Expert: D. Norkus - 10/28/2009

Question
First let me thank you for you time.  

I have a 17 year old son, a senior in high school. When his school schedule lightens up after the first of the year he want to go for his private pilots license. He is think of a career as a commercial pilot.  He is looking at going to South Florida Community College to get his prerequisite done.  Do have any advise on which school in Florida would be the best direction for him?  How many hours of flight time is required for most airlines?  What type of degree is needed?

Thank you for you time, any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Pati

Answer
Pati

To become an airline pilot, you can have a degree in any subject. The major airlines prefer a bachelors while the regionals prefer at least an associates degree. Some pilots major in aviation but it isn't necessary. In fact, it is quite useless if a pilot ever finds himself unemployed in that capacity to whatever the circumstance later on (laid off, health issues).

To be hired by a regional pilots will have to have at least 1,500 flight hours and an Airline Transport Pilot certifictate due to a law passed a few weeks ago. This is in contract to years past when some candidates with a mere 300 hours were hired via an airline oriented training program. The majors require at least 3-4 times what the regional do to be a competitive candidate.

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on specific schools in Florida as I am not from that area. However, if he wants to attend ground school for the Private Pilot and it is opffered at a community college close by, that would be a very affordable way to go.

Regarding further advise, please go to my website- http://www.pilotcareer.info where I have collected the basics about training and careers I think any aspiring pilot should know and provided lots of links for research. There is much more an aspiring pilot should be informed about than can be covered via this forum! After looking it over let me know if you have additional questions and I can try and address specific topics.

Regards,
D. Norkus