Flight school or 4 year?
 

Hey guys, this is my first post here so yeah! I am a junior in high school and have a share in a 150. I've chosen I want to go commercial instead of military but there's two new options that have presented themselves.

I would really like to go to aerosim or transpac for a year to get all my rating right after high school then CFI for one of them until I meet ATP requirements. The other option would be going to a 4 year such as North Dakota or Embry Riddle.

I personally would rather go to the first option and Go through one of there pipeline programs. My ultimate goal is to be a captain for Untied. I just don't want to be stuck flying regional forever just because I never went to a 4 year.

Ideally I'd FO for SkyWest or another regional for a few years, move up to captain then go work for United. What are your opinions on the two pathways, what are the pros and cons to both.

I've heard both good an bad things about being a CFI at Aerosim or TransPac but I can live with it to make money and do what I love (another quick note, Aerosim is what I'm really looking at because if rather do my ratings and CFI in a cirrus rather than a piper)

US Aviation Academy (which I kinda work for) also has a pipeline program with American Eagle.

As for a 4 year degree, you will need one to get into the major airlines. A great way to get a bachelors is to go to an in state school (no idea where you are but there are many). They have good programs and low tuition. On top of that the financing is usually forgiving and scholarships are abundant.

My one piece of advice (as a senior in college) is to start studying for ACT or SAT now. Its your junior year, so you should be studying all summer and take the ACT or SAT at least twice. You can get huge scholarships this way; they are automatically added on based on your scores for many college.

A couple months of hard studying for the SAT can earn you an extra $10-20k in scholarship. That is WAY more than a part time job so its totally worth skipping work or working less to study.

A lot of people on here are of the opinion you should earn a degree in something other than aviation so you have a fall back plan. This is generally a good idea but as I just mentioned in another thread, you may want to take your aviation classes through a college if financing will be a problem.

As for being a CFI at a big school, they may pay less than some places. However, they often let you fly more hours. Since your goal is earning your hours quickly, a trade off in pay may well be worth the reduced time as a CFI.

If I go to a four year I want it to be somewhere like ERAU or North Dakota. I won't go to a flight school after that. Either way a 4 year is far more expensive than an academy even with scholarships. My brother has a scholarship for playing water polo and academics but it's still about 60k a year for 4 years.

Ya, that's why it would be MUCH cheaper to go to a state school. You could go to a state school that has a flight program- many do.

I don't think there is a huge preference for UND or Embry Riddle. It would probably be advantageous for you to go somewhere else unless money is just not a problem.

Get your four year degree in something that has nothing to do with aviation. Learn how to do something other than flying airplanes so when you hit a slump in your flying career you have something to fall back on. Get your ratings along with your four year or even afterwards. After all that enjoy our aviation career! Don't make plans to fly for a specific company. You have no idea where this industry is going to put you. Good luck to you bud!

I just don't want to waste 4 years of not flying and losing hours if the airlines use experience as the deciding factor.

In reality its only 14-24 months extra to get a separate degree.

Option 1:
You get your 4 year degree in aviation you get your CFI in 4 years then spend another 6 months - 1 year building hours. (reduced hours requirements for some of the 4 year programs)

Option 2:
You spend 4 years getting your degree in something besides aviation. You then spend 8 months - 1 year getting your CFI and another year to 18 months building hours.

Hmm, but I guess the big question is "which is more valuable to the big airlines, a degree or flight hours. In a perfect world it would be the latter of the two. If I go the

Aerosim academy and go through there Gojet program and become a FO in a CRJ and move up to captain. When I go to apply as a United FO I just don't want to be told "sorry this guy has a degree but even though he has less hours than you well hire him instead of you anyways"

I can almost guarantee you it will be flight hours. If they are still around in 4 years the pipeline programs are great.

If not, turbine time would probably be the most valuable from what I've seen of our CFI's at US Aviation.

EDIT:

You can ask around, but I don't believe that will be the case. If you have the 1500 hours, a separate 4 year degree, and turbine time I would think you would be just as competitive as someone fresh out of Embry Riddle with 1000 hours and some turbine time.