So how would I go about doing this?

Ive been out of school for a few years doing mostly legal work and Im just wanting something new.

I know its gonna cost upwards of 55,000 or so for the school... buts whats the steps to becoming an actuall airline pilot? also, how long will this take?

any advice would be appreciated.

[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 2:29 PM. Reason : yea]

6/14/2006 2:27:00 PM

are you related in any way, shape or form to an arab?
cause I'm serious, that matters

6/14/2006 2:32:16 PM

not really...they're importing pilots these days.

6/14/2006 2:34:36 PM

All I know is it takes a loooong time because you have to build up from like single engine prop planes and you have to log in a lot of flight hours.

6/14/2006 2:39:48 PM

nope... im about as white as they come

6/14/2006 2:40:34 PM

What do you mean by "actual airline pilot"? Are you trying to fly jumbo jets for a large, established airline?

6/14/2006 2:49:35 PM

eventually...

6/14/2006 2:52:02 PM

military training is the cheapest way

6/14/2006 2:53:30 PM

Join the Navy. And I'm not kidding. If that's what you're looking to do, you're going to need a lot of flight hours (as in...tens of thousands). Pretty much the only way you can log that many hours outside of the military is to become an instructor for several years (which doesn't pay shit) and then move on to a small company flying small planes for several more years.

There are schools that have deals with certain companies and will guarantee you an interview when you've completed the course, but it's not certain you'll get the job and even if you do, it'll likely be short distance cargo flying. Boring stuff.

[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 2:57 PM. Reason : ]

6/14/2006 2:55:58 PM

yep, join the military. no telling if you'll actually get to fly planes tho...unless the recruiter can guarantee some kind of shit on paper. might get stuck in the back seat of one or something.

if you're really interested in this option talk to theDuke866

6/14/2006 3:12:13 PM

check out embry riddle
http://www.erau.edu

6/14/2006 3:18:57 PM

^ But that's a whole helluva lot more expensive than $55,000.

And one of my old instructors graduated from the Phoenix campus and said he wished he hadn't. He was up to his eyes in debt and the only job he could get was at a tiny flight school as an instructor.

6/14/2006 3:22:09 PM

Military training is the way to go.

My old roommate from waaayyy back (like '93) is an Air Force pilot. He did AFROTC in college.

He actually started out in a navigator slot, but got bumped into a pilot slot. He has primarily flown KC-135s (tanker version of the venerable Boeing 707), and is now a flight instructor in Tweets (Cessna T37).

He was lucky. Pilot slots are hard to come by these days...ask theDuke866...he's trying damn hard to get out of the 2nd seat.

6/14/2006 3:42:25 PM

this is the dumbest fucking thread i've ever read

6/14/2006 3:47:21 PM

6/14/2006 4:07:22 PM

good flick

6/14/2006 4:25:40 PM

Quote :

"this is the dumbest fucking thread i've ever read"

Seriously? Jeez... I thought I posted this on TWW. I doubt this is any dumber than 'suggestions for good "emo"'.

anyways, I appreciate the advice. I'm understanding that the military is the best way to go but its not really an option. Although I respect all of those in the armed forces but I don't feel the need to sign away four years of my life.

I'm looking more in the area of flight schools...

6/14/2006 4:34:21 PM

good luck ever flying people around on airplanes then

6/14/2006 4:36:42 PM

Quote :

"If that's what you're looking to do, you're going to need a lot of flight hours (as in...tens of thousands)."

I don't know about needing tens of thousands of hours, but yeah you'd need a good amount of experience. I think a good first step would be to grab a private pilot's lisence and get used to flying, meteorology, and communicating with ATC and shyte.

From there I would think you could enroll in one of those programs that train you to fly commercial aircraft. I don't know anything about specific programs, but I'm sure you could inquire about some of them if you're really serious about it.


Also, joining the military could be a terrible mistake if the sole reason you're doing it is to become a commercial pilot. It's possible that you would get fucked into being a navigator, and it's also possible that you'd be completely fucked into not flying at all.

[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 5:13 PM. Reason : ]

6/14/2006 5:10:45 PM

Quote :

"Although I respect all of those in the armed forces but I don't feel the need to sign away four years of my life. I'm looking more in the area of flight schools..."

If you want to be a commercial pilot and actually fly a commercial airliner, it will take you 10-15 years in the civilian world. It will take you 4-6 going military.

I've talked to quite a few commercial pilots, every single one said go military. Average pilot age for civ's is like 35-40 starting, for military its like 25-27.

^You are a fucking idiot. You need tens of thousands of hours to fly a commercial liner. You don't just go through flight school. You have to get qualified on progressively larger planes, in order. And each qualification requires a TON of flight time.

To just to qualify to fly a commuter jet with like 4 passengers requires something rediculous like 10K hours of logged time.

6/14/2006 5:35:05 PM

The airlines want to see a lot of flight time before they're interested. As many people have mentioned, the military is a traditional route to get the requisite experience. You can go to school and pay to get your ATP or commercial license, but then you still need to rack up a ton of time as PIC. Non-military? You'll spend several years as a flight instructor and/or flying cargo and/or some other GA job(s).

6/14/2006 5:40:38 PM

damn, thats nuts.

flying an average of 8 hours a day, for 5 days a week, all year is 2080 hours a year. so it would take about 5 years of that to reach 10K. thats nuts.

6/14/2006 6:16:13 PM

yep, if you go military you will fly a lot, you won't have to pay for it, and you won't need as many hours... probably 5-10k hours in the military will probably get you a decent pilot spot with a major airline. if you try the other way you will pay lot of money for the training and then not make much for about 10 years as you work your way up....

6/14/2006 6:21:01 PM

Basically, you either have to be a military pilot or work your way up through the ranks of civilian aviation, and for the most part, it's a long, low-paying road.

Quote :

"check out embry riddle"

that's an option, but a very, very expensive one...one of my old roommates had about 250-300 flight hours from Riddle and his commercial-multi rating (but no CFI). I can't remember how much school debt he had, but it was easily in the 6-figures.

Quote :

"He was lucky. Pilot slots are hard to come by these days...ask theDuke866...he's trying damn hard to get out of the 2nd seat."

Not necessarily...they FORCED a Marine navigator to switch to pilot (or infantry) a few weeks ago. It comes and goes.

Quote :

" Although I respect all of those in the armed forces but I don't feel the need to sign away four years of my life."

Quote :

"If you want to be a commercial pilot and actually fly a commercial airliner, it will take you 10-15 years in the civilian world. It will take you 4-6 going military."

Your commitment as a pilot in the military is more like 8-10 years...and then, the bonuses to re-sign are pretty attractive, so not everyone gets out to fly commercial.

Quote :

"To just to qualify to fly a commuter jet with like 4 passengers requires something rediculous like 10K hours of logged time."

[NO]

Quote :

"flying an average of 8 hours a day, for 5 days a week, all year is 2080 hours a year. so it would take about 5 years of that to reach 10K. thats nuts."

Good luck finding anyone who logs 40 hours/week as PIC and makes 10k hours in 5 years. I doubt that's EVER been done...EVER.

10k hours is a COLOSSAL amount of flight time, even for a military aviator.

6/14/2006 6:50:29 PM

Yeah and fucking Neon is standing here telling me I'm a dumbass. Jesus fucking christ.

Quote :

"You are a fucking idiot. You need tens of thousands of hours to fly a commercial liner. You don't just go through flight school. You have to get qualified on progressively larger planes, in order. And each qualification requires a TON of flight time."

HEY NEON HAVE YOU EVER DONE A LOMCEVAK?

YOU EVER HELD 6+G'S WITHOUT A G-SUIT?



Anyways, I have a decent understanding of what it takes to become a commercial pilot as I know 2 of them (One of whom I talked to just last week). Both are retired airline pilots that flew a wide variety of aircraft. Shut your faggot mouth bitch. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HOURS? ARE YOU SHITTING ME?


Also note that I never said he could immediately get a fucking job faggot. I said I have no idea about the programs. I know you can get a private pilots lisence, then get an IFR rating, and just rack up time in various conditions. You could then get a commercial lisence and move on to doing random small scale shit (Become a CFI, teach for a while, get multi rating, then maybe fly a small plane for a company, then maybe move up to flying jets, I mean my god dude I'm sure there's more than one way to do it). It would take time, but it's not impossible by any means.


Why don't you go rack up time in a few of these and then come back to talk some more shit

Cessna 140
Cessna 152
Cessna 172
Cessna 182 (RG)
Piper J3 Cub
Skybolt
220hp Stearman
450hp Stearman
WACO Biplane
Citabria (115hp)
Decathlon
Extra 200
Extra 300L
Zlin 256
Aviat Husky


[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 8:51 PM. Reason : ]

6/14/2006 8:29:01 PM

Quote :

"HEY NEON HAVE YOU EVER DONE A LOMCEVAK? YOU EVER HELD 6+G'S WITHOUT A G-SUIT?"

As good as the rest of the elements of your arguments may be, Larkin...

I fail to see how these two have anything to do with becoming an airline pilot. In fact, I can bet you'd meet quite a few of them who have done neither.

6/14/2006 8:52:49 PM

Haha, that was just thrown in there for fun.

In all honesty I've always felt that being an airline pilot is something akin to being a bus driver, and I'd never want to do it.

[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 8:55 PM. Reason : ]

6/14/2006 8:53:53 PM

Thanks for proving my point Saabdumbass. Go do some more drugs.

Quote :

"I said I have no idea about the programs. I know you can get a private pilots lisence, then get an IFR rating, and just rack up time in various conditions. You could then get a commercial lisence and move on to doing random small scale shit (Become a CFI, teach for a while, get multi rating, then maybe fly a small plane for a company, then maybe move up to flying jets, I mean my god dude I'm sure there's more than one way to do it). "

By the time you class up and log the hours in the 5-10 planes you'll have to train with, and the job time moving up through various cargo and passenger prop planes to small commuter jets, you are looking at 10k hours logged. If you want to fly the jumbos, its a LONG path to take.

And I know several commercial pilots myself as well as having a few aquaintances trying to go the commercial route as a civilian. Everyone I've talked to gave me the 10k hour time as a pretty good measure of when you will start flying the big boys. That's pretty much 8-10 years of commercial flight work.

Keep on saying stupid shit

6/14/2006 9:52:50 PM

what, on average, does a commercial passenger pilot make?

6/14/2006 9:59:38 PM

Quote :

"If you want to fly the jumbos, its a LONG path to take."

When did the word jumbo or anything even referring to it get posted in this thread? When did I say it was a short path to "fly the jumbos?" The only thing I disagreed with was "TENS OF THOUSANDS OF HOURS" to fly an airliner.

Quote :

"Thanks for proving my point Saabdumbass. Go do some more drugs."

Maybe your brain is too fried to remember, but you were smoking weed when I met you. It's kind of ironic that you'd make a statement like this. This is the lounge kid, stop talking so much shit when people are just trying to have a somewhat civil conversation. You really are one stupid fuck, and I'm through contributing to this thread's destruction.

6/14/2006 10:09:20 PM

http://brentroad.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=414960&page=1#8904182

6/14/2006 10:14:31 PM

Quote :

"Good luck finding anyone who logs 40 hours/week as PIC and makes 10k hours in 5 years. I doubt that's EVER been done...EVER. 10k hours is a COLOSSAL amount of flight time, even for a military aviator."

yeah that was kinda my point, the tens of thousands of flight hours thing didnt make much sense to me.

6/14/2006 10:38:55 PM

Quote :

"You need tens of thousands of hours to fly a commercial liner. You don't just go through flight school."

hahahah don't be a moron Noen


you need 500+ hours to become a commercial liner pilot




IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO GO MILITARY, DO IT THROUGH ATP at http://www.atpflightschool.com/ for $53k from 0 hours to finish or through delta connection academy.

[Edited on June 14, 2006 at 11:20 PM. Reason : ]

6/14/2006 11:17:19 PM

Unless you get one with Southwest, Jetblue or, Contential you are going to have very little job security UNLESS the industry makes a major turn around. If you looking to fly and see the world and would like some job security look into corporate aviation. I am not trashing the airlines in anyway, just speaking the truth.

I friend of mine just left Comair to fly an old Citation III. He had been at Comair for 4 years and said leaving was the BEST decision he has made in his aviation career.

You do need thousands of hours to fly for a commercial airlines. To get on those it does help to know someone who has some seniority. Yeah its a good ole boy system but what’s not in this world.

6/14/2006 11:30:19 PM

NOEN is wrong on many counts. but the way some of you dumbasses go about arguing with him makes you look even fucking dumber, which is difficult at times.

6/15/2006 12:03:42 AM

Quote :

"you are going to have very little job security UNLESS the industry makes a major turn around"

I would say that turnaround is pretty damn near impossible in the domestic travel market.

6/15/2006 12:09:34 AM

WCH777: how did he land that job and with what company?

6/15/2006 12:39:46 AM

Quote :

"military training is the cheapest way "

6/15/2006 10:10:39 AM

being an airline pilot is the last thing i'd want to do. until we figure out some sort or alternate fuel source, airlines will continue to see higher operating costs and most will be bankrupt in 10 years. in fact i'm predicting that all airline travel will come to a halt untless some alternative to oil is discovered and implemented.

6/15/2006 10:14:19 AM

Nah, it'll just go back to being something only rich people can do, like in the old days

6/15/2006 10:42:20 AM

Quote :

"hahahah don't be a moron Noen you need 500+ hours to become a commercial liner pilot"

Actually, the military crowd is eligible for commercial with instrument rating in aircraft type after graduating flight school (200 or so hours). They just need to maintain military currency and pass their annual evaluations to keep the rating as long as they are on flight status.

ALthough good luck getting a job with only 200 hours. A lot of companies require considerably more hours before they will insure you.

[Edited on June 15, 2006 at 10:58 AM. Reason : .]

6/15/2006 10:55:07 AM

Quote :

"in fact i'm predicting that all airline travel will come to a halt untless some alternative to oil is discovered and implemented."

oh really. have a timeframe for this grand vision?

6/15/2006 11:12:32 AM

he said 10 years for bankruptcy - his prediction is just conjecture - do you expect him to back it up with facts? come on now

6/15/2006 11:14:00 AM

it just makes absolutely no sense.

sure, we'll have some serious problems with oil supply at some point. i doubt it will get that serious in the next 10 years.

and our government routinely bails out airlines, why would this behavior stop?

6/15/2006 11:23:42 AM

For civilians, only 250 hours are needed for a commercial certificate. I think it's something like 1500 minimum for ATP. However, as people said, with minimum experience you're looking at entry level GA jobs. Experience and connections are the path to better jobs, whether you're a pilot or an engineer or...

6/15/2006 11:30:54 AM