Well after many pages of reading I can see that the industry as a whole does not look kindly at pilots who pay to fly for an airline to gain experience. I am a brand new student. I am 20 years old, a sophmore in college. I want to be an airline pilot. I have hunted for a year and a half for a flight school that I could attend and recieve a quality education. I have spent hours on the phone with recruiters, I have visited so many websites late at night that I don't think my eyes will be good enough for a 1st class medical. And with all that research I have found the school I think that will train me appropriately and give me a good background to take to an interviewer's office. The program will give me 200 MT 1000TT plus CRM and other stuff. Also It gives me a paid intership at the end of the program for a year and a half as an instructor while paying for me to attain my ATP. Now, here is my question. according to you guys who have moved up into the cockpit, is this appropriate training or am I "cheating" the system. I know it sounds dumb, but you all keep saying paying for training. In my eyes this is the only way I can get trained without military experience. Am I going to be doing something wrong. IS there a step that I missed? Or, are you all saying it is wrong to after you you have recieved your ratings to pay to fly for an airline? I tend to think thats what you all mean, but I keep hearing "pay for training". Please excuse my stupidity, but I need advice. Oh and sorry this is in the wrong thread.

 

"In my eyes this is the only way I can get trained without military experience"

What ever happened to going to any average FBO/flight school for training and work your way up as a CFI? No internships, no shortcuts....just do it.

Worked for me and all my friends.

 

I went to gulfstream acad before 9/11 when they still had the flight school. From what I gathered while I was there is that the whole company is poorly run. I had to wait almost a month for my private checkride. The training ac where always broke and the instructors had the worst attitudes. Everybody there wanted to do the FO program and get hired. The school knew this and used this to their advantage. As soon as you started complaining about an instructor or how long it takes to get a checkride scheduled they where quick to tell you that your attitude is bad and that is not what they need in a first officer. The school had a midair with a student and instructor and closed its doors on the flight training side.When I was there they had so many first officers going throught the program, that they furloughed the FOs that where perminate hire because they where making so much money on there program. After I had figured all of this out I wanted out, and I wanted the $50K that I had borrowed and had already prepaid the school. I had to get an attourney to write a letter before they would refund my money. My advice would be to stay away from that program. I personally had a bad experience there, but the program has worked for others. There are other programs out there, check out all of your options and then decide.....fly safe

 

The "Training" that you really need is private, intsrument, commercial (single and multi engine), CFI (and probably CFII & MEII). There's plenty of jobs for folks with those qualifications which will allow to get paid to get the 1000/200. And it will probably be a lot of fun. BTW you don't need an ATP to get a regional airline job, and the ATP WILL NOT get you a major airline job with about 5000 hours of mostly jet time.

 

I think what a lot of these young guys or newcomers don't realize is that they are missing out on the journey to the 1000 hrs it takes to get a regional job. I only had to instruct for 200 hrs and fell into several single pilot opportunities that helped build my total time. I met a ton of great people, flew to some great and not so great places, and learned a lot about flying and decision making. Flying for the airlines can be a great job, but once you get there you're going to be broke for a lot of years and won't be able to rent that Cessna anymore or get the $100 hamburger. I enjoy airline flying because it beats sitting at a desk all day. BUT, it isn't glamorous or exciting most days. It's a marathon, not a sprint to get to a major. Enjoy the journey along the way, you'll be glad you did in the end.