Training to be a commercial pilot

[WilcoRoger5386]

Hey all,

Really want to get into flying professionally on a very efficient schedule, any ideas about the best way to do that? I'd love to fly for majors, but (given age) would be perfectly content flying regionals/stable charter position.

I have about 10 hours in towards my PPL, and just got my first class physical done. I'm 37 (I appreciate this is limiting), and have a BA in economics from a good school.

Money is not a huge concern, paying from savings. I don't have any obligations in my personal life and can locate anywhere in the country and devote myself full-time to a program...I don't mind hours, worked a ton of 60-80 hour weeks in my life and its fine.

Some things I've researched, open to others?

1. ATP - Big program, good timelines, structured, lots of "success stories" - but also a disconcerting number of negative reviews and they're about 10k more than most regional programs.
2. Smaller structured program - eg US Aviation Academy in Denton Texas - less expensive than ATP, some of them have only positive reviews, some of them have good airline connections.
3. Local unstructured programs - concern here is not being able to do it efficiently and lack of airline connections, billing getting out of control, and a local program committing to a certain schedule and then not being able to live up to it.

If you were in my shoes - 37, plenty of time/savings for any program, BA, no personal obligations, willing to devote 60+ hours per week, etc, how would you go about training?

Thanks!

 

[KaiGywer]

I can recommend a local, structured program. You'd be flying a Cessna 140 for private, instrument and time building. Then Bonanza for commercial and Apache for multi. Cheap prices and very laid back athmosphere. The only downside (if you can call if that) is that it is somewhat in the middle of nowhere in Madison, SD. They run 7 days a week sunrise to sunset and in-house DPE. I did my IFR there and plan to go back for Commercial and multi. PM me if you want more info.

http://www.rigginflightservice.com/

 

[FlySince9]

If you were in my shoes - 37, plenty of time/savings for any program, BA, no personal obligations,

I’d Retire

 

[bobmrg]

I soloed in 1962 at 34, had my commercial ticket by 1966 (two years away from flying during this period), ATP by 1970. Flew Part 135, corporate, flight instructor (duh). You can do it. No fancy schools, just grinding it out hour by hour.

Bob Gardner

 

[James331]

Think at 37 you still good get into the majors if you wanted to if you didn’t screw around.

That said search on here about ATP Inc, cliff notes it’s not a good choice.
Lots of info on here about doing what you want, from gliders, to small schools to buying your own plane, lots of options.

 

[texasclouds]

Go for it bro!

 

[WilcoRoger5386]

I soloed in 1962 at 34, had my commercial ticket by 1966 (two years away from flying during this period), ATP by 1970. Flew Part 135, corporate, flight instructor (duh). You can do it. No fancy schools, just grinding it out hour by hour.

Bob Gardner

Awesome. I can knock my PPL out in a month or so where I'm at, find a great small school like Riggins and finish the other certifications.

Contract work lasting 4-6 weeks pops up in my industry 4-5x per year at rates that are hard to pass up, being at a flexible program would have a ton of benefits.

Think at 37 you still good get into the majors if you wanted to if you didn’t screw around.

That said search on here about ATP Inc, cliff notes it’s not a good choice.
Lots of info on here about doing what you want, from gliders, to small schools to buying your own plane, lots of options.

Yeah the more I think about ATP, the less I like it. A $10k premium over their competition for no apparent reason (besides a sense of structure maybe?) tells you something.

Awesome to hear the majors might be open! And I'm gonna move efficiently through the program for sure.

But even if its spending my 40s and 50s flying tourists around some tropical locale or flying at a regional, that's all good.

 

[Cici]

Awesome. I can knock my PPL out in a month or so where I'm at, find a great small school like Riggins and finish the other certifications.

Contract work lasting 4-6 weeks pops up in my industry 4-5x per year at rates that are hard to pass up, being at a flexible program would have a ton of benefits.



Yeah the more I think about ATP, the less I like it. A $10k premium over their competition for no apparent reason (besides a sense of structure maybe?) tells you something.

Awesome to hear the majors might be open! And I'm gonna move efficiently through the program for sure.

But even if its spending my 40s and 50s flying tourists around some tropical locale or flying at a regional, that's all good.

You can save much more than $10k. More like 50%. Granted, they are starting to train solely in g1000 planes. So maybe you only save $20k if you do all glass for your training.