My son's career goal is to become a commercial airline pilot. Would the military be the best place to start?

Question

Where does college fit in this equation? Before or after flight training/ military? Thanks!

Answer 1

These days he could probably fit college in during his service. Like once he gets station somewhere. My ex did that while in the army after all his traiing. He later got out of the military and finished degree....and has a good job. Im sure it kinda works the same in that branch.

Answer 2

Military will ask him to stay with them for 6 years or more after he gets his education payed by them, so if he doesn't mind. tell him to apply, they will send him to college and everything, Msg me if u wanna know more

Answer 3

Civilian flight training costs a lot of money.  But if he does it through a university, he can get federal student loans to cover costs.  If he wants military flight training, college absolutely must come first.   No college degree, no military flight training.  (Except as noted by someone above, the army has a limited number of warrant officer slots for helicopter pilots)  Even with a college degree, military flight training is not a guarantee.  Enlisting in the military right after high school is probably the absolute wrong place to start if flying is his goal, unless he enlists in the guard or reserve on a part time basis.  That way he could serve part time, and get college paid for, and after graduating college he could then apply for an officer commissioning program and if successful at completing that, MAYBE get into a military flight program.  

Bottom line, military flight training is highly sought after and very difficult to obtain.  Anyone can start civilian flight training.  Just make sure he can pass the FAA medicals and have a source of revenue to pay for flight costs.  The other thing to remember is that once he completes civilian flight training, he will have to work for a few years at low paying flying jobs before he can qualify to work for a major airline.

Good luck

Answer 4

The military is not the best place to learn to fly. I have two retired Colonels who flew fighters in my family and I am a civilian pilot, so Ive heard and seen both sides and all three of us think that a flight school is the best way to go.

Military pilots cannot just show up at an airline and get a job, they have to learn everything they dont know about the civilian side and they have to learn all new aircraft. Both of the pilots in my family ended up only being able to fly 737's even though they have over 10k flight hours and were the highest ranking pilots in their squadrons. Both of them have told me that they wish they had done the civilian route because there are guys half their age who already have seniority over them just because they have been flying as civilians longer.

So what you want to do is look around at flight schools, not necessarily Universities, they are inherently expensive and dont have many advantages. Community colleges are the best place to learn, since they have lower hourly requirements because they fall under part 141 which pretty much cuts the required flight hours in half. No matter where he gets his license, they are all the same in the eyes of employers.

I went to a community college and every person I knew who went job hunting was hired quickly.

Answer 5

Absolutely not a good place to start! Unless you have NO money at all and he is a 4.0 student who is going to collage after being involved with all kinds of after school activities and being the perfect student (which I am sure he is). then maybe maybe he might stand a chance in a million in getting into flight training. The Service used to make allot of pilots, but not any more. Your best and cheapest option is to find a community college and a local airport that offers flying lessons or a community college that has a flight school. But the thing with flight "schools" is that they hire kids that just got there ratings to teach the students and they have NO real flying experience, so there is a good chance that his instructor will leave for a better job during his training so it will take time and more money to get going with a new instructor. This happens allot. But with a local airport or small community collage flight school that may not happen as much, smaller chance of this at a local airport. If you have  a good local airport with good instruction hopefully they have a retired pilot that teaches or someone with real experience. The big flight schools do have some advantages though for instance they really can teach you about the whole industry. Or whatever type of aviation he may want to get into. Check them out then check out the local airport. Huge money difference! 100,00 or 40,000.

And if he likes flying and wants to do allot of it he must NOT go military. They fly very few hours a year.

Answer 6

Yup, and your son will have to have a degree BEFORE he goes into the military for flight training. Only Officers are pilots, except the Army, where a Warrant Officer can fly helicopters.

Answer 7

David,

I am a retired military officer.

Many military pilots I knew left to become commercial pilots.

College fits into the equation because to be a military pilot requires a college degree. Many acquire their degrees via an academy or ROTC.

"Ranger"

Answer 8

I believe he should attend an aeronotic school before joining the military. They join the military to get more flight hours.