Its kind of a no brainer really. No money, no flying. I don't mean to be rude or mean but isn't this kind of good news for those of you who are not flight instructors? less pilots means less competition right?

BTW: $10,000 and still no PPL? maybe the guy was not meant to fly.

Ok, yes the economy is bad, and there are a lot of us on furlough, but this industry is cyclical, and when things pick back up, we will be in another shortage of pilots I think, which again will allow for quick movement within the industry. And unfortunatly then there will be a severe lack of CFI's because they will be all back in their RJ cockpits, and a rush of students wanting to ride the next hiring boom. Things will always cycle from one end to the other. For everyone of us griping about a lack of flying right now, ill bet we will be griping about having a day off when things pick up. I foresee around 2011, when the cycle of the age 65 rule hits again, but only time will tell...

Nowadays you can say that about spending a good 30K for a 4 year degree, especially if that degree is not marketable (during this economy what is?) I recently had a discussion with my co-worker of how much money I spend on flight training. Yes it raised their eyebrows, but I assured them that it is an investment and that each hour lets me get closer to the dream. Sure, it is a risk, but would I rather not take it because the economy right now is crummy? Like the above poster said, the economy will bounce back...

Not really, these new pilots won't be able to compete with the pilots currently out of work in hours or experience. They'll just get their minimum hours and be out of work with the rest.

good point

The economy may be short changing some people on their dreams to become a professional pilot however, there are some out here that have the resources to start & complete their training. I'm talking PPL to MEI.

For those who do have the resources, I believe that now is the right time to be in training. You'll have more one on one time with an instructor and you can really move at a pace that is beneficial to you. In addition, although some of these schools have fixed prices, I believe that you could possibly go into some of these other schools and negotiate a lower price.




atp

Its not like we are in china here. I believe schools, if anything, will increase their prices if this keeps going. I mean, they have to pay the bills.

Gentlemen and Ladies,

Now is the time to start training. Not in four years, but NOW!

Before you say I'm off my rocker, let's look at a couple of facts.

You can now train at a pace that will allow you to pay as you go for flight training and not take a huge hit in senority. You won't be in debt up to your eyeballs and trying to figure how you'll pay back the loan and survive on the low pay earily in your career. The really smart ones will go into 1st year pay with a bit of money saved up.

You can get a four year degree in a field that you like and will be a good backstop if your future career isn't what you wanted or as Sky High says "the industry doesn't like you".

The large amount of disgruntled pilots comes from a change in the retirement age and a hugh downturn in the economy. Retirements will start cranking right back up in 2013 and we all hope that the economy will be better by then.

The number of military pilots continues to decline each year. More choose to stay in the military, especially if their only in it for the money.

The whole "multi crew certificate" is a response by the airline industry that they don't know where their future pilots will come from. If you start your training now, it will be you.

There's my two cents.

Not really that unreasonable. Take an aircraft that cost $120/hr, and an instructor rate of $45/hr, and with the avg of 65hrs to attain a PPL, it's easily over $10,000.

This rate is what we charged for our services and our aircraft. The instruction rate was justified, you were getting 1 of 2 highly experienced CFI's, and the plane was more of an IFR trainer, with dual 430's, AP, airconditioning, etc...

You could save $2000 very quickly by changing aircraft to something less desireable, and obviously another $500-ish on instructors if you get a lower rate.