on you flying for an airline, but it does speak towards how most employers look at military service... Being in the services, builds a certain character quality that other trades just cant match.... However, I may be partial, I am a reservist myself.

What Reserve component are you in? How has your Reserve experience been for you?

Eight Step Plan to the Regonial (Debt Free)
 

1.Join the Navy or Airforce (make sure to sign up for the GI bill) The pay deduction really hurts the first 12 months, but it's worth the sacrifice.

2.Get your 4 year degree while you are in. (they pay 75%)

3. Leave after 4 years. (get a full time civilian job and start saving cash!!)

4. Get your private pilot rating at a local FBO. (cheapest way)

5. Go to a VA approved 141 school and get your Inst. , Comm. ,CFI, CFII, and Multi. The GI Bill will pay 60% of your training and you can get an education loan for the remaining balance)

6. Stay at your good paying job and instruct part time until you payoff your loan or you can use plan B and get married and put the spouse to work to help pay your education loan off) also, don't have kids if you chose this option.

7. Start instructing full time, and find a way to build multi time. (it's hard to get, so don't get discourged!)

8. Apply at your favorite regional!

By applying these steps, you can be in your dream job in 6 years with no debt and have an degree to fall back on. So if your started at 18 (right of of high school) you could be in the right seat by 24 with a good 41 years of flying still left. :)

very good advice considering the rising fuel prices and the current instability of the industry. Taking out a 65K loan sounds like a big risk to me. I have to admit though, it is extremely difficult but impossible. I mean after all you have to factor in rent/mortgage, car payments, bills, etc. and how many hours can you fly with that paycheck? Unless you get paid a lot, live with your parents it could work. But if not...Get used to Ramen Noodles and PB and J

Man i thought the thread was closed for some weird reason then i realised it was your avatar.

i may be totally wrong, but being the guard or reserve CAN NOT be a reason a company turns you down...therefore you do not have to tell them you are still in the guard. In fact, my reserve component commander told me its illegal for them to ask you. But I am not sold on that.

Jetcaptain has a well outlined plan. I am however glad I went the Guard route and not Active Duty. This is based on my interactions with Active Duty folks on four deployments and some training temporary duties (TDYs).

I personally would not recommend Active Duty in most cases. I'm not trying to start a battle on the forum here, but my honest opinion is not to go AD. Feel free to contact me personally if anyone would like to talk about enlisting in the military, I will try to provide what guidance I can.

I do believe that an employer cannot ask if a person in currently serving in the Guard. However, in an interview a lot can "fly" because what are you gonna do? Complain and **** them off and surely not get hired? :) For me a lot of my experience has come from my Guard membership and so shows up on my resume. Of course it's written in past tense, but the employer may infer I am still in.

The crazed look in my eye might also be another give away!

Do you have to stay in the Reserves for 6 years to get the GI Bill benefits? Just wondering.

Yes but as a Pilot, you're in for 10 to start with anyways so the point is moot.