Flight schools.?

Question

http://www.atpflightschool.com/

Do schools like this include me building enough hours to get hired by major airline. (1500). Or do i have to pay extra?.

1. Would some old pilot let me tag a long in the right seat to build hours?

2. About how many hours will you get all together once out of flight school?

3. Thanks

My Future at a airline pilot.

Hope im not getting on anyones nerves.

Answer 1

Hate to say it, but you'll need far more than 1500 hours to get hired.  Even the regionals who publish their minimums at 1000 hours won't hire you until you are at about 2500+ right now (though that number changes almost daily depending on the experience level of who you are competing against for a job).

Every airline in the world wants to see you actually EARN your time.  Don't buy it.  Get your CFI and go earn a living as an instructor for a year or two.  Its invaluable experience that will benefit you in the long run.  I know there are places like  Mesa Academy that guarantee you an interview, but if you do that you'll be stigmatizing yourself forever.  Your career decisions will stay with you until you retire.  Everybody in the industry knows what those places represent (pay-to-play, rich kids buying jobs) and they are not generally well-regarded throughout the industry.  

Do your time, earn your career like the rest of us.  Even the old pilot that lets you tag along isn't a great source of time building.  It might not even be legal to log any of that time (depending on the type of aircraft and the ratings involved) so just go get a CFI and instruct/tow banners/fly traffic watch/drop parachuters or something that involves showing up to work on time every day if for no other reason than to show you can do just that.

Edit:  Responding to the posted above myself.  John, you don't know what you're talking about.  First, most airlines prefer civilian trained pilots:  we tend to work better as teams rather than just giving and taking orders.  Second,  Military pilots build flight time at a snail's pace.  They are lucky to fly 200 hours in a year.  Third, regardless of what your recruiter has told you, it takes a 12 year commitment to to the military before they will even allow you to apply.  Yep, you gotta agree to give them your life for 12 years before they even let you try.  Some make it, most don't.  Whether you make it into flight school or not, you still need to give them 12 years.  And you gotta have a college degree to even think about getting into flight school, so thats another 4 years.  16 years of your life.  Gone.  compare that to the civilian world.  go to college and major in avaiation.  4 years.  Be a CFI for a year or two.  Get hired.  Total time investment 6 years.  Given the mandatory retirement age, that 10 years costs you a LOT of money as you'll be forced to retire just about the time its all starting to pay off.

Answer 2

You might get hired there to work as an instructor, and build hours that way.  Commercial and instrument are the bare minimum for entry-level pilot jobs.  --Hard to get those jobs even then.  500 to 1000 hours from instructing can help.  

To qualify for a major air carrier do some entry level pilot jobs.  Get multiengine rated.  Fly cancelled checks or fly at a commuter air carrier.  Upgrade to captain, faster planes, (check pilot, check airman) positions of responsibility, and better airlines.  With enough turbine captain time, especially 1000 hours of jet captain time on something large, and a college degree you'll be in the running for a pilot position at a major airline.

Answer 3

All quotes that you'll get for prices of flight schools are for the minimum hours for commercial certification - somewhere around 250 hours.

I don't want to discourage you, but just keeping it real, major airlines generally do not hire people with 1500 hours.  That represents the bare minimum to be allowed to apply.  In all reality, major airlines hire pilots with 3000-8000 hours, depending on the airline.  This represents about 10-20 years of flight experience from day 1.

I tell people this on almost a daily basis: if your goal is to be a major airline pilot, great!  But if you can't be happy with the 15 year path to get there, you'll never make it.  You have to enjoy the journey or you'll simply get discouraged and wash out before you make it there.  It's like wanting to be a surgeon, but wanting to start straight out of a pre-med degree without jumping through all of the hoops of low pay and long hours during residency.  Building flight time at less-than-desirable jobs is the residency period of professional pilots.  It's all what you make of it.

Like the answers you got for previous questions, go through the training and enjoy it.  Find a way to build time in a way that you'll enjoy.  "Tagging along" isn't the way you want to build time unless it leads to advancement within that company.  It's not quality experience to just keep a seat warm.

Again, not trying to be negative... just real.  If you are excited about the journey, enjoy it!  If this sounds like torture, you might want to think about other options.

Answer 4

IF YOUR NOT IN THE MILITARY, FORGET ABOUT THE HOURS, THEY HAVE SO MANY HOURS YOU WONT EVEN COME CLOSE. YOU HAVE TO HAVE ALOT OF MONEY TO DO THAT ON YOUR OWN, AND CHANCES ARE. THEY WOULD BE PICK A MILITARY PILOT OVER YOU ANYWAY, JOIN THE MILITARY IS YOUR BEST OPTION. IF NOT GOOD LUCK. YOU MIGHT BE FLYING THE SMALL PLANES AND TEACHING FLIGHT SCHOOL.

Answer 5

If you live outside north america don't even think about going there for flight training. go train in other countries. Im tired of people moving to the US just to learn how to fly taking advantage of the stupid exchange rates just because European money is worth more than dollars. keep out.

Answer 6

this is the way to go if you dont have the grades to get into college, or u dont have the ambition of attending another 4 yrs of  school after you're done high school. a college degree will give you a bachelor of applied science, and 250hrs with multi-IFR. it makes you get a higher paying airline job, and faster too......but if u cant get into college, then take that route. flight schools are hiring like mad right now, so you should find a job closer to home and that would pay decent