Looking for Advice..

On Jun 26, 6:28*am, Brian Whatcott wrote:
majortom546 wrote:
I just graduated from high school and my dream job is to become a pilot..
I have wanted to be a pilot since a very young age. I plan on attending
my local community college this fall. They offer an aviation science
program that is mainly a transfer program where you go for 2 years then
transfer to a 4-year school for the other two. The course description
says:

The Associate in Science (A.S.) degree is awarded upon completion of
requirements for this program.

* Student will satisfy all requirements to earn a Private Pilot
License.
* Student will satisfy all requirements to earn an Instrument Rating.
* Student will satisfy all requirements to earn a Commercial Pilot
License.

The total cost of the program is $27,000. What schools could I transfer
to after this? And do you guys think its worth it or should I persue a
degree in something else? What is the job outlook like? Thanks.

* *
*
*
It has been done before - but this is possibly the toughest, unlikeliest
way to an airline job. * * Getting a four year degree. YES!
Getting a pilot slot in the Navy or AirForce? YES?

But if an hour of flight costs $100 and it will take you 45 hours (at
least) then that's a $5000 budget, not $27 grand

Brian W

And not to rain on your parade (much) but if you were a major carrier
(and hiring, which they aren't) would you hire someone with military
experience (any military is better than no military) and a college
degree or someone with schooling but not that much experience? Just
to earn $25K/yr?

For most folks its more the life depicted in a recent New York Times
article:

Free registration:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/nyregion/17pilot.html

Excerpted:

May 17, 2009
Pilots’ Lives Defy Glamorous Stereotype
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER, MATTHEW L. WALD and CHRISTOPHER DREW

This article was reported by David M. Halbfinger, Matthew L. Wald and
Christopher Drew, and written by Mr. Halbfinger.

Alex Lapointe, a 25-year-old co-pilot for a regional airline, says he
routinely lifts off knowing he has gotten less sleep than he needs.
And once or twice a week, he says, he sees the captain next to him
struggling to stay alert.

Neil A. Weston, also 25, went $100,000 into debt to train for a co-
pilot’s job that pays him $25,000 annually. He carries sandwiches in a
cooler from his home in Dubuque, Iowa, bought his first uniform for
$400, and holds out hope of tripling his salary by moving into the
captain’s seat, then up to a major carrier. Assuming, that is, the
majors start hiring again.

Capt. Paul Nietz, 58, who recently retired from a regional airline,
said his schedule wore him down and cost him three marriages. His
workweek typically began with a 2:30 a.m. wake-up in northern Michigan
and a 6 a.m. flight to his Chicago home bases. There, he would wait
for his first assignment, a noon departure.

By the time he parked his aircraft at the last gate of the night, he
was exhausted. But he would be due back at work eight hours and 15
minutes later. “At the very most, if you’re the kind of person that
could walk into a hotel room, strip and lay down, you might get four
and a half hours of sleep,” he said. “And I was very senior. I was one
of the fortunate guys.”

The National Transportation Safety Board’s inquiry into the Feb. 12
crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 outside Buffalo has
highlighted the operations of the nation’s regional airlines, a sector
of the aviation industry that has grown to account for half the
country’s airline flights and a quarter of its passengers.

The details of that world have surprised many Americans — the
strikingly low pay for new pilots; the rigors of flying multiple
flights, at lower altitudes and thus often in worse weather than
pilots on longer routes, while scrambling to get enough sleep; the
relative inexperience of pilots at the smaller airlines, whose
training standards are the same, but whose skills may not be.