Expert: David A. NewMyer - 1/2/2004

Question
Hello Mr. Newmeyer,
I am thinking about pursuing what I feel has been my dream for some time...becoming a pilot.  I would very much appreciate your advice on what you think is the best route to pursue my training and job placement.  I am 30 years old, and I do not have a college degree at this time.  My preference, I think, would be to become a corporate pilot.  I live in Northern Arizona, where flight schools are not too abundant, but there is a fairly prestigous school in Prescott, called Embry Riddle University.  Would you advise attending a major aeronautical university such as this, or should I focus on finding a quality flight school instead?  Any other info you can provide on your opinions of this career and life would be great as well.  Thank you

Scott Higgins

Answer
Hi, Scott:

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

One of the issues is:  Do you want to move now or later since most (but not all) corporate flying jobs will tend to be near large cities....

But, since you do not have a BS or BA degree, the choice of ERAU Prescott would seem to be a good one since you already live in the area.  I do believe that obtaining a BS or BA degree, while not absolutely mandatory, will make you more competitive in the corporate aviation environment.  Therefore, you need to decide whether to train via a university aviation flight program such as the one at ERAU Prescott, or some other similar program, OR obtain your flight training and your BS or BA in separate steps.  To me, it makes sense to combine these steps.  Also, ERAU Prescott is one of the top aviation universities in the nation....among the top ten for sure.  So, it would not be a bad choice, that is for sure.  You also have the program down at Arizona State....the only other BS or BA aviation program in the state of Arizona.

As far as going to a quality, nationally-recognized flight school, I would still check out that option.  Some of the schools to check are:

Delta Academy
Flight Safety Academy
Pan Am International Flight Academy
Sierra Academy
Southeastern International Flight Academy

Check into their PLACEMENT programs in particular...they might be able to do more for you in that vein than ERAU Prescott in terms of direct placement to a job....then again, ERAU Prescott does have a very good Career Center and might be able to help, too.  So, check all the options in that regard....placement, costs, location, how the program fits you, curriculum, etc., are all factors to consider.

As far as the corporate aviation environment itself, this is NOT an easy career option to break into early in an aviation career.  It might take several years.  A rough timeline will be something like this:

Earn BS or BA degree along with your FAA Private, Commercial (with Instrument and Multi Engine Ratings) and Certified Flight Instructor Certificates:  Four years, or less (if you already have some transferrable college credit).  This should earn you about 350 flight hours.

First job after that:  Probably as a flight instructor

Next job:  Flying single engine charter or air taxi or banner towing or sight seeing flights or pipeline inspection or other similar flying.  Usually these jobs require a minimum of 500 hours of Pilot in Command (PIC) flight time for insurance reasons, or more.

Third job:  Larger charter operation, hopefully in multi engine aircraft or small turbine aircraft OR flying for a small regional airline.  These types of jobs will require about 1000 hours PIC flight time with 150 to 300 hours in multi engine aircraft (the tough thing early in your career will be finding a place to gain multi engine flight time)

Fourth job:  This is where you could hit "paydirt" with a smaller corporate operator, probably one on the airport where you have done your other flying.  You will likely find such jobs via networking with others in the industry, at your initial employers or via ERAU or your flight school (whichever you attend).  This will happen at around 2500 to 2500 hours of PIC flight time and at least 500 hours of PIC multi engine flight time...and, if possible some PIC turbine flight time as well.

You are looking at four years of school (plus or minus) as well as at least four or five years out of college to get to job #4 above.  I am not trying to discourage you...just trying to tell you like it is.

One other item:  The corporate aviation career field numbers around 45,000 people, largely pilots and mechanics.  By comparison, there are about 125,000 airline pilots flying out there.  So, it is not a huge career field, but, it is one that is always looking for professional pilots and is one that our graduates (I work for another four year university aviation program) seem to like very much.

I hope I have answered your questions.  If you need more information, please do not hesitate to send a follow up question via All Experts.

Best wishes,

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