More of a hypothetical than a this-is-what-I-want-to-do sort of thing, but all this talk of air travel has got me wondering… Outside of being military trained, how would I become a commercial airline or helicopter pilot? Would I have to go to some sort of institution or is this something that can be taught by a qualified instructor? How long would it take, starting from no experience whatsoever? Do you need to get a private pilot cert before you can go on to the big time?
The most important step in becoming an airline pilot in the U.S. is to obtain an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP)certificate. This is no easy task to accomplish. Here are the requirements for an ATP certificate, as taken from last year’s Federal Aviation Regulations part 61.153:
[QUOTE]
F.A.R. sec. 61.153 - Eligibility requirements: general
To be eligible for an airline transport pilot certificate, a person must:[LIST=a][li]Be at least 23 years of age;[/li][li]Be able to read, speak, write, and understand the English language […] ;[/li][li]Be of good moral character;[/li][li]Meet at least one of the following requirements:/li Hold at least a commercial pilot certificate and an instrument rating;
(2) Meet the military experience requirements under sec. 61.73 of this part to qualify for a commercial pilot certificate, and an instrument rating […] ; or
(3) Hold either a foreign airline transport pilot certificate or a foreign commercial pilot license and an instrument rating […]
[li]Meet the aeronautical experience requirements of this subpart […] ;[/li][li]Pass a knowledge test […] ;[/li][li]Pass a practical test […] ; and[/li][li]Comply with the sections of this part that apply to the aircraft category and class rating sought.[/LIST][/li]The “aeronautical experience requirements”, mentioned in section (e) above, include a minimum of 1500 hours of total flight time, of which 500 hours must be cross-country (i.e. flights longer than 50 nautical miles).
So, yes, unless you want to join the military or learn to fly overseas, you have to have a commercial pilot certificate (which is harder to get than a private pilot certificate), and and instrument rating, and at least 1500 hours of total flight time.
And there’s another caveat: even if you do manage to get an ATP certificate, that’s still not enough by itself to allow you to actually fly as an airline transport pilot. You also have to pass a 1st Class medical examination, the toughest medical exam in the F.A.R.s, every 6 months. Furthermore, if you want to fly jet airliners and not just piddle around transporting passengers in a little propeller-driven plane, you’ll have to get a type rating for each and every make and model of airliner you intend to fly.
And none of these requirements is any guarantee that an airline company will want to hire you…
Drat, I forgot to insert a {/QUOTE} directive after the “H.” entry. The stuff below line “H.” isn’t part of the Federal Aviation Regulations, it’s just my own commentary.
Damn. Another career opportunity I’m fundamentally unqualified to pursue.
The short answer to your questions is: It’s doable, but you have to be willing to invest big bucks in it, you have to really want to do it, and you have to go through each gate to get there (I’m talking private pilot, instrument rating, cfi, commercial, atp… the whole works). Places like comair are decent places to go. Check out their website for more info, including time and cost. Keep in mind, once you graduate from such a place, you have to build up your hours flying (preferably as an instructor), in order for you to appear attractive to the majors. I think they look for 1500-2000 hours. This can take up to a couple years, depending upon how busy you are. Then, if you get hired by a major, you’ll probably start out flying dual-engine turboprops, and eventually move up to small jets, then the biggies. This process will also take years.
Subsection © threw me for a loop when I saw it, too. I guess they don’t want any beer-swillin’ wife-beatin’ whorin’ swearin’ no-goodniks transporting passengers by air. Funny, we don’t have any regulations like that for bus drivers…
The Sierra Academy of Aeronautics offers professional pilot courses. The first term takes nine months and costs around $32,000. Since it is an accredited institution, financial help may be available. (For non-U.S. citizens, they’re a J-1 Exchange Visitor sponsor. The J-1 visa can be converted to an F-1 visa that will allow you to work for up to three to four years.) The second term also takes nine months, but costs around $6,384.
Continental Express says it will guarantee an interview to all Sierra Academy flight instructors who receive a recommendation from the chief flight instructor and have a minimum of 800 hours total time and 100 hours multiengine flight time. Continental will fund additional training for any Sierra students it accepts.
American Eagle has also agreed to interview pilots who successfully complete the Direct Track Internship Program, complete an Associate Degree in any field with a 3.0 GPA, have a minimum of 1,000 hours flight time with 200 multiengine hours, and receive a recommendation from the aeronautical program manager.
Hey, if it were easy or cheap everyone would be doing it!
Johnny L.A. wrote:
What qualifications will one have after completing this first term? I’m guessing the average student’ll walk away with at least a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating and a multiengine class rating, right?
I’ve read through both of these websites [Sierra and Comair] but neither seem to mention two important pieces of information [or maybe I’m just looking in the wrong places?] - What kind of people do they accept into the program? Should you have a private pilot license coming in? Is there an educational requirement [HS, AA…]? AND what will you have coming out? [ie what can i legally fly after having completed the program]
Anyone know?
According to the article in Flying this month:
So after the first term you will have the rating necessary to become a commercial pilot (but you won’t have the hours needed to become an airline pilot). You may be able to land a job as an air taxi pilot. After the second term you will be employable as a flight instructor. (Note: Flight instructors are notoriously underpaid.)
Again according to the article:
In short, Sierra Academy can “take pilots from zero time to an [ATP] in 23 months.”
As for the degree, that’s an option.
There’s more in the article, and Flying would probably appreciate if you bought the magazine and if I didn’t transcribe the whole thing. Don’t wnat to violate the copyright! The article is in the May, 2001 Flying if you’re interested. After reading the article, I’ve e-mailed Sierra to ask them about their Professional Helicopter course. (I have a private license, but I’d like to instruct.)
And here’s the ‘by-your-bootstraps’ method, suitable for those people who aren’t rich enough to plunk down the equivalent of a Harvard education…
First, get a private pilot’s license. This will cost you about $5,000. Then, spend some time flying around building a few hours and getting comfortable in the airplane. Hopefully, you’ll find some friends to help kick in for gas.
When you’re at about 100 hours, sign up for the commercial pilot license at your local flying school. You’ll need 200 hours total time to be granted your commercial rating, but you’ll spend 50-60 hours in the air during the commercial rating.
Somewhere in there, you’ll want to pick up your ‘multi-IFR’, which means twin engines, with instrument flying privileges. This’ll cost you another 40 hours of flying time or so.
Get your commercial, multi-IFR, and your flight instructor rating. Then get a job as a flight instructor to build hours. You’ll need 1500 hours for an ATP, and at this point you’ll only have maybe 250-300. So you’ll get to be a flight instructor for a couple of years. During this time, you’ll be paid 15-25 dollars per hour of air time, but you’ll spend about an hour on the ground unpaid for each instruction hour in the air. So your salary will be between $7 and $12 per hour.
The alternative route for a low-hour commercial pilot might be to go up north and fly single-engine float planes for cargo hauling, or if you get lucky a job in a small air-taxi company or something similar. For this you’ll make the princely sum of maybe $25,000 per year or so.
Get to your 1500 hundred hours, get your ATP, and then start applying to commuter airlines and corporate aviation departments. Forget the airlines. They typically won’t look at you until you’ve got a thousand hours or more of high-performance airplane time, preferably jet time.
So, your best shot at flying a big aircraft will be to get a co-pilot job flying something like a DASH-8, or a Convair, or a King Air, or some other medium-sized turboprop. At this stage, your salary might be up to a princely $30,000 or so.
Once you get into the 3000 hour range, you are now a prospect for an airline job, assuming that you’ve got some good references and a decent flying history behind you. So, you might get lucky and make it into the right seat (co-pilot) of something like a DC-9. At this point, you might even crack the magical $40,000 mark for income. Bear in mind that you’ve probably been flying now for 10 years, and have spent 20-30 thousand dollars on your training along the way.
Now your career can start in earnest. Once you are in an airline job, you can start moving up the seniority ladder, transitioning to the left seat of your DC-9, then maybe up into a 737, then a 727, etc. Eventually, if you are one of a handful of lucky ones, you might make it into a jumbo like the 747, earning well over $100,000 per year. One guy I know flew for Japan Airlines and made $185,000 per year. But these are the guys who hit the jackpot. The vast majority of airline pilots will have careers that eventually see them in something like a 727, making maybe $70,000 after being in the job for 20 years.
Assuming they don’t lose their medicals, or get downsized.
Bottom line: Fly because you love flying. Don’t do it for the money, because aviation is notorious for not making anyone rich.
I think Sam Stone’s approach is more typical of the pilots being hired by airlines today. Either way, it’s going to cost you about the same amount of money. You can pay now and get all of the training in three years, then get jobs flying prograssively larger airplanes, or you can “pay as you go” and take 10 years to reach the same point, but with a lot more “real world” experience which would make you more attractive to airlines.
Not all pilots will want to fly for the majors. If I suddenly found myself with the hours, ratings and experience, I’d be happy flying the Seattle-to-Bellingham route in a twin-turboprop. But that’s not my goal. Eventually I’d like to have my own helicopter operation.
I had read that major airlines are strongly biased towards pilots with military training and flying experience. Is this really true, or are they just biased towards 1000s of hours in high-performance aircraft?
How difficult is it to become a military flyer (Active duty or Reserve/National Guard)?
I’ve heard a different theory on that, but it’s probably because I have the background of a Part 141 (i.e., formal) school. I finished up my Commercial license in March, and I am now working on the CFI (instructor) rating at Spartan School of Aeronautics.
The other theory is this: Part 61 (the informal type of schooling recommended by Johnny L.A.) is actually less preferable because the lesson structure is generally less rigid. Not to say that Part 61 instruction is poor (although I strongly recommend you thoroughly research any school or instructor before enrolling), but that Part 141 instruction provides stricter standards. On checkrides, the examiner actually seems considerably less stringent than the school’s stage check airmen. Part 141 just seems to demand more. The students I’ve spoken to that received Part 61 training prior to attending Spartan have attested to this.
The real-world experience and long-term commitment of Part 61 training is definitely valuable. But (s)he may have been trained in a slightly more flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants manner.
Either way, it is my understanding that a pilot will learn more by being an instructor for just a few months than in the rest of his/her entire previous flight experience–regardless of where they received the training. Having to gain a great enough understanding of aviation subjects and then be able to convey that information to a student in a comprehensible manner heightens personal understanding to an extraordinary level.
I strongly urge any pilot looking at aviation as a career to build a good portion of their hours as a CFI. Personally, I prefer Part 141 training, but with the right instructor, Part 61 can be just as effective.
Thanks for listening to my humble opinion. Sorry about the hijack.
The alternative route for a low-hour commercial pilot might be to go up north and fly single-engine float planes for cargo hauling, or if you get lucky a job in a small air-taxi company or something similar. For this you’ll make the princely sum of maybe $25,000 per year or so.
I work at the general aviation facility at Balto. Wash. Intl. and know many pilots making around $15,000 flying around cancelled checks in the middle of the night on 12 hour shifts but it’s a must to build time. On the other hand, a 10 year captain flying for UPS makes $198 an hour and works 1100 hours a year. Not too shabby.
From what I’ve seen and heard they are. It’s not just the hours, but the training that gives military pilots a leg up. Although I wouldn’t say that the high-performance guys have an advantage over the prop, helo, or DC-9 guys. The DC-9 guys actually have it the best; it’s one less type rating the majors have to worry about when hiring.
As far as ANG pilots go… I think you may have to come in from an active duty military pilot slot. If you’re really curious, call your local recruiter. Just don’t let him talk you into anything.
Sam Stone wrote:
Wait a minute … a 737 is a step up from a DC-9? I thought DC-9s were bigger than 737s.
On the plus side, I was recently reading that airlines are experiencing a major pilot shortage, so if you do qualify, you’ll probably be able to land a job. Maybe they’ll even bend the moral character clause and overlook that incident with the Taiwanese stewardesses.
BTW, here’s a way that one guy became a 747 pilot:
- Play Microsoft Flight Simulator for years, obsessively.
- Buy a passenger ticket on JAL.
- Carry a concealed knife onto the flight.
- In midflight, break into the cockpit, stab and kill the pilot, and take his seat. Use the knife to keep the copilot at bay.
The guy only got to fly the plane for about 30 seconds before being subdued by the copilot, but he did achieve his lifetime goal of piloting a 747, if just for a moment. He did not achieve his primary goal of flying a 747 underneath a bridge, as was his favorite trick in the flight sim. The guy will probably hang for murder.
Joining directly through airlines is another possibility, but you’re also subject to their own restrictions in that case.
The British Airways Sponsored Pilot Training Scheme involves 56 weeks of training for basic skills and the Commercial Pilot’s License with Instrument Rating and Airline Transport Pilot’s License. Then it’s a month long Jet Orientation Course – and then they decide whether to offer you the job.
After that it’s a Jet Conversion Course for a specific aircraft type, accompanied training as a First Officer and then qualification as a First Officer. Requirements are that you’re aged between 18 and 26, 5 GCSEs at grade C, 2 A-levels at grade C (or a 2:2 degree course), height between 5’2" and 6’3" (with weight in proportion) and ability to meet BA medical requirements, which they claim or more stringent than Civil Aviation Authority tests.
Their Direct Entry Pilot Scheme for experienced pilots involves appropriate conversion courses and accompanied training as a Co-Pilot. Applicants must be under 49, with ATPL or JAA-equivalent license and the appropriate multi-engine qualifications. Medical requirements are as above.