Entering Part 91 flight school...
 

I've read about pilots who run their own business and do free-lance jobs flying people in private jets, and I've decided this is what I want to do. I do NOT want to fly commercial airlines. Anyway, there is an airport near me which is a part 91 flight school and it cost about 6,000 and you can not get scholarships. I do not know much about this yet, but will this school help me in achieving what I desire? The instructor told me that they will work with me on the direction I wish to pursue.. Also, is this considered "school"? My mother says that I need to be in college to stay under my parents taxes and I'm wondering if this would count as that.

there are a million and one ways to achieve a career in aviation. theres fast slow and everywhere in between. you need to research some schools near you and figure out your timeframe, budget, goals, motivation level etc... i can tell you that it will cost more than 6k for a ppl and then countless more for commercial cfi, multi. I would look into a community college program nearby that has a decent program. WIth those you can get financial aid, scholarships and use VA benefits if you have them. The structure of a college will more often then not get you done faster with the structure. Part 61 at the local FBO can get you where u want to be, and can offer great instruction. But if its a career you seek i would recommend a college and get a degree out it also.

If you want to freelance as a pilot, flying people in private jets, it's going to take a long time before you get to that goal. You need to get at least a commercial pilot's license which will cost in the neighborhood of 80K. After that you will need to spend a few yrs to get up to 1500 hours to get an ATP. During this time you probably won't be paid very well, so if you can run your own business, that's a good thing.

Then you will have to get turbine time. At this point in time, getting a job with a regional airline is the easiest way to to do that. After a few thousand hours turbine time, you can become a captain. In the world of private jets, you probably would have to start at a low paid job, you need to have some good connections to get in corporate aviation, so a good job to get would be charter sales, and aircraft brokering. In short it takes YEARS to get to the level of corporate jet captain.

Get a business degree, fly on the side. Do some kind of business internship in aviation. Research small business incubators for ideas. An alternative to PPL is Sport Pilot as a stepping stone toward PPL. It is cheaper and will teach you the basics of flying.

Your career goal is worthy and reasonable.

Owning a flight school is reasonable, as is freelance jet flying (if you want to own and charter the jets, that's much harder to pull off without losing all your money).

You'll need ratings and experience first...I wouldn't worry too much about beyond that yet. But to best position yourself to achieve your goals, here's a few tips...

In aviation, who you know is critical, and that's especially true for corporate aviation. Since you want to own a school, you won't be bouncing around the country, so you need to start a decent-sized corporate/GA airport where you can meet people. Do your flight training at a local part 141 school, take a CFI job there, and try to get involved in management (asst. chief pilot, etc) if at all possible. That way you'll see a lot of how such a school works (part 61 schools are similar to 141 but with less paperwork).

While you're doing that make the rounds and meet people...remember who you know is everything, so act like a politician running for office, talk to everybody and don't pizz anyone off.

Now we're going to deviate, based on the hard lessons some of my friends learned: Once you get 1500 hours take a job at the regional which will offer the shortest (or no commute). Stay employed at the school on a part-time basis, good news is the new rest regs allow non-121 flying such as CFI and you can always do ground schools or management work. Stay plugged in to the GA world while you build 1000 hours turbine time.

Once you get 1000 turbine (18 months or so), based on what you now know about corporate flying either take a corporate job or upgrade at the regional. By this time you'll know enough to make the right decision.

The reason for the regional job is that it's the fastest and easiest way to get 1000 turbine, which will open a lot of corporate doors. I have friends who struggled for like five years to get to that point and they wish they had just hit up a regional early on.

At this point you'll know enough to consider buying/starting a flight school (when you can afford to). I would probably do a full-time corporate job for at least a little while to first establish your corporate credentials...freelance pilots usually need a solid resume and reputation so folks are comfortable hiring them.

You might also realize that $200K to work 3 days a week at an airline might be better in the long run than $80K working six-seven days/week running a flight school. But at least you'll have the basis for a informed decision.

Generally flight training is offered by pvt. businesses, but some colleges do offer it, even community colleges. Do not go to Embry Riddle unless money is no object. You don't need to pay 200K for a degree and flight training. If you become a student member of AOPA, they have some good resources for you and offer a flight school directory. Check out AOPA.org, - Flight Training

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