Expert: David A. NewMyer - 5/4/2005

Question
Thank you so much for your timely and thorough answer.  I have my BS in criminal justice now as I have been working in Law Enforcement my entire career.  Do you recommend me to get another BS with a major in some sort of Aviation discipline?  Thanks
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Followup To
Question -
Sir, I am 36 years old and will be retiring from the U.S. Army in 2 years.  I have always loved flying and have 27 hours with my solo license.  I am very interested in obtaining my commercial airline pilots license and would love to be a reginal pilot or even a cargo pilot.  I will be 38 when I retire and would like to start my commercial pilot training now.  Pay is not a big issue to me since I have plenty of money now.  Would you recommend an aviation career considering job security and/or even finding this type of job?  What are your recommendations about Embrey Riddle in GA?  Thanks, Jim Boerner
Answer -
Hi, Jim:

Thanks for your question, I will try to assist!

As far as recommending an aviation career/finding this type of job:  ABSOLUTELY I would recommend it.  For a 38 year old, remember that you will have 22 years left on an airline flight career since there is a mandatory age 60 retirement rule for airline pilots flying as a pilot in command (PIC). With regard to job security, keep in mind that there has been a ten year cycle present in the aviation and airline industries since 1960:  The early part of every one of those decades has had a downturn in employment and the latter part of each of those decades has had an upswing in employment.....in each case, some downturns and some upswings have been longer or shorter than others.  As far as the size of the airline industry, it has grown from just over 300,000 people working in the industry in the late 1970s to about 670,000 people today.  There are about 120,000 airline pilots working today.  Both numbers are down a bit from the early part of the decade, but, they are way up in the long term.

As far as your next steps, you have three key things to do:

1.  Earn your Federal Aviation Administration Private Pilot Certificate, your FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate with Instrument and Multi Engine Ratings and, probably, your Flight Instructor (Airplane) certificate so that you can build flight time while teaching others to fly.

2.  Build flight experience since even the smallest regional airline will require you to have 800 to 1000 hours of total flight time and 100 to 300 hours of multi engine experience to get an interview.

3.  Earn a BS degree since the larger airlines like to see this qualification.

As for Embry Riddle Aero University in Georgia, yes, they can help with the BS degree but I do not think that they provide flight training in GA.  So, you will have to figure out where to get some flight training to go along with the ERAU degree.

I hope that this information helps.  If you need anything else, please let me know by a follow up question via AllExperts.com

Sincerely,

David A. NewMyer, Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Aviation Management and Flight
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
http://www.aviation.siu.edu/  

Answer
Hi, Jim:

Thanks for the follow up question....it is a good one.

A second bachelor's degree might be helpful in your job search, BUT, the key thing to obtaining a commercial airline pilot job is earning your FAA certificates and ratings and then building your flight time.  If you can earn a second BS within the time you have left in the Army without taking away from your other goals of earning as much of your certificates and ratings as possible, then, go for it.  However, most employers are not as picky about the degree title right now....if you have a degree, that is the key.  What that degree might be in will matter to only a very few employers.

I hope that this helps!

Dave NewMyer
Southern Illinois University Carbondale