Expert: David A. NewMyer - 3/30/2005

Question
Hello,
I am planning on attending a university  and majoring in aviation with the intent of becoming a comercial pilot in the future.  The cost of the college, however, is quite substantial and my funds are limited.  Do you have any tips for getting financial aid for students like me?  Also, I am interested in what will happen after I graduate the program.  How does a person become an actual pilot for a large company after college?  What is the starting pay in the field?  One last thing, you mentioned government aviation careers, could you tell me more about that--I havn't heard much about that venue yet.  Thank you very much for your time.
Tyler

Answer
Hi, Tyler:

Nice to hear from you.  I will try to assist!

On financial aid/scholarships:

1.  The majority of students get some financial aid/loans/scholarships via the general financial aid available by applying via FAFSA your high school guidance office or go to www.fafsa.gov for more information.

2.  Aviation financial aid and scholarship information is available at this website:  www.avscholars.com

3.  Finally, you can get a listing showing $1.4 million in aviation-related financial aid and scholarships from the University Aviation Association at www.uaa.aero or by emailing them at uaa@auburn.edu or by calling them at 334-844-2434.  There is a section on scholarships for beginning students.

After graduation:

1.  Each college or university that offers aviation offers different opportunities for you after graduation.  The university where I work, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, offers a significant number of flight operations internships at airlines (8 of them to choose from).  For example, we just signed a new flight operations internship agreement with Midwest Airlines in Milwaukee, WI last Fall.  Check our website for more information:  www.aviation.siu.edu  Other institutions offer "bridge agreements" that feature lower-than-typical entry level pilot flight experience requirements.  Others offer "pay to fly" agreements with some airlines (where you pay an extra fee for training in turboprop aircraft).

2.  One way to find out which universities and colleges offer aviation programs (and their respective benefits) is to contact the University Aviation Association, which sells THE COLLEGIATE AVIATION GUIDE for about $25.  Their contact information is above in the financial aid section of my answer.

3.  It takes some time to build your qualifications to fly for a larger commercial airline.  Most students graduating from a four year university with an aviation degree will still have five to seven or even ten years to go to build up their flight qualifications to be able to interview with a company like Southwest, jetBlue or Air Tran Airways.  This is because they will require something in the range of 2500 to 4000 hours of total flight time and, as part of that total, 500 to 1000 hours of pilot in command time in a turbine (or jet) aircraft.

4.  In order to build the flight time noted above, you will likely start out as a flight instructor and then build from there into other positions such as charter pilot, regional airline pilot, corporate pilot, etc.  In order to find a job as a charter pilot, for example, you will likely have to have something like 500 to 1000 hours of total flight time.  A regional airline pilot typically will be required to have 1000 hours of total flight time and something like 200 or 300 hours of multi engine flight experience.  So, one must keep building up progressively more responsible flight time in more complex aircraft in order to be able to more up.

RE:  Starting pay

1.  Starting pay for a flight instructor can be by the hour (something like $10 to $12 an hour.  Once you have a bit of experience, it can move up from there.  We pay our flight instructors right out of college at the rate of $1750 a month, or, a bit over $20,000 a year (but, with very good benefits).

2.  Regional airline pilots starting salaries are in the low to mid $20,000 a year and build from there.  Some regional airlines flying regional jets are paying their ten year captains up  to six figures ($100,000 a year).

RE: Government careers in flying

This does not refer to the military.  It refers to the fact that local, state and federal law enforcement agencies use a lot of aircraft and helicopters for their agencies.  In addition, many of the state aviation departments like the one here in Illinois operate a significant number of aircraft to assist in the carrying out of state business (they fly the governor, the state department heads and other state officials around the state).  And, the federal government does similar things with aircraft, from Air Force One (for the president) on down....the U. S. Department of Interior, U. S. Forestry Service, has 50 or 60 employees who contract with private companies to fly aircraft on forest fire fighting missions, as one example.

I hope that my answers have assisted you!  Let me know if you have any other questions via another question to AllExperts.com

Best wishes,

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