what is the overall cost for pilot training all the way to ATP?
 

What do you think is the total cost for pilot training starting from the very beginning all the way to ATP? Im currently working on my PPL, about 47 hours in, and I'm dead set on being a pilot as a career but I'm confused about how to pay for training.

The PPL program is almost 10k and I assume that instrument rating, commercial license, (I'm sure there are other ratings in between but I'm not sure exactly what) and ATP will also be quite expensive. I understand the importance of having a college degree so I'm currently 20 years old attending Boston College. Paying the college tuition is not a problem here as I'm lucky to have my parents covering that.

But what should I do in order to pay for all the rest of the training? I can't have my parents pay everything for me. I know getting a job and paying for it myself is one option. What about taking out a loan? I've never really thought about that.

Any tips or comments are much appreciated.

The numbers can vary wildly, depending on location and type of program.

Assuming all ratings through COMM AMEL, CFI, CFII, and MEI....

A small school or FBO in a low cost area might be as low as $40K.

In a higher cost area it might be $50K+

A "Brand-name School" would likely charge $60-80K. This is pretty much a rip-off.

Some operations might even charge more...that would be a flat-out scam.

A university program might be $100K+...try to break out the costs of flight training and the actual education part. Compare the flight training amount to other flight training options, and compare the education amount to other colleges.

The ATP actually requires 1500 flight hours. No one (except a few foreigners) buys that much time...it would be about 1200 hours and an ADDITIONAL $80K. You work entry-level jobs until you accumulate 1500 hours...at that point you might spend $2-3K to take the checkride. If you get an airline job (and many other jobs) the company will pay for your ATP checkride when you upgrade to captain.

"A small school or FBO in a low cost area might be as low as $40K."

Assuming my training costs were like this, would it be wise to take out a loan in order to pay the 40k for training? And as an entry-level commercial pilot would I be able to pay off the loan fairly easily?

In today's job market, there is no hurry. Avoid loans at all costs.

No. An entry level commercial pilot with the standard bills (rent/house, car, etc.) cannot pay the loan with other expenses on standard starting salary. Is it possible? Sure, but you'd better be prepared to tighten the belt.

Like Rickair says, find an FBO with a Cessna 152 for the cheapest rates. Some FBOs will sell you glass cockpits -- avoid those specifically. If they have glass 172s, go elsewhere.

Get paid to go to flight school in the military. I hear they have good benefits too.

Do not take out loans. You are a slave to whatever job is available at whatever low rate they offer if you "need" a job because you have debt. The military will train you. You can get other work and do your ratings on the side. You might find out you do not like the career, but if you owe money for your ratings, you will be stuck. Go slow. There is no rush.

It depends. In general, the loan payments will overwhelm the income of an entry-level pilot for years to come. If there was a vast surge of hiring, it might make sense to take out a loan to get through training more quickly so as to get in on the hiring wave. Even then I would be pretty reluctant to do it.

In the current environment, there is no need to rush. Between the economy and age 65, I wouldn't expect much airline hiring until late 2012. So you have four years to get your ratings, do some flight instruction, and then maybe fly twins for a 135 freight company.

The best way to do your training (economically) is to keep your day job,stay in your home town, and find a local school or club that will meet your needs on a pay-as-you-go basis. If you devote most weekends and some weeknights it will go by fairly quickly. Hopefully you earn enough to pay for part time training, if not you might consider a smaller loan.

WARNING: When paying for flight training, keep enough money on account to pay for about one week, never more than $2K. Many schools will want you to deposit the full amount of the expected training cost up front...DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER THIS! If they get pushy, turn around, walk out, and don't look back.

Flight training attracts scan artists...most of the managers and sales people used to be used-car salesmen, but were banned from selling cars due to poor ethics! Think of it like buying crack...would you go down to South Central, find some random guy on the street corner and pay him enough for one year's worth of crack up front and expect him to deliver it on schedule over the course of the year?

If you deposit a lot of money, you have all kinds of potential problems...

- It's harder to keep track of how fast your money is spent, and for what. It is very common for a student to blow through his entire loan and only be part-way through an instrument rating! At which point the school will want tens of thousands MORE to continue.

- Flight schools often don't have enough airplanes and instructors to schedule each student at their own convenience...commercial students who have paid ahead will always get last scheduling priority. They already have YOUR money, but they sure don't want tick off Dr. Richard Cranium who pays by the lesson.

- If you quit the school, they will make it hard to get your money back...it will take months, or longer if you have to sue them.

- Many schools get into financial trouble, especially in hard times (ie right now). If you have large amounts of money on account, they will use that to pay whatever bills need paying, and hope that someone else signs up for training after you and deposits enough to cover YOUR training. But if you happen to be the last sucker through the door before bankruptcy...you are hosed. But never fear! Even though your money is gone, you will STILL have to pay off the loan.

Local FLight School
 

I asked my local flight school recently for an estimate of how much it cost to go from zero to CFI. They gave me a number of 80K. In the 1990s I remember that there were flight schools that would sell a package that took pilots all the way to 1500 hours and an ATP. These days I bet that it would be a price that would make Bill Gates flinch.

If you don't get a loan then how can you learn to fly? However if you do get a loan then how can you afford to work as a pilot later? These are indeed difficult questions. In my case I worked several jobs and bought flight time as I could.

This is the first of many hurdles pilots face.

SkyHigh

Thanks for all the info so far guys. I'm still pretty new to flying and especially this website so I do have some difficulty understanding abbreviations and other pilot lingo.


What do you mean by flying twins and whats a 135 freight company? Are there other options to build hours other than flight instruction and banner towing?



Thanks

Most opportunities for new commercial pilots involve flight instruction. Unless you have 1000+ hours you would be hard-pressed to find a job just flying an airplane. The vast majority of civilian professional pilots start as flight instructors.

The jobs you might be able to get with very low time will be single engine jobs such as traffic watch, banner towing, skydive ops, pipeline patrol, etc. These jobs are rarely advertised, but are filled by word of mouth. Networking and luck are key. Bottom Line: Plan on getting those CFI certificates!

Twins = light multi-engine airplane (2 engines). FAR Part 135 (technically 14 CFR 135) are the rules under which small charter and freight companies operate.

Regional airlines will require 100-300+ multi-engine hours (maybe 50-500 depending on the supply and demand). You can get this time as an MEI, but often those jobs are hard to find. You can also get ME time flying night freight for a company such as Am-Flight, but you will need 1200 hours total time to apply to most 135 jobs. You might teach until you had 1200 hours in single-engine airplanes (plus your ME rating), then go work for a 135 operation to get your ME time up for the airlines.