Expert: D. Norkus - 11/6/2004

Question
hi, i always had a pasion for aviation, started sky diving at the age of sixteen, ...

finily i have the money to do my CPL.

i want to know how much work is there for new pilots , if i can give up my day time job and jump straight into a career as a pilot?


Answer
"i have the money to do my CPL.

i want to know how much work is there for new pilots , if i can give up my day time job and jump straight into a career as a pilot."

Greg

Want the short anwser? No, you can't jump straight into a career as a pilot and quit your day job. Not unless you can get a good paying jump pilot job with a fresh commercial license through your DZ connections. (The good positions in an Otter or Caravan require substantially more flight time than a new commercial to be insured in such aircraft.)  The long anwser: Although you may have saved up enough to get your Commercial you can't really  get pilot positions that will cover the rent at that level. You can't even flight instruct until you get the additional CFI rating. Jump pilot, banner tow or traffic watch may be your only options but most look to hire a pilot with more experience than a fresh commercial. You use these 'entry level' pilot jobs to build up enough experience to move on to the airlines, corporate or wherever it is you want to go. When I got hired at my first DZ, I had 350 hours. I had 1200 when I got into a regional airline. If you are talking about getting a commercial and then jumping straight into the airlines, that is not a possibility unless you go via an academy style program like the Delta Connection Academy, Flight Safety Direct Track or Mesa Pilot Development among others. (Programs like these cost upwards of $50-60K.)

You say you already have enough saved up for your commercial. Does that mean you already have your PPL and some flight time? If not, flight training from the Private up to the Commercial can easily cost upwards of $25K via the local flight school. If you do not have any flight time logged already, you will need 250 hours to get your Commercial (190 if you train via a Part 141 school). If you rent an airplane at $70/hr that's $17,500 in aircraft rental alone. Of course many hours will need to be spent with a CFI (about $30/hr on top of the aircraft rental while you train for your Private, Inst & Commercial) and pilot supplies will also cost extra. After you have your PPL, you can fly with another pilot while under "a hood" practicing instrument skills and you can both log the time in that situation. That way you can split the hourly rate and save some money. However, it will still cost you easily over $20K to get to the commercial level after all is said and done from zero flight hours.

There are regional airlines hiring and there are jobs out there, but it's not the big boom that was a few years back. Since the majors have so many on furlough and are not hiring, the regional pilots are staying at their airlines longer. Moving up beyond the regional level for any positions open at Southwest, Jet Blue, Fed Ex ect(those who DIDN'T lay off pilots) is an extremely competative environment with so many unemployed highly experienced jet pilots looking for work. While you could possibly get a regional job, landing a job with a major could easily be 8-10 years off if you started flight training from zero hours today. Additionally, if you don't go via an academy program, you will need to have 1,000 flight hours before you can apply to most regionals. If you don't even have your PPL yet, that will be 2-3 years off considering the time it takes to earn your license/ratings and then get an entry level pilot job to get to that 1,000 hours of experience to be considered. Once hired, you can expect to make $20K or less as a new hor First Officer. (More on that at my site below.)

You need to know much more information than can possibly be covered via this forum if you really want to pursue this. I have created a page about becoming a pilot and careers that may provide some insight-

www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html

It anwsers common questions about the 'how to' of getting into flying and the airlines. In addition, I have all of what I consider the best sites on the web for aspiring pilots to get informed linked at the bottom. In peticular, www.jetcareers.com will be a great resource for you. They have message boards there to post questions too.

Read over the sites. It may take a while but you need to be armed with as much information about what to expect if you decide to make a career change. Hope this helps.

Dottie