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| Article Listing | Search Articles | More Articles in Information | More Articles by Administrator |
Becoming a Pilot & Airline Pilot Career |
| by Administrator - 03/07/2010 |
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| "Common Questions & Answers for Aspiring Aviators (US)" |
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Where do you start?
An aspiring pilot can do their flight training and earn their pilot certificates and advanced ratings via these civilian routes:
- A university aviation program
- An aviation academy program
- A local flight school or flying club
For those on the career track, a degree in aviation is not necessary! However some choose to go to an aviation university as the curriculum interests them and they can get college credit for their flight training. There are many 'big name' schools such as Embry Riddle Aeronautical University or the University of North Dakota that offer programs that run upwards of $100K for a 4 year degree. Students earn their Private Pilot certificate, Instrument & Multi-engine ratings, Commercial pilot license and often the Flight Instructor certificates too while doing their degree. However, many smaller schools offer aviation degrees as well for much less money. To research aviation universities go to the University Aviation Association website. Upon graduation you should have about 250-300 hours going this route, unless you became an instructor as part of their program and built up additional experience. Unfortunately, this may not be enough to get an airline job unless the university has an airline affiliated "bridge program" associated with their flying program.
There are also several aviation academy programs that tout their affiliations with certain regional carriers as their 'fast track' to the airlines. Mesa Pilot Development, Pan Am Academy, ATP Flight School and the Delta Connection Academy are some big names. These are the schools that advertise in Plane & Pilot or Flying magazine each month claiming "We'll make you an airline pilot!". You get the same certificates & ratings at an academy as you would at an aviation university but without the degree. Successful graduates of such academy programs are offered an interview with the academy partner airline (or airlines) at substantially lower flight experience than the airlines usually require. This is not a job guarantee but an interview only. Such programs typically cost $50K-$80K and graduates may have 200-500 hours flight time. If a graduate is not hired by the affiliate regional, they may not have enough flight experience to meet other regional airlines hiring qualifications to get hired elsewhere. If that is the case, they will need to build their flight experience via other avenues to be marketable as a commercial pilot. As an example, here are the pros & cons a former student had to say about The Delta Connection Academy. To read about other schools, check out the Jetcareers.com Message Boards as there are folders for each school by name with hundreds of posts.
Of all those kind of programs, the ATP Career Track program seems to be one of the most cost effective, at about $55,000, from zero flight time. The webmaster flew with two pilots who did the ATP program from zero experience and were hired 14 months after they started with a regional at about 400 hours. See their page for info and read opinions about it on the message forums above. Unfortunately for many aspiring pilots, this 'quick route' to the airlines only works well when the airlines are hiring. The summer of 2008 looks like it is going to be a grim one for pilots as many are finding themselves at risk for furlough (lay off) or a slowed career progression as hiring has come to a crawl or stopped at both the majors and regionals. Lastly, a local flight school or flying club is often the most affordable way to get all the necessary certificates & ratings. Some airports do not have flying clubs, but it's worth investigating as clubs are often not-for-profit and for their members. They have no overhead or staff to pay, so they are often less costly than flight schools on the same airport. One can typically expect to spend around $20-25K on their Private & Commercial certificates plus Instrument & Multi-engine ratings if done via the school/club route. However, after getting the private certificate many, many extra hours of flying must be logged to reach the level of experience required by the FAA take the commercial flight test (250 flight hours), so that can easily add well over $10K more in aircraft rental costs to reach that level.
Becoming a Commercial Pilot
The minimum amount of flight time one must have to take the FAA Commercial Pilot flight test is 250 hours, unless you do your training via "Part 141" school then it's 190 hours. A pilot must have a Commercial pilot ceerticifate to get a job flying any size aircraft, for any type of business for compensation. The major airlines minimum pilot requirements, aka "minimums", are around 2,500 hours and the regional carriers mins are 500-1,000 hours with at least 100 of that being flown in multi-engine aircraft (the minimum varies by airline). During the latter part of 2007 and early 2008, the regional airlines were hurting for pilots and many have lowered their minimum qualifications from what used to be the standard of 1,000 down to 500 hours. Two even require only commercial, multi-engine, instrument pilots certificate with no hour minimums hours at all! However, "competitive minimums", or what the average flight times of their new hires are, may be significantly above the minimums required to apply. However, due to the rising cost of jet fuel in the summer of 2008, many major airlines have put their hiring plans on hold. This means the regional pilots looking to move up will have to wait for the next hiring wave and won't be moving on soon. Therefore, it is very likely that the regional airlines will soon be raising their minimum requirements again.
Obviously a pilot with a brand new commercial license (not acquired via a bridge program) does not meet the airlines hiring minimums. How do they get the flight time required? New commercial pilots can fly several kinds of jobs that will enable them to build up their flight experience to the airline minimums. The typical civilian career path is a time building job to get to a regional carrier, then after several years there they apply with a major carrier. Flying cargo is an option too, however most small cargo operators like Fed Ex feeder or Ameriflight minimums are slightly higher than the regional airlines. Legally, pilots must have 1200 hours to fly freight for small 'FAA Part 135 operators'. Large freight operators like UPS or Fed Ex are considered 'Part 121' (just like the passenger airlines) and their hiring minimums are on par with the majors carriers. Their competitive hiring mins are far and beyond their mins (many thousands of hours of jet experience), and like Southwest or JetBlue pilot jobs at these companies are very sought after.
Who is getting hired with the airlines?
Back in 2003, 68% of airline pilots hired were from a civilian background according to Aviation Information Resources (aka AIR, Inc). This is a trend that will remain steady or increase over the next few years as fewer military pilots are available compared to decades past and the pool of qualified civilian pilots increases.
Additionally, "The age range for civilian new-hires at the major airlines spans from 27 to 42 years-old, with the average age being 34.6 years and 5,419 total hours and 40.0 years and 3,205 total hours for pilots with a military background. Of those civilian pilots interviewed at the majors, 30% have corrected vision, 90% have a four year degree or higher, 90% have an ATP and 80% an FE written", according to Kit Darby, United Airlines Captain and president of AIR, Inc.
"If the interviewing pilot is younger than average, or if they are starting a new career later in life, they need not have the average flight time or ratings to be competitive. As future airline pilots approach competitive qualifications and experience levels, they must strive to be both patient and persistent to ensure they have the best chance at the job they want. In today's job market, if they meet the minimums, they should apply" Mr. Darby added.
Pilot Pay
Pilot pay is something the general public often has a lot of misconceptions about. The general 'glamorization' of the career leads many people to think that airline pilots make $250-300K+ a year and that they work two weeks or less a month. While there are a select few captains at the major carriers may have a life close to that, they are by far the minority. According to the Air Line Pilots Association, their average major* airline member Captain is 50 years old, with 18 years seniority and makes $182,000 a year. A non-major airline Captain is 41 years old with 10 years of seniority and makes $70,000 a year. The average ALPA First Officer member at a major airline is 43 years old with 10 years of seniority and makes $121,000 per year, while an ALPA non major First Officer is age 35 with 3 years of service and makes $33,000.
*A major airline is a carrier with more than a billion in sales annually. American, Delta, Northwest, United, Continental, US Airways, Southwest, Alaska (and even several 'regional' carriers) are considered majors by that definition. However, not all major carriers pilots are members of the ALPA union, notably AA & SWA who have their own in house unions.
Factors affecting pilot pay:
- Time with the company (seniority)
- Aircraft flown
- Whether they are a Captain or First Officer (seat)
- The hours in their monthly schedule
- The pay scale at their specific airline
A pilots pay is figured upon the hourly rate for their seat and their equipment based upon the pay grade for their seniority. Each company also has a set 'minimum guarantee' flight hour pay in their pilot contract. This is generally about 75 hours per month but varies slightly by airline. (A few majors guarantee is only 65!) However, in no case will the pilot earn less than the 'minimum guarantee'. They may fly less than 75 actual flight hours, but they will still be paid for the 75 per their guarantee. If they get a flight schedule that is blocked for more flight hours than the minimum guarantee, they will then get paid for the greater amount of time flown instead, plus per diem. Flight crew make about $1-3 per hour in 'per diem' for every hour they are away from their domicile on a trip to cover expenses. This generally adds a few hundred dollars to their pay check.
A general comparison of starting monthly First Officer pay by airline*:
American - $2,255
Continental - $2,280
Delta - $3,430
Fed Ex - $3,996
Northwest - $2,250
Southwest - $4,108
United - $2,250
US Airways - $1,900
UPS - $2,673
*all without per diem, based on minimum monthly guarantee, first year pay in smallest fleet type.
Here is a Captain pay comparison* at 12 years of seniority, by the largest type in fleet (best paying):
American 777 - $14,527
Continental 777 - $14,288
Delta 777 - $13,020
Fed EX (widebody) $16,650
Northwest 747 - $13,275
Southwest 737 - $15,642
United 747 - $11,960
US Airways (A330) $11,520
UPS (all a/c) $18,144
*all without per diem, based on minimum monthly guarantee, 12 pay in largest fleet type
Hourly pay rates from APC as of July 2007. To find out what the specific base pay is for each major, cargo or charter operator by seat & seniority visit-
Airline Pilot Central (http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/)
Source: http://www.geocities.com/av8trxx99/FAQ.html (this link does not work anymore)
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