Please Help a Newbie

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911neverforget

Filing Flight Plan
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Aug 26, 2013
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911neverforget
Hi everyone, please forgive my lack of knowledge here on the forums for this may be the wrong place to ask these questions.

I wanted to ask some questions about becoming commercial pilot to those that might have some experience in the field.

I.e: how open is the field now and what are people's expectations about employment in the future.

Are there any hints you could give to someone just starting into the field I.e getting private pilots license soon.

I come from a military background, but in law enforcement, not aviation. I am interested in any facet of flying. Cargo, passenger, crop dusting, ect. I know I have to start somewhere, but it is something I would truly love to do. I have a bachelors degree (though I don't think that is required in most cases).

If anyone has any pointers or references for information on becoming a pilot it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks (and please forgive my iphone auto-correct).
 
If you're eligible for the post 911 GI Bill from your military time, you can have all of your ratings (to include PPL) paid for while getting a nice housing allowance if you find a flight school associated with a 4yr college.

The trick is finding a state school that has such a program and being able to qualify for in state tuition.

Palm Beach State College in FL is a great example with fixed and rotary wing programs.

As to the market for pilots...no idea...but with the Gi Bill, you'd be entering the career field without the burden of student loans.
 
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The field is wide open -- lots of pilot jobs available. The problem is finding the money to get the pilot certificates/ratings to get those jobs. As you are a veteran, there are a number of VA funding options to do this -- as your VA counselor for details. With that funding, a lot of pilot training options are available, primarily the large training schools such as Flight Safety, Aerosim Flight Academy, and Pan Am Flight Academy. Sticking with the large, well-established schools like the ones I mentioned gives you the best assurance of quality training and good job opportunities after training. Check those schools on the internet and contact them for more information including career advice.

Also, since you already have a 4-year college degree, there is no need to go into a 4-year collegiate aviation program now -- just get the flight training and go from there with the degree you already have.
 
I disagree Ron. I too have a 4 YR degree and finding a flight school associated with a state college is the best way to get ALL of the hours paid for with GI Bill plus a housing allowance.

My previous degree earned me transfer credit so I ONLY need to take the flight courses. I just finished a rotorcraft PPL addon with $0 out of pocket while also earning $1700/mo in housing allowance.

If he goes the unassociated flight school route with VA, he's limited to $10k a year. No good.

In my experience, most VA counselors do not fully understand how to best utilize the flight benefits and just read the internet page to you.
 
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With your military law enforcement background and a desire to fly I'd get my commercial on the GI bill in both fixed wing and rotors and then go knocking on the CBP door. Interesting flying and steady pay. Good luck.
 
Any chance there are any colleges in CA with flight programs? Thanks for the help. I appreciate it. I've actually waited a semester to finish my degree just incase I wanted to go back and double major. I was going to go into law enforcement but decided against it in CA. I'll look around and see if I can't find a school here with a program.
 
Ron Levy said:
The field is wide open -- lots of pilot jobs available.
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Ron as no clue



First you need to figure the area of aviation you want to get into.

For example if you want to fly AG (crop dusting) you should go to a AG school and build your hours up tailwheel, this will be a HUGE advantage. You will have no need for multi, CFI or instrument ratings.

If you want to go cargo, it's a whole nother ball game.

Figure the area you want to work and go from there.

ALSO, aviation is a hard industry to break into, your first few jobs are going to be a b!tch. If you cant research the genera of aviation you might like on your own (all the info is out there), it's going to be a really tuff haul for you.
 
911neverforget said:
Any chance there are any colleges in CA with flight programs? Thanks for the help. I appreciate it. I've actually waited a semester to finish my degree just incase I wanted to go back and double major. I was going to go into law enforcement but decided against it in CA. I'll look around and see if I can't find a school here with a program.
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If you're in SoCal, I believe I am seeing young veterans who are using their benefits through an affiliation between Orange Coast College and my flight school, Sunrise Aviation.
 
Well I've looked around some and spoken with a retired pilot. I work with a gentleman who worked as a captain for Discovery Air. He told me, but I've forgotten the details. I think he flew 50 or so seat regional jets for discovery. Before that he flew for some corporate charter service flying executives around, and I think he started out flying for small rural banks. He called them "check rides", where you start out basically building up hours flying bank checks from rural areas to central banks. I doubt they even do that anymore.

Now I know his information is antiquated because he was his by an IED in 2005 and couldn't pass a flight physical due to a heart condition from the blast.

I tried to pick his brain as much as I could, but I realize his information is not all that useful. He did say that it's a very competitive business, especially because you have ex-military pilots coming into the field with thousands of hours of flight time.

If I had my way I would love to fly cargo as a first choice, passenger aircraft second, and rural/small craft lastly.

I estimated about $80,000 in costs to get CFII Multi engine (I'm not 100% sure which is required, but this is based guessing on the cost estimates from a few websites).

I'm trying to broaden my understanding before a start committing funds to what could be a closed career field. I had been planning on staying in the military, but we are getting cut fast due to sequestration. I do have an open door into local law enforcement but it's such an overmanned profession in CA that it seems wise to move on to something else.

Anyone know some other good resources to look into as far as employment prospects?
 
Hard to beat law enforcement as a way into aviation. Get hired. Gi bill the ratings and transfer to their aviation unit.
 
The dps guys out here have a good job flying helicopters. But it requires 2 years on the ground as a regular state trooper first. And, you may not want to do that on an if I get to fly thing. Also, they pay for your training I think, maybe if you already have your fixed gear. If you want to know more I can put you in touch with one of their boss type pilots.
 
Jeanie said:
The dps guys out here have a good job flying helicopters. But it requires 2 years on the ground as a regular state trooper first. And, you may not want to do that on an if I get to fly thing. Also, they pay for your training I think, maybe if you already have your fixed gear. If you want to know more I can put you in touch with one of their boss type pilots.
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They also have fixed wing. 2 years on the road would be worth it IMO.
 
if you are retired military and want something on the side to supplement your pension, this might be ok. OTOH if you are expecting to have a job to live on, you are competing with thousands of starry eyed kids willing to borrow money to train themselves so they can later work for free.
 
GI Bill is a good deal as others have said. Problem is a lot of these flight schools are trying to convince these veterans you'll be a professional pilot once you get your training done. Just isn't the case. GI Bill pays for ratings, not experience. The trend right now is rotorcraft ratings because these guys hear the field is wide open. So you get your CFI and 250 hrs after a couple years and you know who is going to hire you? No one. The only job you'll qualify for is a CFI spot competing against a dozen other applicants. Then if you do get hired making a whopping 25 grand a year, you'll have to do that for several years before getting enough hours to break into your first real commercial 135 gig. Now you're competing against all my buds who are getting forced out of the Army because of cutbacks. They'll have far more hours and better training when they hit the street than some guy who used the GI Bill CFI route. With a min time of 1,500-2,000 hrs for your first 135 spot, it'll take years to get to that level. The military guys getting out now have almost that time after doing only one hitch.

My advice, use the GI Bill but you better have a darn good plan if hiring doesn't work out. Look at it like getting your ratings for recreational purposes if things don't work as planned.
 
Alright thanks for the information guys and gals. Boarders patrol would be great but I've literally spent years of my life searching vehicles in hot weather and I just don't think I could do it again. I'll try to keep my options open as far as certifications go. The economy's bad and it's not getting any better so any good paying job will be hard to find.
 
911neverforget said:
Alright thanks for the information guys and gals. Boarders patrol would be great but I've literally spent years of my life searching vehicles in hot weather and I just don't think I could do it again. I'll try to keep my options open as far as certifications go. The economy's bad and it's not getting any better so any good paying job will be hard to find.
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actually good jobs are not hard to find. We have good paying openings that have gone unfilled for years. The problem is Americans in general don't want to work in skilled trades, they want to be web page designers or pilots or other "hobby jobs".
 
Actually they're not all bad jobs either. I think engineer was the number one unfilled position in America. Epidemiology, computer systems analyst. But one word of warning is not to enter a career field if you're not interested in it. I have a cousin that became a surgeon after being in the special forces(PJ) and was really disappointed by the numbers of people he would meet that simply ground their way through college for a high paying job that they weren't motivated to do.

The luckiest people are the ones who enjoy what they do and get paid for it.
 
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