Funding flight school?

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Shayne Johnson

Filing Flight Plan
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PilotArkansas
I'm a young college student who really wants to get a pilots license. A local flight school quoted me 9k. Does anyone have advice for funding it besides loans? Scholarships or anything? I started a gofundme campaign to try to raise money for it. If anyone wants to share the link for it ill pm you the link. Please help me find a solution to help me fund flight school. Thank you so much!!
 
MAKG1 said:
Well, the traditional way is to get a job, save money, and pay for it.

Did you really expect a different answer?
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That, could also put it on credit cards, but I hear interest can be a bioatch
 
wilkersk said:
Nope, hard work, saving and living below your means is generally how its done. Unless you're the barefoot bandit, of course.
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That was what I thought when gofundme came into it.
It is either money or time that stops us. I have been trying to get my PPL for 3 years. Had to stop for money reasons then had the money and no time.
If you want it you will get it.
 
Sorry Shayne - you're likely going to have to get a loan (credit cards, personal loan) or go to Bank of Mom and Dad. You can cut the training costs in half by starting with a Sport Pilot's license. (You'll want to make sure your CFI is rated for Private Pilot instruction so those training hours count toward the PPL.) If all you want to do is fly, that might be the easier-to-achieve option. But there's not shortcuts in aviation... so if you ultimately want a PPL, it's going to cost all of that $9K and then some. Don't forget to factor in aircraft rental and fuel time, extra books, tools (E6B, plotter, Firelight subscription if you're so inclined.)

Sorry to burst your bubble, but trying to make sure you don't underestimate flying. It's an expensive hobby.
 
Finish school. Join the military and serve your country (in the Navy of course) and maybe go to flight school.
When you get out of service you will be better positioned to get help with whatever you want to do. Forget gofundme or other things like that. Nothing is free in life. And,,,,,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
 
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You're not going to get much support here for loans or gofundme accounts. Most of us used this mysterious thing called a job to cash flow our training. Get your college out of the way (loan free) then worry about flying. Good things come to those who plan.
 
I wanted to fly since the fourth grade, when one of my father's friends took me up. I tried twice, but I never had both the time and the money at the same time. I finally managed at age 54!

Get college out of the way. Meantime, (if you have the time) start doing your ground school. After college, get a job and live cheap. You'll get it.
 
I'm glad I got my licenses while I was young & still living at home. There were still sacrifices.
I worked multiple jobs, some really dirty & hard, had no steady girlfriends, & didn't own a car until I was a 18 year old CFI. Then I bought a nice one.
There's no easy road but if you really want to fly you'll make the sacrifice. Good luck.
 
I had to stop my training after 22-hours in the 70's because of money. I didn't get my license until 2003 but I got it. I don't know any shortcuts. That said several people I know we're so passionate about getting a license that they were willing to live well below what their friends considered an acceptible life style so they could get a license while still in school and on their own nickel.

Three of them got part time jobs as linemen at FBO's that offered flight training. That got them a small amount of cash but also got them significantly reduced rates on flight training along with low or free flight time in some of their regular customer's planes.

Many owners, especially aging owners, can't fly their planes enough to keep engine corrosion and other issues under control. Some are willing to let people they know and trust put time on their planes for them. Line people at smaller FBO's tend to build relationships with their clients and may find this type of opportunity.

The end result for the three that I know that took line jobs at smaller FBO's was that they cut their costs for their ratings by half or more. It took up to a year to get their license that way but that's faster than it would take to pay off a loan and all three went on to become instructors at their FBO's.

That allowed them to build time at no cost to them and they were able to get advanced ratings fairly quickly after getting their instructors rating. One has since gone on to flying for a regional airline with plans to move up to a major as a career.

In the end most people can find a way to pay for the things they care the most about without going deeply into debt. That takes being willing to miss out on other things but it all comes down to what you want the most and what you're willing to give up to make that happen.

Good luck

Gary
 
pan handling for money to learn to fly. Classy. Why not work your fu@$!n; butt off like the rest of us?
 
I need a gofundme page for a 15k parachute repack.
 
Parachutes... I can't believe what they cost :( I was looking at the Mini SOFTIE and they are ~$2500 each.

And I do love the regulations. I can fly aerobatic alone all day and no worries, but if someone is in the right seat we BOTH MUST wear chutes. Why can't I just provide a chute for the passenger and call that good?

Enough of that, must go start my Gofundme account to buy two parachutes.

And before you write it, I know nobody here gives a chute. <- that's a little funny, no?
 
I am glad I got my license my senior year of college. It's the last chance you'll have for mid-week daytime fly time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk
 
Unless you're going to college for Engneering, nursing, becoming a lawyer or something, I'd skip college, you're just going to have a debt and a useless degree.

Look into the trades, it won't cost you nearly as much as a house, and you'll make more then you would with many of the degrees being sold.
 
rtk11 said:
Sounds like you might be a Cirrus driver? See, you might actually get some sympathy dollars from a GoFundMe page since 6PC already established the 'chute is needed for landing. :p
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I was joking I already have it covered. Just gets me angry seeing posts like this. I work really hard to get what i have a d keep what i have.
 
I have a real issue with the whole gofundme nonsense. I have two friends that each lost their homes to fire and they each set up gofundme pages. Both had excellent insurance on their homes with no mortgages and both received well over $50,000.00. I have seen it with medical bills, too. Despite having health insurance, I know several couples who set it up to cover their expenses, etc. I couldn't imagine asking for money when I was sick with over $750,000 in medical expenses; insurance paid for most of it but I still had co-insurance and other expenses. I felt bad when friends would bring food over for my wife and I. Maybe I'm just being an a$$. Then there are people who ask for money to flight train. Do it like we all did with hard work and jobs. Mayne it's the new entitlement mentality. Rant off and get off my lawn! Flame away!
 
OP: Jobs. Multiple. At the same time as going to school. That was how I did it. You can sleep when you're dead. Don't try the above after age 40. You might sleep and become dead during a lesson. Ha.

Then later even with a good job paying well for my age group and experience, had to stop flying for eight years due to budget and finances.

If you want it, you'll do it. Plenty of people do.

Note: They're in the minority by far.

Only other advice: It's a lot easier if you're single.
 
You don't want to take a loan,but will accept,donations,you must not really want to fly.
 
Don't take out loans. Try bartering with a flight school or CFI for hours.
 
and here i was going thru my budgets for the last 2 weeks trying to find holes so that i can buy a plane thats 20 years older than me.. why didnt i think of GoFundMe??? i am a an idiot!!
 
Yea, I feel it. You asked wrong. And don't ask! I'm working 2 jobs, and going to school for A&P on my GI bill to get me in that seat. I'd tell you the GI bill pays it. But flight training only gets 60% funding from GI bill. So no matter who you are, prepare to sacrifice if you want to fly.
 
For me, I took ground school while I was in college because I could afford that. I hung out with a professor who was restoring a t-craft and helped out a bit in exchange for a few (non-instructional) rides. When I graduated and got a job, I consumed every spare piece of cash for the next seven months getting my license.

I then drove ten year old cars for the next twenty years so I could afford to own a 50 y ear old aircraft.
 
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Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
Pretty sure we got trolled again. Guy made 1 post and no more. He knew exactly what words to use... We've been had :)
 
To the OP, I'll go about it a bit nicer...

I'm in your shoes, and what I'm doing is saving money, and looking for a job delivering pizzas on Friday and Saturday nights to get the money. (as for my main job, I'm an engineer at a major airplane company that has a credit score of 833, but I'm not going to borrow money for a hobby) Work has it's own reward, and paying cash for something that I want to do makes me do thing like smile when I deliver the pizzas, volunteer to work late (hey, another $20-30 in the airplane fund), come in early (again with the increase in the flight fund), and show gratitude for my boss.

Another thing I'm doing is using my company's policy of paying for school room education, and I've already gotten ground school paid for ($600 I don't have to spend), bought my headsets off of Craigslist ($200 for 3 old Bose headphones, which, ironically, are worth $250 each if I want to buy three A20s), and downloaded the books from the FAA.

Also, I just got an e-mail back from CAP and I'm looking at them for meeting up with CFI for instruction, but my primary goal is to serve. If the airplanes need to be washed, I'll be out there washing them. If they need someone to come in at 4:30am to ensure that the planes are ready for a mission (these are all said out of ignorance - I don't know what they do, but I'll know on Tuesday), I'll ride my bike there to do what it takes.

So, respectfully, if you've done all that and the go fund me thing is the last thing on your list, OK, but if it's the first thing, that puts you totally out of control of your learning, and dependent on everyone else in the world to fund you, and that's not a good place to be for a pilot, or as a person. Chart your own course, and make things happen, and don't let things happen to you.
 
While the OP may be some tool who lives in his parent's basement and has no life so he trolls forums all day, there are many people with similar questions.

To all those people really struggling to find a way to pay for flight training, honestly, just give up and find a hobby that you can afford. I'm not trying to be mean or throw cold water on your dream. Let me explain. Training is the least of the costs involved. After training, every flight you take will cost hundreds of dollars to rent a plane, landing fees, ramp fees, parking fees, etc.

For example, we had a POA meet up in August. I flew up from NY (KFRG), about 60-70 minutes (in the air) each way. The rental cost me over $400. To somebody who is having trouble getting training funds together, that's probably a big expense.
 
orange said:
While the OP may be some tool who lives in his parent's basement and has no life so he trolls forums all day, there are many people with similar questions.

To all those people really struggling to find a way to pay for flight training, honestly, just give up and find a hobby that you can afford. I'm not trying to be mean or throw cold water on your dream. Let me explain. Training is the least of the costs involved. After training, every flight you take will cost hundreds of dollars to rent a plane, landing fees, ramp fees, parking fees, etc.

For example, we had a POA meet up in August. I flew up from NY (KFRG), about 60-70 minutes (in the air) each way. The rental cost me over $400. To somebody who is having trouble getting training funds together, that's probably a big expense.
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How much time on the Hobbs waiting for a TO slot out of Republic?
 
paflyer said:
How much time on the Hobbs waiting for a TO slot out of Republic?
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It depends. If you fly early enough or late enough you get out pretty quick. Weekends it's not unusual waiting 15-20 minutes for TO.
 
paflyer said:
How much time on the Hobbs waiting for a TO slot out of Republic?
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jordane93 said:
It depends. If you fly early enough or late enough you get out pretty quick. Weekends it's not unusual waiting 15-20 minutes for TO.
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Yep. Last Saturday morning (9:30-11am), I booked a plane so I could do some pattern work since I hadn't flown in about a month and don't want to get rusty. I had 1.5 hours scheduled. I flew 1.1 on the Hobbs and got 2 landings in. Yes, 2 whole landings. I was #5 for takeoff on my first one and #4 on the second. It seemed like they were keeping an unusually large separation between planes, which I found out later on my tower tour that they were doing ATC training all morning. And no T&G, they made me land and taxi back due, possibly due to training. Funny that it wasn't even that warm for the weekend warriors (no pun intended) to be out. But after I parked and went into the tower, it went completely dead. I thought about going back out since there was a plane available, but didn't feel like doing another pre-flight.

Definitely avoid nice weekend days (>50*). Go before 9am and after 5pm (in the summer since it's almost dark out now by 5pm).
 
Shayne Johnson said:
I'm a young college student who really wants to get a pilots license. A local flight school quoted me 9k. Does anyone have advice for funding it besides loans? Scholarships or anything? I started a gofundme campaign to try to raise money for it. If anyone wants to share the link for it ill pm you the link. Please help me find a solution to help me fund flight school. Thank you so much!!
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Well even if you find your flight school , how are you going to fund your flights after? If your going to do it, do it right.
 
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