Get a degree at a non-aviation 4 year college. Get your PPL and instrument ratings during the summer breaks at a local FBO. By that time you will be near ~150 hours, get CFI-Sport rating (need 15 hours in type) instruct for a 100 hours - get CFI Commercial. Flight instruct.

Good luck.

 

Attend Ohio State U and get your license at Don Scott Airfield and have a great college experience to go with your license!

 

I went into the military right out of high school. I did it for one reason - I wanted the GI Bill. I spent 2 years in the Marines (including a stint in Vietnam). By the time I was 20, I was out of the military and in a community college and later transferred to a 4yr college. I worked two part-time jobs and eventually worked a full-time (graveyard shift) and a part-time job. I spent every cent on flying (except what I needed for rent and food). The GI Bill helped get me over the hump money-wise and eventually started instructing, then bank checks/freight and finally a job at a major airline, where I am today - 3 yrs from retirement. It was worth all the pain it took to get here. Never give up, keep chugging along, you will get there
. Remember, it's not the best pilots in the world that get airline jobs, it's the lucky ones that keep pushing forward. Best of luck

 

Go to medical school become a plastic surgeon, buy your own airplane, become a better paid pilot than any of us.

 

Get your MBA. Form a successful company in any field from energy, medical supply, banking, to pasteurized human waste (seriously). Or go to medical/dental school.

Make a few hundred grand and buy a plane. Or go crazy and make millions. Then buy a big plane and a few pilots. Get your ratings and a type in your jet. Fly when you want. Sit in the back and drink when you want.

Much better than being a bus or limo driver.

 

No one cares.

 

Lots of good advice here. Engineering or Computer Science are great degrees to have and give you options beyond aviation. I'd also try to game plan a few ways to make extra $$$ while in school and carry that with you when you begin to fly commercially. Substitute teaching is a common one, there are others, of course.

Good luck to you,
ChiSox72

 

I know you said no to military, but you really should reconsider. If you're bragging about being the class president it shows you might have leadership potential. Go to a college and get a degree in whatever floats your boat. If your school has ROTC join that, or after you graduate go to OCS and become a commissioned officer and have the military pay for your flight training and make good money as a military pilot. I think they make about 50 grand starting out. If you can't get a pilot slot, at least you have your degree to fall back on and make some money and pay for aviation as you go. The reason I say this is that military pilots have it good. After 10 years of service you can retire and have a pension and go straight to the majors or perhaps cargo and start making bank (bypass the regionals). Otherwise the civilian route is pretty much a life of poverty. Being a flight instructor making crap and then going to a regional and still making crap. I really think the civilian route needs to change some, to attract pilots if airlines get most of their pilots from the civilian world. Hopefully that helps some. I'm on the flight instructor stage and have to say am having a hard time staying focused. The pay is lousy after getting this rating. Its a long way to 1500 hours and then I get an airline job making bad money once again... Just got to keep plugging along!

 

The military doesn't pay for your flight training. They pay you to be an officer. You happen to get paid while going through training.

Doubtful that a military officer starts out at $50,000 - even with the pay additions on top of basically salary.
Guess if all the pay planets aligned, but it certainly wouldn't be the norm I'd think.
Pay Tables

You don't get a pension after 10 years service.

 

While this is a useful thread, it's over two years old.