Expert: Colin Woehrle - 1/29/2011

Question
i am 16 and i really want to be a commercial pilot someday. i have done a lot of research and taken a few flying lessons just to make sure i like it. so in two years i will be going to college and i have great grades so that will not be a problem, however i was curious if taking a four year degree in flight technology to become a pilot is a good idea? is it just a waste of money or is it going to better prepare me for flying as a professional career sooner? i want to eventually fly for fedex.. but doesn't everybody. i am willing to put in a lot of dedication and build up to flying 727 and other large cargo planes. i know it takes a lot of years to get the hours up but how many hours will i get by going to school for it and how soon after school would i be able to apply for  fedex or other large cargo job? also should i take another major in case my dream doesn't come true because it is a hard life as a pilot?  if it helps at all i want to go to school at Kent State University. thanks for taking the time to answer my questions and helping me out on my road to becoming a pilot

- p.s i don't want to go into the air force, not because it is bad but it just is not something i want to do

Answer
Hi Conrad,

Sounds like you really know what you want to do for a career. Good for you.

I'll start out by saying that it is not absolutely necessary that you get a four year degree in flight technology. If the airline your applying for doesn't have a "hiring agreement" with that specific college, it really makes no difference what degree you hold under your belt. (side note: I don't know of any hiring agreements between fedex and any aviation college) You will need some sort of 4-year degree though. Personally if I had it to do all over again I wouldn't have majored in Commercial Avaition. I would have done some other degree while simultaniously getting my pilots certificates. The reason is that if for some reason I lost my pilot certificate and could no long fly commercially, I don't have anything to fall back on. I'd recommend getting a degree that isn't tied to aviation, or if it must be, get one in something like airport management.

To continue answering your question, if you did go through a 4-year degree in flight technology, you'd graduate with somewhere around 250 hours total flight time. It's really not much. You'd need to build that experience up with maybe some flight instructing, scenic tours, charter flying etc before taking a job at a regional airline to gain additional flight hours flying turbojet aircraft, not to mention hours acting as pilot in command (captain). As you may probably be thinking, this process takes time (plan at least 6-10 years after college). Search out the hiring requirements to apply for a pilot position with fedex, you'll get an idea of what they're looking for (info available on their website).

I hope this helps answer your questions. Get back at me if not. Thanks, Colin