Expert: D. Norkus - 9/13/2004

Question
i live in Colombia. but i am available to travel to any country.
thanks

Jorge  

Answer
Jorge,

Since you live in Columbia, your career options will be limited to where you can obtain the right to work. In addition, some airlines may have citizenship requirements and that can affect your career options too. Since you are not presently a U.S. citizen or a foreign national with a U.S. work permit I can only address your question in a limited manner. My experience is in flight training and the U.S. airline industry only.

If you can come to the US for training you should expect to spend about $40,000 to get your Private, Instrument, Commercial and Multi-Engine ratings. I don't know what requirements you will need to get hired outside the US, but after completing training, you will have approximately 250-300 flight hours. In the US, most regional airlines won't even interview you until you have 1,000 hours. Do some research on air carriers you would eventually like to work for and find out what they require to apply for pilot positions. Airlines in South America may not have the same prerequisites.

To find out about flight training in the USA, visit my website and the numerous links on it for information on getting your pilots licenses and airline careeers in the USA:

www.geocities.com/av8trxx/FAQ.html

This is also an excellent site with info on more "international" options, if you chose to train elsewhere in the world-
http://www.pilotfriend.com

Regarding scholarships, I am not aware of any that you would qualify for as a foreign student here in the USA. Most aviation scholarships are for 4 year university students enrolled in an aviation program. The one time cash awards to assist in paying for flight training I am aware of are for females only as my scholarship database is targeted towards women.

Good Luck

Dottie