I want to be a pilot what should my education path be?

Question

I am a junior in high school and i want to be a commercial pilot

What should i study, do i have to go to college or can i go to a flight school?

Answer 1

There are ten times more pilots then pilot jobs so the chance that you will land a job with a major airline is very slim.  sorry for the news.  Flight school is very expensive.  Every pilot in the FAA has to have a bachelor degree in something.  More than likely this should be in math, engineering, or science.  Also most airlines get there pilots from the airforce.  good luck.

Answer 2

The earlier you start the better.

First, take a flight physical and get your student pilot certifcate (you get that with the medical) to establish that you are healthy enough and don't have any potentially disqualifying problems.  Go here to find an Aviation Medical Examiner and learn more about the requirements: http://flightphysical.com/

Second: Check out these websites about learning to fly and choosing a flight school::

http://www.aopa.org/learntofly/

http://nowyoucanfly.com/

http://www.aopa.org/learntofly/startfly/...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/29/busine...

http://www.avscholars.com/Learn_to_Fly/S...

http://www.choosingaflightschool.com/

Three: enroll in a Private Pilot ground school and / or purchase a home-study course. There are also courses offered online. Many flight schools periodically offer ground school classes. and if you live in the US, so do Community Colleges (the latter is usually cheaper).

Four: Consider attending an aviation "summer camp": see http://www.faa.gov/education_research/ed...

Five: Buy some books about flying and start reading them. I personally recommend these:

Flight Plan to the Flight Deck,  Strategies for a Pilot Career, by Judy A. Tarver. A useful book for anyone planning to pursue a professional pilot career.  

Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langeweische: an all-time classic about the true nuts-and-bolts of flying an airplane properly. Gotta have it on your bookshelf.

Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann: A must-read true story about Gann's flying career. An all-time classic that belongs on every aviator's bookshelf that should really get you into the spirit of aviation.

Flight of Passage: A Memoir, by Rinker Buck. A true story about the youngest aviators on record to fly America coast to coast. This should really get you enthused about flying too.

Biplane by Richard Bach: an account of one man's experience of returning to the grass-roots of civil aviation. Another great read about the romance and adventure of aviation.

There are tons of others, but you can't go wrong with those 5 titles. The first two will help you get going and the last 3 are for pleasure and will get you fired up about flying.

Have fun, good luck

Answer 3

Get your certificates and ratings as young as you legally can, and instruct during summers while you're in an accredited college, getting a bachelor degree in anything.

You can get perfectly good flight instruction that is not in a flight school.

You don't need to be 18 to fly solo.  You need to be 14 in a glider, 16 in an airplane.

You don't need tons of math.  The math needed in aviation is mostly ratios and arithmetical interpolation.

There certainly are (ND, IL) colleges that have flight training.

Answer 4

This is the perfect time to start. I'm in the 8th grade and I'm starting my private pilot's course this summer.

Try http://www.learntofly.com  and http://beapilot.com to help locate schools. Basically, you attend as often as you want, whether it's 5 days a week or once every other week, it's up to you (however going less than once a week is not a good ting to do, since you may forget some of your training and end up re-taking the lesson costing you more money). If you don't hve the money, you can ask the manager to wash planes in exchange for lessons. My manager won't let me, but I have a friend who does this. Also try looknig into student loans. There are two types of schools; part 141 and part 61. Part 141 are FAA-aproved and have the highest quality training and usually better maintained equipment. They must use a syllabus when teaching. Part 61 schools are pretty good too, it really doesn't matter which type you go to. But part 61 don't always use a syllabus, may have lower-quality equipment but are from my experience "nicer" than part 141. Either way, makes sure you are comfortable with your school, check out the fleet, see what knid of aircraft you'll be flying in and meet the people who work there.

It can take you anywhere from 6 months to a couple of years to get your student pilot's certificate, it really depends on how often you fly. When you turn 16, and pass a third-class physical, your instructor will let you do your first solo flight. If he/she is pleased with your flying then you will be rewarded with your student pilot which allows you to fly solo without passengers. You keep on flying and at age 17 you get your private pilot's certificate. Now you can fly with passengers. Now you can get your instrument and muli-engine ratings (allowing you to fly through poor-seeing conditions and operate multi-engine aircraft, pretty self-explanitory). You need at least      50 flight log hours,      a second-class physical, and need to be 18 to get your commercial pilot's certificate. Now, you can choose to become a CFI or certified flight instructor which is a great way to build up flight time and make money. At age 18 you also need to go to college, get a four-year degree. A great college would be Embry-Riddle, it's an aviation university in Florida and Arizona. Most regional airlines hire pilots at age 21. The amount of flight hours required to get hired differs from airline to airline, it can be as low as 500 hours + 50 hours multi-engine or as high as 1000 hours + multi engine. Try to stand out/make yourself more appealing than others (because there is a lot of competetion, hundreds of other pilots want your position) by building up more flight hours than required because they want people with the most experience. Also, you want to look really nice when you go to your interview and they expect you to know about the airline's history so do lots of research. Basically, the law states you only need a second-class physical to get hired as F/O, but airlines want to make sure you can pass the first-class which you need to become captain so I recommend getting your first-class physical before getting hired, even though you don't need it until you work your way up to captain. If you do get hired, you start out as F/O or first officer, also known as co-pilot. You may or may not be a reserve F/O, but it really depends on if there is a shortage of pilots (like there is now, and like there is going to be in the future because more planes are being built and more pilots are retiring). When you have enough experience as a F/O the airline will promote you to captain, again you may be on reserve or blockholder, depends. You need your ATP (airline transport pilot's certificate) to become captain, must be 23 and      have around 1500 log hours + 50 hours      multi-engine time. In addition to this, you need to pass a first-class physical (which you may already have taken care of). After you have enough seniority start looking for major airlines that may be hiring. Then repeat the entire process of working your way up to the top.

Good luck with becoming a pilot!  If you have any questions about achieving your goal, feel free to email me!

-Captain Zach

- try to stay accident free, and stay out of drugs, etc. The airlines won't hire people with bad records!

Answer 5

My husband is currently a pilot, and in school.  Most commercial airlines want you to have a degree.  My husband is doing all of his classes on line through Utah State.  You also need to go to a flight school to learn how to fly.  You can do that now.  Look for on in your area.  The sooner you start flying and the more hours you build, the easier it will be to get a job.  Most people don't walk right into the airlines.  There are numerous jobs in between, and many different certificates and endorsements to get before you can fly jumbo jets!  Many smaller airlines do hire people with fewer hours!  But I suggest you start flying now, to give yourself that head start.  My husband was flight instructor and had students your age!  You may have to be 18 to solo, but you can start learning to fly before 18!  Best of luck and enjoy!  My husband loves it!!

Answer 6

Depends on the educational curricula of your country. I think you will still have to attend a flight school. You will then be trained to obtain a PPL [private pilot license], MER [multi-engine rating], IR [instrument rating] and then hopefully a CPL [commercial pilot license] after about 600 hours or so of actual flying. But please remember that the license does not automatically qualify you to fly any particular aircraft. You have to attend a course on a particular aircraft before you can be qualified to fly that aircraft.

Answer 7

I don't think any college trains for pilot, go to flight

school you will need to have a doctor give you

a flight medical (the flight school should be able to

give you a list of doctors that do that kind of medical)

I would suggest joining air cadets you might get

your private license for free and you need that prior

to moving on to something more advance

Answer 8

I am a retired airline capt. and know that all the4 sciences and some math will help.  There flight schools in the US....remember they trained the terrorists that attack the US.  I have been told they are expensive.  Have you thought of trying for flight training in the US Air force?

Answer 9

Hopefully this will help.  You say that you want to be a commercial pilot.  You don't specify that you want to be an airline pilot, and it seems that everyone automatically assumes that commercial = airlines.  That is not the case, but I will try to point you in the right direction.  

First, make sure that you like to fly.  Flight training is very expensive, so make absolutely sure this is what you want to do for a living.  If you are sure, then there are 3 basic paths to get to where you want.  1)  You can take flight training at your local airport or flight school that only does flight training.  You would not need to take any other courses.  The first step would be to get your private airman's certificate, then work on your commercial with an intrument rating.  After completing commercial/instrument work, you could work on  getting your multi engine, CFI, CFII, and eventually an ATP.  If your end goal is flying for a major airline, realistically you will need a 4 year degree.  You could do your flight training and college work seperately, but you need to have a lot of money to do this.  2) The second option is to get a degree in a professional flight program at a university.  This would allow you to get all of your flight training as part of a degree program, and since your flight costs are now part of your education, you can get federal student loans to help pay for it.  The Universtiy of North Dakota is widely regarded as being one of the best, if not the best, for flight instruction.  There are others as well, such as Embry Riddle.  3)  The third option is to try to get Uncle Sam to pay for it.  However to qualify for military flight training, you need to have a 4 year college degree.  If you have stellar grades, you could try for an appointment to one of the military academies, but appointments to any of the academies are very, very competetive.  If this interests you, being a junior in HS this is the time to get the ball rolling on that option.  Talk to your guidance counselor about it for more info.  If you did recieve an appointment, you would get your 4 year degree on the tab of Uncle Sam, and upon graduation you would be a commissioned officer.  If you qualify physically, you could then go on to receive flight training and serve out your military commitment as a pilot for the Army, Navy or Air Force, or Marines.  If you go to a civilian university, you can get a degree in a non-aviation field, and participate in the campus ROTC program, and get your commission that way, or apply for an officer training program after graduating from a University.  

If you want to take the military route, getting a degree in something heavy in science or math would be very advantageous (engineering, physics, mathematics, even biology).  

Being a commercial pilot can mean many things.  Airline, corporate, air charter, flight instructor, powerline/pipeline patrol, banner towing, sightseeing, these are all examples of commercial pilots.  If the big airlines is your ultimate goal, you will need to build time.  Most people do this by flight instructing after finishing school.  After building enough time (the actual amount of time will vay) you can get hired by a smaller regional airline.  After flying there for a few years, you could then get hired as a First Officer for a major.  If you take the civilian route, there is one thing to expect for sure.  You will not make decent money for quite some time.  Most people who flight instruct have to take second jobs to pay bills.  This is why you really need to decide if you love flying enough to do it for a living.  Hope this was helpful.

Answer 10

My older brother is a senior 767-300 Captain with over 25,000 hours flight time. He retires in a little over 5 years after being an airline pilot since the age of 22. He has flown DC-3s (no sh*t), a multitude of turbo props like the YS-11, then commercial jets DC-9, DC-8 and 767-300. He will transition into the Airbus A330-300 sometime later this year. He has a Bachelors Degree in Commercial Art.

I have a Commercial Inst Lic for fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft. I was a Marine Heavy Assault Helicopter Pilot (CH-53D). Marine/Navy flight instructor. I have a Bachelor's Degree in Creative Arts.

If you wish, engineering is good. But unless you have the desire to be a test pilot, not really necessary. If your desire to fly is there, you will overcome what math you have to deal with and attain your goals. Good Luck. They anticipate a shortage of pilots in the very near future..

Answer 11

tons of math!  this is one field you DO NEED MATH!  Geography can't hurt.   And know how to communicate with the people in whatever part of the world your flying.