Hi, I am currently 21 years old and attending a 4 year university. I have recently become very interested in a career in aviation and have fellow peers that are taking that route through a well established flight school nearby.

My question comes to this: If I started my training for a PPL at the start of August (Full Time), could i finish and get all my required license before the ATP requirements change in August of 2013? And by finish I mean get hired onto a regional airline saving me from the 1500 cutoff? (The flight school that I would be attending is very well connected with ASA and have sent many pilots that way)

I have also read that when the time comes to approaching the August 2013 cutoff, the regionals will be looking at 1500 hrs only anyways.

I'm fairly new to all of this but I have done tons of research and would appreciate any feedback/suggestions.

(also I will still be attending school but just minimal hours because i am 3 semesters from my degree)

 

You'll need at least 500 hours total time and 50 multi engine, that's the lowest published minimums out there (and that's at American Eagle, FYI). Anyone else will require more.

That means you're going to need to finish all your ratings, giving you between 190-250 hours at minimum, depending on the program, then get some sort of flying job to fill in the remaining 310-250 as well as build some multi time up (you'll have probably 15-30 upon finishing your training, depending whether you do your MEI or not).

It's definitely easily doable in less than two years depending on what method of training you go for. Where were you looking at?

 

I plan on getting my licenses then becoming a CFI in the Atlanta area. In hopes of attaining a regional job then eventually commercial in time.

 

It is definitely do-able, U can reach the minimum of 500 TT & 50 Multi in next 2 yrs very easy....... The timing is also right..

Million Dollar Question is DO U have the finances to do it Fast track.....
If yes, there are a lot of ways to do it....... Fast & economical, but even the most economical route still needs $40-50k easy............

Search this forum or post back & U will get a lot of ideas......

 

bcpilot makes an excellent point...you're going to need a healthy chunk of change to get through CFI/CFII. Plan to use at least 1.5 times whatever your local school tells you...since everyone quotes minimum times and average tends to run a good deal higher. But being young, you can probably keep the times (and thus cost) down.

Like he said...fast track is great if you can devote the time to doing it. Fly once or twice a day, some ground lessons, and home study on top of your college. You can knock stuff out quick doing fast track if you can make yourself available.

Have you found any particular schools you're interested in?

The other good thing is a lot of CFI's are bailing for the airlines...so you should have little trouble getting a CFI job even with a wet ticket.

 

It could be done, but I see a few problems with this plan...

- There is a risk that the hiring minimums you are planning on will not be available, ie you might need 1000/200 or something like that.

- You are probably focusing yourself on bottom-feeder regionals...some of the better regionals have higher mins. what if you get stuck there for 10-15 years?

- You are probably going to spend more money trying to rush, especially if you have to buy ME time.

- You might well have to buy all the ME time you need. MEI jobs usually go to more experienced instructors, because of common sense, insurance requirements, or a seniority system.

- The "1500 rule" is actually an "ATP Rule" and they might still lower the hours for SIC's to some compromise like 800. Also, quite frankly, if there is enough of an ENTRY-LEVEL pilot shortage due to the ATP rule, it will get thrown out real quick as regionals start stranding PAX due to lack of crews. Money talks, BS (ie safety) walks.

In the grand scheme of things it's not going to be worth it to try to beat the deadline. Try to keep a day-job while you train and pay-as-you-go without loading up on debt. You'll thank yourself later. A gainfully employed CFI can log 1000 hours in a year, so you're probably only looking at a extra year or maybe two. Not to mention that ME time, you have to figure out where and how to get that.

 

I hear alot of people worried over the 1500 hour rule and I don't understand why.

It seems like over the past 5 years not many people were getting hired with less than 1500 hours anyways, it seems like this rule probably won't change a whole heck of alot in the way pilots go through their career.

Right now everyone I know who wants to pursue the airlines are getting their ratings/degree, flight instructing for 2 years, and applying with their total time at least in the 1,000 hour range. The pilots of 2013 will simply have to keep up with this tradition

 

Ahh okay. See this is what I didn't have a clear picture about but now i do. I have no problem taking the time to go through it all and am in no rush. Thanks.

 

I have been looking into the Falcon Aviation programs. I knew a few people that went through them and have heard good things about instructors and the program itself.