Expert: David A. NewMyer - 2/5/2005

Question
I,m thinking about becoming an Airline pilot.What would be the best route to take in order to become qualified?What are the best licenses to get?And how much can I expect to be paid as a first officer with no experience?

Answer
Hi, Louis:

Thanks for your question.  I will try to assist!

There are a wide range of routes to becoming an airline pilot, but, the key steps are:

1.  Obtain the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Certification needed to fly for the airlines (minimum will be the FAA Private Pilot Certificate, the FAA Commercial Pilot Certificate with Instrument and Multi Engine Ratings and, to build flight experience, the FAA Flight Instructor (Airplane) Certificate (prerferably with Instrument and Multi Engine ratings in order to build all kinds of flight time).

2.  Obtain flight experience.  For example, a regional airline will probably not look at you to fly regional jet aircraft until you have 1000 to 1500 hours minimum pilot in command (PIC) flight time.  A major airline will not hire you until you have from 2500 to 4000 hours minimum PIC flight time plus 500 to 1000 hours of captain or PIC time on jet aircraft.  To build flight time, you will probably have to flight instruct (an excellent minimum flight time job), then do things like fly as a pipeline inspector, or a fly for hire job where you fly checks for banks or cargo at night, or, a job where you might fly parachute-jumpers to their drop zones. All of these are "time building" jobs that people do to get experience to move on to the next step.  Also, a key threshold is 500 PIC flight hours for most insurance companies to approve you on an insurance policy for a small regional airline or small charter (fly passengers for hire, non-scheduled).  Therefore, it is important to have a job flight instructing or doing something else where you can build up to and over 500 hours PIC.

3.  The last thing that you must do is get a B. S. or B. A. degree.  It does not have to be in aviation, but, getting a degree in aviation is one way to do all three things you need to do:  Get certification, build flight time AND get a degree.  There is a list of universities and colleges that offer aviation degrees available from the University Aviation Assocation.  Contact them at uaa@auburn.edu or at www.uaa.aero or at (334) 844-2434 to order it (cost is around $25).

As far as what you can expect to be paid as a first officer at a regional or national or major airline, it depends on the company, but, the pay will be from $18,000 to $30,000 a year depending on the type of aircraft flown and the size of the company---regionals tend to pay less and majors more with nationals in the middle.  Of course, when you complete your first year on the job, your pay will go up from there.  Captains with ten years of experience at some regional airlines make $100,000 a year...so, there is a good living to be made at the smaller airlines if you are in the right place.  Obviously, the big airlines like Southwest or UPS or FEDEX or Continental will pay $200,000 or more for some senior captain jobs.....

I hope that this answer is of assistance to you. If you need more clarification, please follow up with another question.

Best wishes to you,

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