Pilot- Career benefits? Cost of education?

[3goofyboys]

Double post, sorry!

 

[MinnieForMe]

My husband went to a college that offered Aviation and most of his friends are now pilots. The majority but not all entered the military as officers and upon serving their country are now working for airlines. The one exception was his closest friend who worked his way up. He started after college (bachelors in Aviation) teaching flying at the local airport, he moved on to a small charter company, moved up again to flying larger commuter planes and is now a Southwest Pilot. It took him approximately 15 years out of college to get to his final and ultimate goal which was a major airline.

Although, it's a great paying job with great benefits, there is a lot of time and sacrifice to make it to that position. I also think pilots have an absolute passion and love of flying and it seems to start at a very young age.

 

[Frye7127]

I have a nephew who was interested in being a pilot. He completed a college degree, did flight school and paid for many hours of private lessons. He took a job as a flight instructor with a flight school to build up his hours, which is pretty common for people interested in piloting as a career. The things he saw working for the flight school soured him on the whole shebang. It is very competitive, given what has gone on in the airline industry.

This! My DH to a tee. Not so much soured him to the profession, as he has gotten a job where he uses his licenses with his corporate job. It costs a lot of money to get your licenses and to build your time (either out of pocket or earning potential). There are plenty of aviation-type jobs that require you to have your pilots license and get to fly corporate or hopping around in your own plane to do your job. Having been there over the last 18 years, I would think hard about it. It sounds all glamorous, but really its not. Make sure he doesn't have a romanticized vision of what he thinks it is going to be.

This is very true too. It is when my husband is flying that he is at his most confident, free self. He is very good at it and is passionate about it. If you don't have that, it is going to be a long miserable road.[/COLOR]

 

[TheRatPack]

He's 16....so he has a romanticized vision of everything LMBO. He loves Nascar and there is a college that has motorsports....but he doesn't realize that most of the drivers were on a circuit long before going to Nascar, and that the college courses are mainly for the business end of it, pit crew...etc. Then there is the army and being a pilot....all of this of course glorified on TV or movies.....but again at 16 you think you're invincible and you don't think of running for your life, crashing your plane or helicopter and being taken prisoner or being killed.

He wants a large family....and a wife of course LOL so being a pilot or anything else that takes him away from that would be hard. All of these career paths would though....so I'm just not sure what to tell him. I guess he needs to find an understanding wife

I thank you all again for sharing your experiences, it's really opened my eyes to a world I never knew about....again, I think we all think that being a pilot must be just a wonderful job, wonderful benefits...etc from what you see on TV and movies. But, after reading all of your replies, it definitely sheds new light on it...so thank you. I'll share all of this information during school this morning

 

[DawnM]

I have a friend who is a pilot. He was a military pilot first. He works for a major airline flying internationally. He loves his job, but the stress is high....the massive layoffs and not knowing if you might be next causes a LOT of stress. He told me too that if he is laid off, even if he were to be hired by another carrier, he would basically "start over" with the next company salary wise and totem pole wise....so his years of service wouldn't make a difference that way with his new company.

Dawn

 

[hoosiergirl7]

I know you've gotten a lot of input but I noticed there were some things not covered so I wanted to give you some more info.

My DH is currently active duty military. He retires this year after nearly 21 years of service. While in college, he got his private pilots license. The idea of flying airplanes for a living made him really happy. However, when you look into the time and effort it takes to become a pilot for an airline it is ridiculously expensive. To build up enough flying hours, take courses to get your pilot rating, etc, you are easily looking at a $40K investment. To get your pilot rating can cost between $10K & $15K. It is not cheap. When faced with this, DH decided that if he was ever going to become a commercial pilot he would have to be a military pilot first. When he joined the military, pilot slots were very difficult to procure. At the time, they had such a limited number of people they were taking to train to fly. Today is a completely different story.

DH got into the Air Force and the reason being is because of all the cargo planes the AF flies that are similar to commercial airplanes (C-5, C-17, C-130, KC-10). DH has flown C-130's his entire career and loves that airplane. It's the workhorse of the military. When his original commitment was nearing he did start interviewing for airlines and never got hired so he decided to stay in. It's actually a good thing because his commitment was up in August of 2000. Many of our AF friends who left the AF about the same time and were hired by airlines lost their jobs just a year later when 9/11 happened. They were low man on the totem pole and were the 1st to get cut from the pilot pool. Many of them were never rehired and have found other jobs.

If your son decides he wants to fly airplanes and goes into the military after college he will have a 10 year commitment before he can choose to leave to go to the commercial airlines.

We have a few friends that work for airlines. One of our closest friends works for Southwest and loves the company. When he started flying for them nearly 10 yrs ago he was gone a lot, especially the holidays. Pay starts at right around $32K to $35K. In essence a brand new airline pilot is working doctor's hours for about a 1/3 of the pay.

To get hired by companies such as Fed-Ex and UPS, you have to know someone who flies for them and can put in a good word to get hired. The more people or pilots you know at those companies, the better your chances for being hired. From what I have heard, they will not hire you otherwise.

People have asked DH as he gets ready to retire what airline he's going to work for and he's said none. As much as DH loves flying, he no longer wants to do it for a living. He's not interested in the low pay and long work hours. More than anything he's not interested in having to be gone from his family all the time. He feels he's missed enough already. Our kids are still young. I married DH 5 years into his military career and it took us another 7 1/2 yrs for our 1st child to be born. Our kids are 7 and almost 3. DH was 2 months shy of 40 when our youngest was born. So that's something else your son will have to think about. If he values family and time with them, the airlines might not be for him.

I wish I could give you insight on benefits. From what I know, our friend who works for Southwest has good health insurance, 401K, etc. That's one of the reasons Southwest was the only airline he would work for. I don't know for a fact how often family gets to fly free with the airlines. I've heard conflicting things. Some allow immediate family to fly whenever they want, other airlines limit the number of times. I know that a friend of mine's dad who works for Delta was able to fly fairly often but she was flying standby. She never had a guaranteed seat until she was actually on the airplane. So if she couldn't get on one flight, she'd have to wait for another one. Not sure if this is still the case.

I know I threw a lot of info at you but I hope it helps.

 

[jsmith]

im not a pilot-nor do i claim to be one-but i can give some slightly more objective answers about flying rotary wing aircraft (helos) in the army.
1) you do not have to be a college graduate to be a rotary wing pilot-most are warrent officers-to be come a warrent officer you first enlist often in a military occupational specaility not related to aviation. My boss who had been a OH 58-D pilot enlisted as a medic. After a minimum time in service you can apply to the warrent officer training program. the Aviation Warrent Officer program is very competitive but it is the BEST way to become a rotary wing pilot without breaking the bank.
2) Once selected there is a two year training program at Ft Rucker Alabama and there is an expected additional 6 year service commitment.
3) the army provides housing, good benefits and a decent wage but its not always healthy for families as there is ALOT of seperation-often for a year or more at a time.
4)most Aviators in the army fly either combat or medical missions. Both are-honestly quiet dangerous, most especially med evac.
5) the shrinking demand for things like business helos and TV station copters has reduced the opportunities for post military civilian employment as a rotary wing pilot. The best opportunities are usually with Air Life companies and i know a very good pilot with many combat missions under his belt who lasted 9 months as an Air Life pilot and was then looking for any other work. His reason-flying life flight in the Rockies is too dangerous. This was coming from a guy who had been shot down twice in Iraq.
While i would not discourage him-helos are awesome-he needs to be realistc and objective about the goals he has. and while he can enlist without any college his chances of being selected as an aviation warrent officer are improved by more education.

 

[IUTBAM]

My brother was an Air Force pilot (officer) for almost 20 years before he got out...it took him a LONG time to find a pilot position for a major commercial carrrier. He finally got on with United in the summer of 2001. And of course you know what happened on 9/11/01...everything changed after that. He was laid off in early 2002, and waited a long time before looking for something else in the hopes that he would be called back once the air travel industry picked up. It never happened. He finally ended up going back to the work for the FAA as a pilot. It's definitely not easy to get on with the big carriers.

 

[abolanwoski]

I am branching this off the other Pilot thread asking about personal benefits such a extra tickets...etc. I want to know more about your work benefits, insurance, salary...etc. You don't have to be specific...just gathering some information for my oldest son who has said he might be interested in something like this as his career choice. He's inching closer to having to make that decision and so I'm trying to get him where he needs to be through Dual Enrollment.

So if you or someone you're close to is a pilot, what are some of the benefits of such a job? Downfalls? Was it a lengthy educational process? Is it a pretty steady job, is there a lot of competition? What would make a new pilot stand out in the job search and what kind of pilots license would be most beneficial.

He's also mentioned going in the army and being a pilot...he knows that means helicopters most likely. So any information you have on that front would be much appreciated too. We're not a rich family, we have 5 children and live within our means....so finding out as much as possible will help us to save and hopefully not throw our money away making mistakes when choosing schools, classes...etc.

Thanks!!!

The majority of commercial pilots get their start in the military. In order to be a military pilot you need a bachelors degree (must be an officer for fixed wing) and then in exchange for your flight training you generally owe about 7-10 years to the Navy/AF depnding on how you got there in the first place (academy is most competetive for flight spots, but longer commitment). Most people don't become commercial pilots as civilians because the amount of time required is prohibitively expensive and getting experience with larger craft is generally not possible at your local small airport flight club.

The commercial pilot market is also HIGHLY competetive and airlines are constantly closing and downsizing. So even the most decorated and expericed pilots have a hard time finding a good job when they get out of the military. Most of my pilot friends have stayed in to retirement because the economy just won't support them getting out.

 

[Swimalie]

The one pilot I know said it is nearly impossible to log enough flight hours for commercial air outside of serving as a pilot in the military first.

I know when my husband got out, he went on to get every fixed wing license out there at his expense, and log more hours while applying for commercial jobs. Sadly, at the same time he got out is when pilots were being laid off with commercial airlines. If a current airline is looking at former military vs former commercial pilot, you know who they will pick. I'm happy they didn't pick him since he stayed in his town and we met there